Customer Reviews

Spirited Lives: How Nuns Shaped Catholic Culture and American Life, 1836-1920

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Carol Coburn and Martha Smith have produced an excellent case study of the far ranging influence exerted by religious sisters in the United States over a period of more than a century.

Through their work in schools, hospitals, child care institutions and special education the Sisters of St Joseph interacted with many people outside the Catholic community. Their work in parish schools was particularly important in creating a cohesive and informed Catholic community. It is certain that the history of the Catholic Church in the United States would have been very different had there not been a source of cost effective labour to support a separate school system. As studies on the health care apostolate of the Church (Stepsis & Liptack and Kaufmann) have shown the sisters' apostolate was a means of breaking down prejudice. Their work in private academies did much the same. As the authors point out the work in parish schools also assisted the passage of social mobility for a largely migrant school population.

Not only do we learn how the sisters influenced the population of the United States during its great period of expansion. To the European reader it is also obvious how much the ethos of the pioneer country - not always appreciated by European religious superiors - affected the sisters themselves. The development of religious life in the United States, particularly for those communities founded there or detatched from European congregations, was quite different from that in Europe. In a large country with ever expanding horizons it is much easier to be innovative.

Personally I would have liked a little more comparison between the experience of the Sisters of St Joseph and others communities. On the whole, however, the book was extremely readable and well documented. I cannot claim sufficient acquaintance with feminist theory to say whether this is feminist history. What I do know is that it is good history because it is based on an informed use of rich primary sources and it does not vouch opinion or analysis without sound reasons.

The enormous work of a more general approach is awaited eagerly. If only communities and researchers in Britain had the vast resources that can be taken advantage of in the United States to produce a similar study.

This is a very well done history of a large religious community. The authors were wise to select the Sisters of St. Joseph (CSJ) a case study of Catholic religious in the United States. CSJs are very typical of American Catholic Sisterhoods in that they had a European origin, adapted European customs to an American context, performed marvels through hard work and dedication in schools and hospitals, and were a vital force in the Americanization of immigrants.

Forget any streotypes about passivity. Leaders of many American religious communities had to be adept at church politics. Authority figures--The Bishop, The Priest, The Cardinal, had very fixed ideas about control of property, assigning of nuns to various projects, as well as gratingly petty demands. The CSJs were marvels at outfoxing some of these demanding reverend gentlemen. And, when one considers that The Bishop had the hierarchical authority of the Church as well as Victorian ideas about the submissiveness of women working on his side, the sagicity of these women is admirable.

Occasionaly, the authors compare the lives and work of the CSJs with Protestant women. I found this interesting and useful and wish the book covered the subject more thoroughly.

The authors perhaps overemphasize the freedom of the Sisters, as compared to married women. Get real. 19th century nuns lived in a ludicrously controlled world where drinking water between meals without permission was considered a fault. The fact that Sisters managed to accomplish all that they did despite rules and regulations dating from the Middle Ages is a testimony to their dedication.

I wish I had written this one!

In sophisticated and multilayered arguments, Spirited Lives describes how the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet emigrated to North America, expanded their work and influence in the West, created an American identity for themselves, and then helped to "Americanize" generations of mostly poor Catholic immigrants in the United States. They did so by developing and staffing a myriad of educational, health and social service institutions. This work called forth generations of sisters who were educated, hard working, and committed to a spiritual life, women who worked within gender boundaries to affect change in the larger society. This book is meticulously researched and written with precision and honesty, providing a wealth of new information on religion in America, the contributions of a particular group of women to American society, and how American culture was shaped by them. The fact that the book was conceptualized, researched and written by two historians makes this a project unusual for the vigor of the questions, experience and approach brought to bear on the topic. Still, the most exciting aspect of this work lies in two other important areas.

For decades, women's historians have based the emergence of American feminism on the influence of Evangelical Protestantism on white, middle-class women. For that matter, the historiography on American social movements generally has been shaped by this interest in the intersection between religion and reform, more recently adding gender to the mix. Such a focus has, I believe, caused scholars to ignore the committed and growing numbers of Catholic women religious who came to America on missions of mercy and stayed to help build America. Using the history of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet as a case study, Carol Coburn and Martha Smith's Spirited Lives has both filled the void and analyzed the process. Catholicism, as well as Protestantism, formed this culture we call American, and women were leaders in both instances. This is an important conclusion overlooked for the most part by American social historians.

More importantly for women's history is the growing realization that the intersection of religion, gender and reform is more complicated than previously thought. Catholicism, as well as Evangelical Protestantism, shaped women's lives and shaped American society. Women's history has argued for decades that religion and family role moved women from the private space of the home to the reform activities of public space. Now, thanks to the work of Carol Coburn and Sister Martha Smith, we see that the power gained by nuns from their role in "sacred space" gave them the authority to work for change in the larger secular and public spaces of society. These women, in fact, because of their vows of chastity were free to pursue education and work unfettered by the demands placed on Evangelical women who drew their authority from their status as wives and mothers.

Finally, this book has real value for a wide variety of college classrooms. It is always difficult to find monographs that will allow students to learn about a range of historical topics; this one is perfect for that. Religion, ethnicity and race, immigration, social services and social policy, gender, identity formation, poverty, education, and medicine are all topics covered in this "truly American narrative." (p. 10)

If you are looking for a book that extolls the virtues of self-sacrifice and non-feminist heroism, and that records the profound influence of Catholicism on the American culture, you may very well enjoy this scholarly but readable book. It has 19 photographs of sisters in traditional habits. Many picture sisters working in the pre-1920 classroom, hospital, operating room, and orphanage. For the collector of books about nuns, there is a 9 page bibliography that lists other nun books. If you went to pre-Vatican II grammar school,it makes you feel grateful to those young women who educated you! Thank you, Sisters!

As a non-Catholic, I found Spirited Lives to be a most readable and informative study of Catholic sisters' contribution to American education, health and culture. The book does exactly what the authors' promise. It examines the "intersection of gender, religion, and power in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century America, and shows "the sisters' lives to be as varied, and interesting as the lives of a their Protestant and secular peers."

The contributions of certain groups of people to American culture and education have been ignored in traditional studies of American history. This research fills one of these gaps and should encourage others to continue the work. As I read, I become more and more impressed with the labor, tenacity and intelligence of Catholic sisters as they encountered what would seem to be insurmountable obstacles in their educational and social endeavors, and of my own ignorance of their work.

The book is informative and reads well for the non-scholar, and provides a wealth of material for the research scholar. I recommend it to both Catholic and non-Catholic, and to all scholars of American history and culture.

In SPIRITED LIVES: HOW NUNS SHAPED CATHOLIC CULTURE AND AMERICAN LIFE, 1836-1920, authors Carol Coburn and Martha Smith have crafted a model for integrating the history of women religious into mainstream history. Their narrative is very accessible to a broad readership. Using the Sisters of Saint Joseph as a case study, Coburn and Smith examine the early contributions of sisterhoods in America to education, health care, and social services. They skillfully weave into their narrative significant points of both contrast and comparison between Catholic and Protestant women's efforts in these areas. They perceptively address such issues as women's roles in a patriarchal society as well as the complexities of female agency within the confines of communal religious life. Beginning with a history of the Sisters of Saint Joseph in pre-revolutionary France, the authors then trace the sisters' adaptations to their American environment from 1836 and their rapid development of an American identity. The CSJS' responses to both Native American and African American populations and their institutional incorporation of members from different European nationalities prove but two of the fascinating aspects of the CSJS' process of Americanization. In their presentation of the sisters' instrumentality in the development of the parochial school system and select female academies as well as the administration of hospitals and orphanages, the authors effectively highlight the evolution of the sisters' roles in these areas when principles of "scientific" benevolence, professionalization, and bureaucratization replace earlier concepts of maternity governing such institutions and services. This meticulously researched work makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the impact of Catholic sisterhoods on American life during this formative period of our history.

This well-written book argues persuasively that Catholic sisters, who by 1920 numbered 90,000, played a unique and powerful role in providing education, health care, and social services for the nation's immigrant and native populations. Using the experiences of a large religious community, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, the authors demonstrate how sisters significantly extended the "sphere of influence" of their sex and made lasting contributions to the public welfare. Coburn and Smith effectively set to rest lingering stereotypes about Catholic sisters and show graphically the diverse contributions of these women to the building of church and society in the critical 1836-1920 period. The scholarship is excellent and primary sources are used extensively. Skillful use of diaries and oral histories brings vividly to life the experiences of ordinary sisters as well as of their religious superiors. Highly recommended.

In SPIRITED LIVES we are given the opportunity to witness the depth and breadth of the commitment of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet to serve humanity. Dr. Coburn's and Sr. Smith's research gives voice to the history and experiences of CSJs in a way which allows us to set aside stereotypes and see this group of remarkable women as full beings. Those who are interested in a well researched, well written, open account of the lives and experiences of these brave and intelligent women will find this book to be an excellent resource.

This book was just what I needed to supplement my historical research paper on Avila University in Kansas City, MO.

I found this book quite disappointing. It would be better categorized as a "feminist history" rather than simply as a "historical account" of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. The authors' biases tainted their treatment of, and rendered a disservice to, this great group of religious women, many of whom, I am certain, will be embarrassed by this one-sided account of their life and work.