By Tom Ward
Thomas More University
Part 38 of Our Series: “Retrospect and Vista II: Thomas More College/University, 1971-2021”
Two Sisters of Notre Dame of Covington, Mary Albert Murphy and Mary Philip Trauth, embodied the Department of History at Villa Madonna College (VMC) and Thomas More College (TMC) for decades. Sr. Albert was the older of the two and even taught Sr. Philip at VMC so that she could be considered a mentor, although the two were also good friends as well as colleagues. A further bond between them was the fact that they were religious sisters devoted to their congregation, the Sisters of Notre Dame, which they served in various roles at the motherhouse, St. Joseph Heights in Park Hills. Their most outstanding contribution to the college was that between them they taught many generations of history majors and future historians and attorneys at both VMC and TMC. Just as they had been close in life, their deaths were less than a month apart.
Loretta Murphy was born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 9, 1896. Her parents were Michael Francis Murphy and Margaret Elizabeth Ryan. She attended Catholic schools in Cleveland and considered joining the Sisters of the Humility of Mary who had taught her (Sr. Albert Autobiography, TMU Archives). But instead, she entered the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1913 and made her profession on August 10, 1915, with the religious name Sr. Mary Albert; three years later she was transferred to the Sisters’ Provincial House in Covington (later St. Joseph Heights).
Sr. M. Albert Murphy, SND (Hadorn Photo. TMU Archives.)
Sr. Albert’s first interest when she began her career in higher education was English. She graduated from Xavier University in Cincinnati in 1924 with a major in English, though she minored in history and philosophy. She continued in the same vein as she completed her master’s degree in English at Fordham University in New York City in 1925 and her Ph.D. at the same institution, though not until 1939 (Sr. Albert resumé, TMU Archives).
English was Sr. Albert’s chosen field when she taught at Notre Dame Academy in Covington, 1918–1939. While at the academy she founded and served as moderator for The Gavel, the award-winning NDA student newspaper (Sr. Albert resumé).
I have discovered little to explain why Sr. Albert changed her academic field from English, except for a rather vague reference that she accepted “a challenge to join a modest history department” at Villa Madonna College (Kentucky Enquirer, August 8, 1975). It is known that the Sisters of Notre Dame had committed to staff the college’s history department. In those early years, the three congregations of Catholic sisters teaching at Villa Madonna College (Benedictines, Divine Providence, and Notre Dame) had mutually agreed to staff particular departments. When Sr. Albert began teaching at VMC in 1939, she was indeed a professor of History and Political Science. Moreover, she would be instrumental in building up a small department with little prestige into the strong entity it soon became.
When she began at VMC, Sr. Albert was the only faculty member in a history department that had just six history majors. From its beginning in 1923, there had been only one regular history professor (though this was true of most other departments, too) to teach the standard offerings in American and European History, with another person occasionally teaching a particular course (most of whom were Sisters of Notre Dame). Under Sr. Albert’s direction, more faculty were eventually hired to teach history, the first being Fr. Anthony Deye in 1944, who would later become academic dean (Notes of Sr. Mary Albert Murphy, SND, ca. 1961, TMU Archives). Beginning in 1949, she would spend thirty years as chair of the growing department.
Besides being on various college committees and advising students, Sr. Albert also got involved with student extracurricular activities. She served as faculty advisor for the Triskele from 1946, when the first edition of the yearbook was published, until 1949. She also founded a Current Events Club in 1940 and was moderator of the discussion groups until 1953 (Sr. Albert resumé).
Sr. M. Philip Trauth, SND. TMU Archives.
In 1955, President Murphy asked Sr. Albert to take the lead in writing a short history of the college. Fr. Murphy expected that the college would soon initiate a fundraising campaign to build a new facility on the recently purchased property on Turkeyfoot Road, and it would be “imperative that such a history of the College be prepared for use through the various media of communication.” He suggested that she could be assisted by Fr. Deye and Sr. Irmina Saelinger, OSB, VMC’s registrar who had been collecting relevant facts and documents (Fr. Murphy to Sr. Murphy, Aug. 25, 1955, TMU Archives). Actually, it was Sr. Irmina who finally wrote the first comprehensive history for the 50th anniversary in 1971.
As it turned out, hopes for a college to be built in the 1950s were premature, yet Sr. Albert did move forward with a plan for a history. Although this history was never completed, she drew up an outline for a “tentative history,” which showed that she intended to involve other writers who would be personally knowledgeable about certain aspects of VMC; in this pursuit, she carried on correspondence with sisters, priests, and lay people who had been involved with the college in its growth since the 1920s.
Perhaps her most significant contribution to the history department came in the mid-1960s. Phi Alpha Theta (PAT) was a respected National Honor Society for college history students that offered graduate scholarships and prizes for scholarly writings. In 1965, Sr. Albert recommended that VMC seek to establish a chapter, and other members of the department agreed. In October 1965, all interested persons held a general convocation, at which they elected temporary student officers and drafted a constitution; Albert J. Hamilton of the department became the faculty advisor. It was hoped that membership in PAT would increase interest in history and promote VMC’s “intellectual atmosphere,” as well as “further the goal of making Villa Madonna College a community of scholars” (Petition to Phi Alpha Theta, Mar. 18, 1966, TMU Archives). Most of the faculty applied for membership, along with students who met the qualifications in credit hours (12) and minimum grade point average (3.1).
The application of VMC was accepted by PAT, and the history department inaugurated its new Lambda Sigma Chapter with a special dinner on October 6, 1966 at the Town and Country Restaurant in Park Hills, at which fourteen faculty and students were initiated. Dr. Lynn Turner, president of the national PAT Society, attended and presented Lambda Sigma with its charter. The first student president, William Robinson (who would become a prominent attorney) presented the first annual award, named in Sr. Albert’s honor, to Susan Court (The Spokesman, Oct. 30, 1966, page 20, TMU Archives). The chapter continued to have an annual award dinner featuring the induction of new members.
Sr. Philip (left) and Sr. Albert holding Sr. Philip’s book, ca. 1968 (Hadorn Photo. TMU Archives)
Sr. Albert retired from TMC in 1974, though she was told that, as a professor emeritus, her “continued presence on campus would be appreciated” because the department would “continue to benefit from your wise counsel and generously-offered friendship” (James Ebben, Academic Dean to Sr. Murphy, Mar. 13, 1974, TMU Archives). Her contributions to the college during her 35 years were summed up on the occasion of her retirement: she “literally created the history department,” bringing to the original “constantly changing” one-person staff, “stability, strong administration, a balanced and comprehensive curriculum, and purposeful extracurricular activities.” From 1939 until her retirement in 1974, she oversaw seventeen full and part-time faculty and the graduation of nearly 300 history majors, including both lay and religious (Program for Occasion Honoring Sr. Albert Murphy, SND, Sept. 29, 1974, TMU Archives). Sister herself noted that when the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools was evaluating TMC for its 1969 reaccreditation, it stated that “The History Department is especially strong.” (Sr. Albert Resumé) When she was no longer at the college, Sr. Albert served her religious congregation in various ways, including teaching Church History to SND novices and adult parishioners at St. Columban Parish in Loveland, Ohio (Sr. Albert Obituary).
One of Sr. Albert’s star students in her early years in the history department was a young Notre Dame Sister who would later become her professional colleague and a close friend, Sr. Mary Philip Trauth. Rose Regina Trauth was born in Newport on December 10, 1923 to Leo and Rose Rueth Trauth. She attended St. Stephen School in Newport and Notre Dame Academy in Covington, from which she graduated in 1941. She entered the Notre Dame Novitiate in 1939, three years after her mother’s death (her father later remarried), and made her religious profession on August 12, 1943. During World War II, she lost her older brother, Leo, who was killed in action (Sisters of Notre Dame Funeral Booklet, 1995, pages 25-26).
With a four-year scholarship, Sr. Philip began her association with Villa Madonna College as a student in 1942 at a time when many of the young women attending were sisters. After graduating with an AB in 1946, she began teaching history at Notre Dame Academy while attending summer courses at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D. C., from which she attained an MA in History in 1952. With this advanced degree, she began her career at Villa Madonna that fall. Her higher studies were not completed, though, and she took a leave of absence in 1955 to complete a PhD. For this she returned to Catholic University, and attained her doctorate in 1958, having earned credits in Political Science along with History. Her dissertation was entitled Italo-American Diplomatic Relations, 1861-1882 (VMC Staff Achievement Records, TMU Archives). It was published by the Catholic University of America in 1958, and in a reprint edition by Greenwood Press in 1980.
Phi Alpha Theta Initiation, Oct. 6, 1966, with William Robinson, Sr. Albert and Dr. Lynn Turner. TMU Archives.
One of Sr. Philip’s most influential non-teaching roles came in 1963 and 1964 when she served as chair of the Ad Hoc Committee for Revision of the Faculty Handbook that was formed to codify the formation of a Faculty Senate. (The Faculty Senate later became the Faculty Coordinating Committee). The call for a faculty senate originated after a group of thirteen members of the faculty sent a letter, dated February 20, 1963, to Msgr. Murphy. The so-called “Group of Thirteen” claimed that the faculty had too little say in the college’s academic affairs, and they called for the president to have more consultation with faculty representatives.
Although he did not fully agree with some of the group’s reasoning, Msgr. Murphy held meetings with faculty that spring, and the idea for a faculty senate emerged; the Group of Thirteen suggested a “faculty board” that would work in conjunction with the Administration Committee (Group of Thirteen letter to Murphy, March 18, 1963, TMU Archives).
Even with the formulation of the senate’s role in an inchoate stage, it was recognized that its implementation would require changes to the structures in place in the current Faculty Handbook. An ad hoc committee was appointed with the charge to revise the entire handbook. At its first meeting on January 4, 1964, they elected Sr. Philip as chair. As part of its function, the committee helped define the nature and role of the new senate, and its relationship with the president and Board of Trustees (Minutes of Faculty Handbook Committee, Feb. 27, 1964, TMU Archives). Sr. Philip retained an independent, objective outlook but sometimes disagreed with opinions stated by Msgr. Murphy.
Sr. Philip expressed her opinion on various other topics of the day. She suggested that the Administration Committee and faculty consider raising the admissions standards because she was disappointed in the level of work done by her freshman Modern Europe class. “The average student was not even doing good high school work” (Trauth to Murphy, Feb. 21, 1963, TMU Archives). Later that same year she criticized Msgr. Murphy for not canceling morning classes to hold a solemn requiem Mass for President John F. Kennedy, “the first Catholic President of the United States” the day of his funeral (Trauth to Murphy, Nov. 24, 1963, TMU Archives).
During her many years of teaching, Sr. Philip belonged to numerous professional historical associations. She authored Eurasia: The First Frontier, a history text for middle school students published in 1968. She also wrote and published articles and book reviews in various journals, as well as contributions to the New Catholic Encyclopedia of 1965. One of her articles, “The Small Catholic College,” appeared in the April 28, 1962 issue of America. She highlighted Villa Madonna College as an example to justify the existence of small Catholic Colleges (which she seemed to regard particularly as diocesan colleges) when their value was being questioned.
As early as 1964, Sr. Philip evidenced an interest in Russian/Soviet studies. Although there were already some Russian history, language and literature courses at VMC, Sr. Philip pushed for the introduction of a “broader program of Russian Studies” that would encompass Soviet studies as well (Trauth to Murphy, Oct. 19, 1964, TMU Archives). During the summer of 1965, Sr. Philip was able to go to Harvard on a post-doctoral summer scholarship to improve her Russian courses so that she would be “better qualified to inaugurate a Russian area program” at VMC (Trauth to Murphy, Mar. 20, 1965, TMU Archives).
Sr. Philip’s most extensive chance to study the Soviet Union was on the occasion of visiting the U.S.S.R. itself. A propitious opportunity presented itself in 1974 when Sr. Philip was able to visit West Germany and the Soviet Union to aid her preparation for a course that would be part of a cluster in TMC’s Venture Program. For her travels, she had the aid of financing from a National Endowment for the Humanities grant that sponsored TMC’s Humanities Enrichment Program (HEP), and she also secured three internationally known speakers who gave talks on German and Soviet History for the HEP Lecture Series. See The NKyTribune history column on the program.
As a religious, Sr. Philip took seriously the nature of TMC as a Catholic college. She saw some post-Vatican II developments as incommensurate with Catholicism as she understood it. She wrote to Msgr. Murphy about a woman who called her with concerns about the theology being taught at TMC. The mother was worried that her son was losing his faith, and Sr. Philip surmised that it was because some of the priest faculty “put forth theory as fact” and that some of the “latest thinking” was “not necessarily dogma or even historically sound” (Trauth to Murphy, May 26, 1968, TMU Archives).
In order to maintain TMC’s Catholic character, she believed that “for the foreseeable future only seriously practicing Catholics be engaged as either teachers or administrators…” (Trauth to President DeGraff, June 6, 1975, TMU Archives). Sr. Philip’s judgment was questionable on this point because such a policy, had it been adopted, could have been construed as discriminatory, although her devotion to Catholicism was clear. As chair of the department, she insisted that any priests teaching in History or Political Science were “expected to be in good standing ecclesiastically and to wear full clerical garb.” (Trauth to Charles Deters, DeGraff and Dr. Ronald Mann, Vice President of Academic Affairs, Feb. 21, 1977, TMU Archives)
TMC History Faculty at Sr. Albert’s Retirement Celebration, September 29, 1974: (left to right) Dr. Francis Bremer, Sr. Philip, Sr. Albert, Fr. Paul Tenhundfeld, Ms. Susan Court Defalaise, Ms. Nancy Bruns and Mr. Leroy Hill (Hadorn Photo. TMU Archives.)
Sr. Philip was known for her polite good nature, but she felt compelled to speak out when she perceived that something was not right or just. She did not shrink from pointing out to Msgr. Murphy the lack of consultation for appointments within the history department – “It is very difficult to discard the idea so often printed nowadays that Sisters are merely exploited as cheap labor,” though she added that it was really a “labor of love” for them (Trauth to Murphy, May 15, 1968, TMU Archives).
On top of her many other roles, Sr. Philip was appointed in 1976 as the college’s first archivist (DeGraff to TMC Community, Oct. 1, 1976). She believed it was crucial for someone to take charge of the collection of various records and that this person should be trained and certified as an archivist. She attended a two-week internship at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., that summer so that she could properly fill the position (Trauth to DeGraff, Mar. 30, 1976, TMU Archives). The following year, Bishop Richard Ackerman appointed her as archivist for the Diocese of Covington as well. In both positions, she faced the monumental task of bringing order to disorganized masses of materials.
Sr. Mary Philip served two terms as Chair of the History and Political Science Department, 1975–1981 and 1987–1990. In 1991, after nearly forty years of service, teaching many branches of history and political science, Sr. Philip was granted emeritus status. In semi-retirement, she spent time at St. Joseph Heights caring for her dear friend, Sr. Albert, who was losing her eyesight.
Sr. Mary Albert passed away on September 3, 1995, shortly after the Notre Dame congregation celebrated her 80th jubilee as a sister. Sr. Philip wrote a fitting eulogy for Sr. Albert that stressed her many accomplishments; much of what she wrote could have been applied equally well to herself. In fact, Sr. Philip would herself be eulogized barely a month later, when she died in her sleep on October 2, 1995, the feast of the Most Holy Guardian Angels. Sr. Philip was a firm believer in guardian angels. In fact, she often referred to Sr. Albert as her “guardian angel.” To history professor Paul Tenkotte, and to many VMC/TMC alumni and colleagues, it was clear—Sr. Albert had guided Sr. Philip safely home to heaven.
In a short period of time, the history department lost two of its most prominent and revered professors, two legends who had developed a first-class department that graduated many majors. These graduates became historians themselves, as well as civil servants, attorneys, and politicians. They all had an excellent grounding in history, writing, and critical thinking that would serve them well in their careers, thanks to the dedicated Sisters of Notre Dame for whom the success of their students always was very gratifying.
Tom Ward is the Archivist of Thomas More University. He holds an MA in History from Xavier University, Cincinnati. He can be contacted at wardt@thomasmore.edu .
We want to learn more about the history of your business, church, school, or organization in our region (Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and along the Ohio River). If you would like to share your rich history with others, please contact the editor of “Our Rich History,” Paul A. Tenkotte, at tenkottep@nku.edu. Paul A. Tenkotte, PhD is Professor of History and Gender Studies at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) and the author of many books and articles.
