Mount de Sales: History

HISTORY BOOK NOW AVAILABLE!
In celebration of the academy's 150th Anniversary, an official history has been published, An Academy of Every Virtue. Extensively researched and lavishly illustrated, this hard-cover keepsake book is available by kindly sending and making a check for $25.00 payable to the following:

Mount de Sales Academy
Attn: History Book
700 Academy Road
Catonsville, Maryland 21228

Your copy will be mailed to you immediately. Don't miss out on this extraordinary publication!

HISTORY

Founded in 1852 as the Academy of the Visitation at Mount de Sales in Baltimore County, the academy was open for the education of young women by Visitation nuns from Georgetown. Mount de Sales Academy was the first institution in Baltimore County to offer education to young women of all denominations.

Originally a convent boarding school in the European tradition, Mount de Sales Academy's earliest alumnae represented nearly all fifty states, as well as several European and Latin American countries. Historically prominent graduates include Mary Pinkney Hardy McArthur (the wife of General Arthur McArthur and the mother of General Douglas MacArthur), Emily MacTavish the Younger (Sister Mary Agnes), Estelle Wetzler (the first woman to climb Mt. Fuji), and other members of the prominent Carroll family.

With the growth of the surrounding community and improved transportation, Mount de Sales Academy gradually became a day school and the option to board was discontinued in 1932.

In 1979, due to a decline in the number of teaching sisters, the Visitation nuns could no longer continue at the school. The school, however, remained open under the dedicated direction of a lay Board of Trustees.

In 1985, the Board of Trustees sent a letter to Mother Assumpta Long, O.P., then the Prioress General of the Dominican Sisters of the Saint Cecilia Congregation in Nashville, Tennessee, explaining the need for sisters to administer the academy.

Despite an initial reluctance to agree to the Board's request, Mother Assumpta visited the campus and immediately was taken by the amazing physical and historical similarities between Mount de Sales Academy and the Saint Cecilia Motherhouse. Her mind and heart felt one thing -- a desire for the Dominican sisters to take part in handing on the Faith in this cradle of Catholicism. Before leaving, she promised to send sisters to administer the academy. As promised, in August, 1985, three Dominican sisters arrived at Mount de Sales.

The community, steeped in over 135 years of educational experience, continues to administer Mount de Sales Academy. Like St. Francis de Sales, St. Dominic was a spiritual genius. St. Dominic's quest for truth, and the gentleness of St. Francis de Sales, are in perfect harmony with the mission of Christ. St. Dominic insisted on a way of life that encouraged study. His loyalty to truth exemplifies itself in the lives and works of his sons and daughters. Dominic's spirit is reflected in his last will and testament: "Behold my children the heritage I leave you. Have love for one another. Guard humility. Make your treasure out of voluntary poverty."

Today, Mount de Sales Academy embodies the rich heritage of Catholic education for women in a framework of educational excellence and timeless Catholic tradition. A faculty and staff comprised of approximately fifty dedicated lay men and women and religious sisters provide a strong college preparatory education for those students who choose to spend their high school years at Mount de Sales Academy.