Julia Chatfield Sculpture from the Ursulines of Brown County [Angela Merici]

Orsoline America del Nord
Julia Chatfield Sculpture from the Ursulines of Brown County
Wins Ohio Memory Madness

The Ohio Historical Society recognized a sculpture of Julia Chatfield, OSU, foundress of the Ursulines of Brown County, Ohio, USA. Sr. Agatha Fitzgerald, OSU, sculpted the image, which is located at the entry to the Chatfield College Welcoming Center at St. Martin, Ohio.

Sister Agatha Fitzgerald, OSU, with her sculpture of Julia Chatfield

Recognition came through an online contest meant to parallel the annual NCAA (collegiate) basketball tournament in March, jokingly called “March Madness.” In that athletic contest 64 teams compete and are eliminated until one wins the final game. The Ohio Historical Society held its own “Ohio Memory Madness,” selecting 64 artistic works with historical significance for an online competition. After more than 6500 votes had been cast online, Julia rose to the top and won.
Voters for Julia included the Ursulines of Brown County, their Companions, students and staff from Ursuline Academy in Cincinnati and from both the Cincinnati and St Martin campuses of Chatfield College, and connections all over the state of Ohio and beyond. Participants also invited others to vote.
Julia Chatfield came to the wilderness of Ohio from France in 1845 with ten other French Ursulines at the request of Archbishop John Purcell to establish a school. Thus began an almost 170-year legacy that reaches far beyond Brown County.
Julia Chatfield had been recognized with the Heart of Brown County Award from the Brown County Hospital Foundation in 2005 and was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame in 2007.
Representatives of The Ohio Historical Society presented Sr. Lucia Castellini, Congregational Minister, and Sr. Agatha with a plaque indicating the “champion” of the 2014 Ohio Memory Madness tournament on June 2, 2014, at the Ursulines of Brown County Center in St Martin, Ohio.
Accepting the award, Sr. Lucia said, “In the name of the Ursulines of Brown County I want to thank the Ohio Historical Society for the exciting and fun March Madness in which we were highly involved. What a wonderful way to highlight so many meaningful artifacts of our State’s history!
“We thank the many people who voted for the Julia Chatfield sculpture throughout the weeks that voting took place. And of course, we are grateful to Sr. Agatha Fitzgerald, who sculpted this beautiful rendering of Julia Chatfield in 1962. It is a daily reminder of Mother Julia’s courage and foresight in establishing an educational stronghold that began here in St. Martin Ohio in 1845 and stretched to Cincinnati, Dayton, Owensville, Cleveland, Springfield and Toledo in Ohio and into Atlanta, Chicago, Alaska and more-all places where our sisters carried the vision of Julia Chatfield beyond this place over the last 170 years.
“It was evident by the voting turnout that Julia Chatfield’s legacy continues through the many people who have been influenced by her spirit and courage in leaving all and settling in the wilderness of southern Ohio 170 years ago. The Ursuline Sisters are grateful to all who spent weeks voting to bring Julia and Sr. Agatha’s beautiful sculpture into even greater public awareness.”
The Ohio Historical Society was founded in 1885 as a non-profit providing a wide an array of statewide services and programs related to collecting, preserving and interpreting Ohio’s history, archaeology and natural history through its 58 sites and museums across Ohio. As of May 24, 2014, the Ohio Historical Society is known as the Ohio Historical Connection.

| 2 luglio 2014 | Italiano

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