Making a Path by Walking: Loretto Pioneers Facing the Challenges of Catholic Education on the North American Frontier‪.‬

The five Loretto pioneers who, after an exhausting six weeks' journey from Dublin via Liverpool and New York, arrived on the Toronto waterfront on the early afternoon of 16 September 1847 (1) had little idea of what lay in store for them in this first mission of their community to North America. They came without clear directives or general master plan. They were forced in consequence, as suggested by my title, to "make a path by walking," adapting with resourcefulness and courage to new problems as they arose. They were confronted with the first of these when, upon landing, they found no one to meet them and, at the suggestion of the friendly black cab-driver who, perceiving their hesitation and inexperience belied by their rather old-fashioned secular clothing, asked to be driven to the residence of the Catholic bishop, Michael Power. (2) Immediately the circumstances behind this seeming negligence became apparent. The two young priests who shared the bishop's living quarters and ministry were still convalescing after a critical illness. The bishop, himself, exhausted from his tireless caring for the sick and dying in the fever sheds, had already contracted the fatal typhus that, within two weeks, would claim his own life. The Sisters, faced with this dilemma, were forced immediately to make whatever adaptations the situation demanded. Embarrassed by his failure in hospitality and fearful lest the newcomers contract the infection, the good bishop at once arranged for temporary accommodation for them through the generosity of a leading Catholic benefactor, Mr. Samuel Goodenough Lynn. (3) While the latter's wife and daughters made room for them in their home, the gentleman and his sons found rooms in a nearby hotel. By the end of the week the Sisters were settled into a rented house at 45 Duke Street (now Adelaide East) for which furnishings at a total cost of [pounds sterling]42 were hastily procured by the still convalescent young Vicar General, Father John Hay. (4) Although the house was described as damp and dreary and (with a Canadian winter approaching) virtually without heat, (5) even if they had been able to afford fuel, they were ready to start teaching within a fortnight of their arrival. (6) Nine of the daughters of Toronto's leading Catholic families were enrolled in the boarding school while increasing numbers of day students soon registered in the Academy. (7)