Saint Mary’s Matters. Sister M. Madeleva Wolff, CSC Is Why.

By Tess Hayes '25

This past weekend, the Center for The Study of Spirituality kicked off its 40th anniversary celebration with a conference studying the local and lasting legacy of Sister M. Madeleva Wolff, the third and, many assert, most famous president of Saint Mary’s College. 

The three-day conference, Mother, Mascot, Martyr? Exploring the Local and Lasting Legacy of Sister Madeleva Wolff, CSC, was spearheaded by Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Theology Jessica Coblentz, PhD, and Associate Professor of Communication Studies Susan Mancino, PhD. Years ago, Coblentz and Mancino began discussing their personal and intellectual interests in Sister Madeleva. Eventually, the two had the idea for an interdisciplinary conference, and eventually a volume of conference papers, that “would bring together scholars who shared these interests in Sister Madeleva.” Coblentz and Mancino approached Professor Daniel Horan, PhD, the director of the Center for the Study of Spirituality, to see if the CFSS would be willing to host the conference. 

For Horan, “The Center for the Study of Spirituality was the natural home for such a conference for two reasons. First, the CFSS is the clearest inheritor of Sister Madeleva’s legacy, especially when considering her important School of Sacred Theology—not to mention the annual Madeleva Lecture at the CFSS. Second, the Center regularly hosts conferences, seminars, and other events, so we are well positioned for a conference like this.”

The conference began with a panel discussion between Gail Porter Mandell, PhD, and Keith Egan, PhD, moderated by the assistant director of the CFSS, Julia Feder, PhD. 

Mandell and Egan are arguably the most influential members of the Saint Mary’s community that studies Madeleva: Mandell is the author of Madeleva: A Biography, and Egan is the founder and inaugural director of the CFSS (1984–2002). The two engaged their audience of students, faculty, and Sisters of The Holy Cross, answering questions like, “What was Madeleva like?” and “What inspired you to write the biography?” 

Mandell said, “Thirty years ago, when I published my book, I never would have thought we’d be sitting here tonight talking about Madeleva. I never would have thought people would have cared this much.” Yet, the room inside Haggar College Center was so crowded that Coblentz and Horan had to bring in additional seating.

Four sessions were offered on Friday, October 4. The first explored Madeleva’s legacy among Catholic women, with papers offered by Margaret Guider, OSF, PhD, and Sandra Yocum, PhD. Both focused on Madeleva’s impact in the theological world, as she was the founder of The School of Sacred Theology, the first school in the United States to allow women—lay and religious alike— to receive masters and doctoral degrees in theology. The second session focused on Madeleva as a poet and scholar, with Sister Eva Hooker, CSC, PhD, offering a poetic discussion on Sister Madeleva’s poetry, and Katie Bugyis, PhD, focusing on how Madeleva wrote about Geoffery Chaucer’s nuns in The Canterbury Tales. The third session studied the spirituality of Madeleva, with Horan offering thoughts on Madeleva’s Franciscan-like way of approaching poetry, prayer, and writing, and Molly Gower, PhD, offering thoughts on Madeleva’s writings of the mystics in the Christian tradition. The final session on Friday focused on Madeleva as a woman of the world, with Tom O’Grady, PhD, focusing on Madeleva’s visit with William Butler Yeats at his estate in Ireland, and Jessica Coblentz offering lessons on what Sister Madeleva can teach us about burnout.