Eucharista Galvin Papers

Sister Eucharista Galvin was the second President of the College of St. Catherine. She held the position from 1937 to 1934.

Sister Eucharista was born in Waverly, Minnesota in 1893. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1915 and took her final vows in 1920.

At St. Catherine’s she had studied history, receiving a bachelor’s degree in 1924. From there she went on to the University of Chicago where she earned first a master’s (1925) and later became one of the first sisters to receive a doctorate from Chicago in 1929. That year she started teaching history at St. Catherine’s and took up the duties of the registrar.

Her presidency fell right at the beginning of World War II and she helped to guide the school through the moral difficulties and social responsibilities of wartime. She both supported the United States war efforts and spoke towards restoring peace. During the time of the Japanese internment camps, Sister Eucharista offered Japanese women an opportunity to attend the college as an alternative. Because of her zeal in supporting the war effort and particularly her work with air-raid wardens, Sister Eucharista received a certificate of merit from the 11th Ward out of St. Paul on January 11th, 1943.

During her presidency, she promoted social awareness, expanded the curriculum, and improved the financial standing of the college. She was an advocate of independent thinking and judgment. She also oversaw the reorganization of the Board of Trustees in 1945 and the merger with St. Mary’s School of Nursing.

After serving the maximum six years Sister Eucharista stepped down from the presidency and returned to teaching for two years. She then served as the superior of the St. Paul province of sisters from 1945 to 1951, returned to teach history at the college again and finally was named general superior of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in St. Louis (1954-1966). She later established missions in Japan in 1956 and in Peru in 1962 and worked as a missionary and language teacher in Japan from 1969 to 1973. She died at Bethany Convent in 1985.