Mother Marie Joseph "Johanna" Butler (22 July 1860 – 23 April 1940) was an Irish nun, mother general of the

Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary The Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary (known in the United States as the RSHM and in other parts of the world as RSCM) are a global Roman Catholic community of about 900 apostolic religious women. Today the diversity of ministries include educ ...

, and founder of

Marymount colleges The Marymount Colleges are a group of colleges founded by the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary (RSHM), an institute with French origins which was founded on February 24, 1849. When the institution expanded to the United States, its members ...

and schools.

Biography

Johanna Butler was born in Ballynunry,

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the cou ...

on 22 July 1860. She was the seventh child of John Butler, gentleman farmer, and Ellen (née Forrestal). She attended the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

school in

New Ross New Ross (, formerly ) is a town in southwest County Wexford, Ireland. It is located on the River Barrow, near the border with County Kilkenny, and is around northeast of Waterford. In 2016 it had a population of 8,040 people, making it the ...

, County Wexford, entering the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Mary in

Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hos ...

, France in 1876. She took the name Marie Joseph when she was sent to

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, Portugal in 1879, professing in 1880. From 1880 to 1903 she taught in Porto and

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

, becoming superior of the school in 1893. In 1903 she was appointed head of the congregation's school at

Sag Harbor Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on eastern Long Island. The village developed as a working port on Gardiner's Bay. The population was 2,772 at the 2 ...

, Long Island, New York, with the responsibility to extend the influence of the order in there. Her cousin, James Butler, gave her a site in

Tarrytown, New York Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North ...

in 1907 where she founded the first Marymount school that year, and then the first Marymount college in 1918. She acted as president of the college, with the institution being granted a charter from the

University of the State of New York The University of the State of New York (USNY, ) is the state of New York (state), New York's governmental umbrella organization for both public and private institutions in New York State. The "university" is not an educational institution: it i ...

to award bachelor's degrees in 1924. Butler was elected mother general of her order in 1926 serving until her death, being the first American superior elected to the international congregation of the catholic church. She introduced a unique educational system incorporating high religious and academic standards with the aim of preparing young women for a changing society. She became a citizen of the United States in 1927. Under her influence, the order founded 14 schools, including a novitiate in New York, three Marymount schools and three colleges, and 23 foundations internationally with Marymount schools in Rome, Paris, and Quebec, and a novitiate in Ferrybank, Waterford, Ireland. Butler died on 23 April 1940 in Tarrytown and was buried there. In 1954 her spiritual writing were published as ''As an eagle: the spiritual writings of Mother Butler R.S.H.M.'' by J.K. Leahy. She was put forward as a candidate for

canonisation Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of s ...

in 1948.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Marie Joseph 19th-century Irish nuns Irish Roman Catholic abbesses People from County Kilkenny 1860 births 1940 deaths 20th-century Irish nuns