Serie F01-S004 - Mother Mechtilde McCarthy series

Susan McCarthy was born on January 1, 1862, at Maidstone, Essex County, Ontario. She was one of eleven children born to Jeremiah McCarthy and Susan McMahon. She joined the Sisters of St. Joseph congregation in London, Ontario, and received the habit on March 19, 1881, taking her final vows on December 8, 1883, at Mount Hope. Her religious name was Sister Mechtilde McCarthy. She taught at St. Peter’s School, London for 22 years and at the Roman Catholic school in Goderich for two years. In 1911 she was appointed Superior at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London The chapel at St. Joseph’s Hospital was built under the guidance of Sister Mechtilde. It is of classic Renaissance architecture and Romanesque design. The whole chapel was a model of artistic taste and reflects on Sister Mechtilde under whose supervision it was erected. As the growth of the hospital kept pace with the city, an urgent need for larger facilities was realized and in 1914 work was begun to the west of the main building on an addition embodying the latest and best ideas of hospital construction and equipment.

In 1917, she was elected General Superior of the congregation. At that time there were 185 Sisters in the Community and the number of aged at the House of Providence was 212. The orphans at Mount St. Joseph orphanage numbered 231. In the Roman Catholic Schools the pupils numbered 1161 and in the hospitals there were 2573 patients. During her term of office she began a foundation in Edmonton which included a novitiate. A Eucharistic Congress was held at Mount St. Joseph in July 1923. The Community received approbation of the 1920 Constitutions which had been requested by Bishop Fallon in 1917. During her term of office, she began a foundation in Edmonton which included a novitiate. She left the office of General Superior in 1923 and continued mission work at St. Mary’s, Ingersoll, Belle River and at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, Ontario in 1934. She was General Superior from 1917-1923. She died on June 12, 1943.