Mildred St. Aubin Maier's education
Both the Maier (Ernie) and McManus (Jean) family valued education. Both Ernie and Jean had advanced degrees (masters) with PhD coursework and became college professors/faculty. Ernie's mother Mildred St. Aubin also accomplished educational achievements.
Sacred Heart Academy Certificate - Fort Wayne, Indiana
Sacred Heart Academy in Fort Wayne was a Catholic girls’ school that included courses, social activities, and room-and-board. School catalogues from 1920 and 1923 also survive and are indexed by the Allen County Genealogical Society. These are particularly useful because they describe the academy close to the period when Mildred attended. They could provide information about classes, school rules, teachers, and possibly her name in student or award lists.
The academy’s connection to the Sisters of the Holy Cross has support beyond the wording on your certificate. Saint Mary’s College’s biography of Sister Kathleen Marie Till, CSC, specifically recalls her attending Sacred Heart Academy in Fort Wayne. As a second-grade student, she told her teacher that she wanted to become a Holy Cross sister. This provides direct evidence of the academy’s relationship with the congregation.
The Sisters of the Holy Cross belong to the religious family founded by Father Basil Anthony Moreau in Le Mans, France. Four sisters came to northern Indiana in 1843, initially assisting the priests and brothers associated with the young University of Notre Dame.
The sisters soon began educating girls. In 1844, they opened Saint Mary’s Academy in Bertrand, Michigan. That school moved to the Notre Dame area in 1855 and developed into Saint Mary’s College.
Mildred’s academy therefore belonged to a broader tradition of Catholic women’s education. The congregation’s history records that its sisters established more than 100 academies, schools, and colleges, serving as administrators and teachers.
Additional information is available in the Sisters of the Holy Cross’s official history and Saint Mary’s College’s remembrance of Sister Kathleen Marie Till.
The “Certificate of Award” recognizing “Class averages” indicates that it was an academic achievement award rather than a graduation diploma. It is a meaningful record of her schoolwork being formally recognized.
A Notre Dame alumni publication from 1940 describes the former Sacred Heart Academy near Fort Wayne as being used by the Crosier Fathers as a preparatory seminary and as a retreat location. This documents a later use of the academy premises, although it does not establish the academy’s exact closing date.
Sacred Heart Academy Diploma
St. Bernard School Diploma
Saint Mary’s Academy began in Bertrand, Michigan, but it had moved to Indiana long before the 1920s. By that decade, its educational legacy continued at Saint Mary’s near Notre Dame. The earlier mention of Bertrand referred to the school’s beginnings, not its location during your grandmother’s school years.
The Sisters of the Holy Cross opened Saint Mary’s Academy in Bertrand, near the Michigan–Indiana border, on July 16, 1844. Their early work included teaching local children and caring for orphans.
The sisters worked under difficult conditions, but the academy grew. Their historical account describes Bertrand as their first cherished American home and the foundation for their later educational ministries.
Under Mother Angela Gillespie’s leadership, the sisters relocated the academy in 1855 to a larger site near Notre Dame, Indiana. They had outgrown the Bertrand property, and the Indiana location offered better prospects for growth.
Mother Angela promoted advanced mathematics, philosophy, modern languages, music, and art. The academy became the foundation of Saint Mary’s College, the women’s college at Notre Dame, Indiana.
During the 1920s, Saint Mary’s was active on its Indiana campus. Alumnae helped raise money for Le Mans Hall, whose construction began in 1924. Saint Mary’s Academy and Sacred Heart Academy in Fort Wayne shared a connection through the Sisters of the Holy Cross.
