Sister Agnes Cunningham

(Sister St. Agnes)

Mary Cunningham was born in Yorkshire, England. She and her mother came to the United States when she was almost three years old. Her father was able to enter the U.S.A. before them because he was born in Ireland and the Immigration Quota for the Irish had not reached its limit when they applied. The family settled in Chicago because relatives by marriage lived there. Another girl, Helen, was born to their circle. The Cunninghams lived in the “Back of the Yards” area for a year but soon moved to St. Leo parish and St. Gall parish and finally settled in Visitation parish where Mary attended grade school and freshman year at Visitation High School. Their family had kept in touch with the Sisters at St. Gall parish because Mary did so well taking piano lessons from Sister Mary Elizabeth. So, when her mother became ill and found Mary’s little sister a “handful”, Mrs. Cunningham asked the SSCM Sisters if they knew of a good boarding school where Helen might go.

Holy Family Academy in Beaverville, Illinois, was the choice. Mary visited Helen regularly. To give her a little vacation, her parents let Mary spend two weeks at H.F.A. By the next summer Mrs. Cunningham’s health had improved, and Helen returned home. But the Academy had worked its charms on Mary and arrangements were made for her to spend the rest of high school at H.F.A.

By the time she was in seventh grade, Mary had come to admire the Dominican Sisters who taught her. From her parents, she learned that loving people was the most important thing to do in life after loving God. That lesson was “engraved” in her by the example the SSCMs. The seeds of a religious vocation were sown.

Sister Mary Ellen Finneran (Sister Viator), her music teacher at H.F.A, became a dear friend and model. Under her guidance, Mary decided she wanted to enter the novitiate after high school. She turned 17 in May 1940, graduated in June, and entered the novitiate on July 24, 1940. It took prayer and a lot of persuasion to convince her mother to say, “Yes”; her father was on her side from the start.

The now Sister St. Agnes spent years as a teacher and a principal in elementary and high school settings. She would not mention this to you, but Sister Agnes is a trail blazer. She was the first woman to be on the faculty of Our Lady of the Lake and the first woman president of the Catholic Theological Association of America. A prolific author, Sister Agnes also is a translator and spiritual historian for the congregation of which she is a cherished member. “Without a doubt”, the 24 ½ years Sister Agnes spent teaching Patristics (the study of the early Church Fathers) at the seminary of Our Lady of the Lake, Mundelein, Illinois, stand out as her most fulfilling assignment. Former students have become her good and dear friends. Even some who did not continue to ordination still keep in touch with her.

Sister Agnes believes that the Family Spirit, rooted in faith, is the charism to which she has been and is strongly drawn. She is increasingly aware of this, especially as she lives in the totally different situation and environment of a nursing facility. Family love “surrounds and renews me in ways I cannot even express.” Sister Agnes radiates that Family Spirit to all.

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