Mother Angela Sansbury, O.P. (1794-1839)

The first woman in the United States to become a Dominican Sister, Mariah Hamilton Sansbury was born to a Catholic family in Maryland. She became the foundress of the first Dominican sisterhood in this country. After her father’s death she moved to Kentucky, where she joined St. Rose parish, the first parish in the United States run by the Dominican Fathers. In 1822, she responded to the call of Father Samuel Wilson, O.P., to form a sister’s community in the Dominican tradition. On April 7 of that year, she and eight other women were formally received. She took the name Sister Angela. The first convent was a log cabin. The sisters taught school, studied for the apostolate, and maintained a rigorous prayer life. Mother Angela served two terms as prioress before being transferred to Ohio, where she died on this day in 1839.