MCGROARTY, JULIA, SISTER

Religious superior, foundress of Trinity College, Washington, DC; b. Inver, Donegal County, Ireland, Feb. 13, 1827; d. Peabody, MA, Nov. 12, 1901. Her parents, Neil and Catherine (Bonner) McGroarty, took Susan and the rest of their 10 children to Cincinnati, OH, in 1831. She was professed as Sister Julia of the Sisters of notre dame de namur on Aug. 3, 1848. An able teacher, she served at the Academy of Notre Dame, Roxbury, MA (1848–60), and in Philadelphia, where her school for African Americans (1877–82) attracted the support of St. Katherine Drexel. After the death of Sister Louise Van Der Schrieck in 1886, Sister Julia was appointed superior of all Notre Dame de Namur houses east of the Rocky Mountains and, after 1892, of the California province. Sister Julia founded some 14 convents in her jurisdiction and promoted academic progress in the schools conducted by her community. To this end she prepared a course of studies, introduced a system of general examinations, and arranged for systematic supervision. Her greatest achievement was the establishment of a college for women. The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, annually refused many applications from women. In 1897, at the request of the authorities of The Catholic University and with the approval of the pope and Cardinal James Gibbons, she established Trinity College in Washington, DC. Although there was resistance by some Catholics, the act of incorporation and permission to grant degrees was signed on Aug. 20, 1897. Sister Julia lived to see the college begin its work on Nov. 7, 1900, and to watch over its first year of development.

Bibliography: h. l. nugent, Sister Julia (New York 1928).

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