Ann Teresa Mathews (religious name, Mother Bernardina Teresa Xavier of St. Joseph; 1732 – June 18, 1800) was a nun from Port Tobacco, Maryland who in 1790 founded the first

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

religious order for women in the United States. In 1754 she had entered a convent of English-speaking Discalced Carmelites in modern-day Belgium and was elected prioress there twenty years later. In 1790 she was offered land in Maryland and returned to establish what became known as

Mount Carmel Monastery The Mt. Carmel Monastery is a historic monastery located at Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland, United States. It is a two-part frame house, the main block of which was built about 1790 and restored in 1936–37. It consists of a two-story st ...

Port Tobacco Port Tobacco, officially Port Tobacco Village, is a town in Charles County, in southern Maryland, United States. The population was 13 at the 2010 census, making Port Tobacco the smallest incorporated town in Maryland. Overview This was historical ...

. In the 19th century, the congregation relocated to

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Biography

Mathews (sometimes spelled "Matthews") was born in 1732 to a Catholic family in the English

Province of Maryland The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. state of Maryland ...

in their North American colonies. She was one of seven siblings. Her much younger brother William Matthews (1770-1854) later became known as a prominent Roman Catholic priest and educator in Washington, DC. In 1754 Mathews went to Europe to join the English-speaking Discalced Carmelites in Hoogstraet in the Austrian Netherlands (modern Belgium). She joined the order on December 3, 1755, taking the name "Bernardina Teresa Xavier of St. Joseph". Nearly twenty years later, she was elected prioress of their convent on April 13, 1774. In 1790, Catholicism was unsettled after its disestablishment in France by the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

there. In addition Emperor Joseph II had begun his own campaign against monastic establishments. Father

Charles Neale Charles Neale (1751–1823) was a leader of the Jesuit mission in United States, America. Neale came from a prominent Catholic family of Maryland. Family Charles Neale was born in Province of Maryland to a prominent family, descended from Captain ...

, the chaplain at the convent, had been born and raised in Maryland. He offered farmland there in

, on the Eastern Shore, so that Sister Ann could build a convent. She returned that year Maryland in the United States and proceeded to establish the convent in Charles County. It was dedicated on October 15, 1790. Set up as a convent for contemplatives, it was the first convent for Catholic women established in the United States. Mathews was its prioress until her death ten years later. Her nieces Susanna Mathews (Sister Mary Eleanor) and Ann Mathews (Sister Mary Aloysia) had earlier followed her to the Netherlands and entered the convent in Hoogstraet. They returned with her to establish the Maryland convent. Also joining them was Frances Dickinson, who had been born and raised in

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. In 1831 the nuns were ordered by the bishop to move their congregation across the Chesapeake Bay to the larger city of

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. Their historic building on the Eastern Shore, Mount Carmel Monastery, was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1973.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, Ann Theresa 1732 births 1800 deaths People from Charles County, Maryland Catholics from Maryland 18th-century American Roman Catholic nuns Discalced Carmelite nuns