Biography
Margaret O'Malley was born in Galway, Ireland, where she received an early education from private tutors and attended Model Schools. In 1868, she came to Manchester, New Hampshire, to work in the American mission.
She joined the Sisters of Mercy on December 2, 1868. In Manchester, she received the habit on March 12, 1869, and professed vows on August 19, 1871. In 1872, Sister Mary Stanislaus, formerly known as Margaret O'Malley, was named to the St. Johnsbury Foundation, where she and four other Sisters of Mercy struggled for two years to bring education to the poverty-stricken population in that area.
Unfortunately, the parish was unable to support the Sisters, so they departed from St. Johnsbury in 1874, only to be invited that same year to staff St. Mary's, the Cathedral parochial school in Burlington. Bishop Louis de Goesbriand invited Sister Mary Stanislaus and three other Sisters to Burlington, where they took charge of teaching the 400 children in the school.
They stayed in the unheated rooms on the top floor of the school. Overcoming disease and fatigue caused by poor living conditions and stressful working conditions, the Sisters managed to set roots in the fertile Champlain Valley. In 1876, St. Patrick's Convent was completed and the Foundation became independent of Manchester on June 5th of that year.
Mother Stanislaus was canonically appointed the first Mother Superior on June 5, 1876. She served as Mother Superior of the Vermont Sisters of Mercy for 24 years. During her tenure, she bought 35 acres of land in Burlington, and sold some of it in order to raise funds for the construction of Mt. Saint Mary Academy, a convent and boarding school for girls. She created branch houses in Montpelier (1889), Barre (1900), and White River Junction (1907). Mother Stanislaus oversaw the staffing of St. Mary's School, the Pearl Street House, St. Patrick's Academy and Cathedral Grammar.
With Ella Baird, she developed a grading rubric for elementary schools, and expanded the curricula at the elementary and high schools. Mother Stanislaus also began the regular visitation of the sick and the poor and routinely visited the Poor Farm.Occupation
Mother Superior
Teacher