7/16/2010
The Maria High School community rejoiced when Pope Benedict XVI recognized the heroic virtue of Mother Maria Kaupas, foundress of the Sisters of St. Casimir and of St. Casimir Academy/Maria High School, on July 1, and named her Venerable.
Venerable Servant of God Maria Kaupas’s educational legacy (pictured in background artwork) keeps making a difference in the lives of Maria students, such as (from left) Catherine Peralta, Elizabeth Ocampo, Alexandria Peterson, Joceline Peralta, and Cyncidia Davis, alongside former Maria teacher Sister Reginald, SSC. Sr. Reginald, a Sister of St. Casimir for over 70 years, is fortunate to have known Mother Maria before her passing in 1940.
Pope Benedict’s recognition places Mother Maria Kaupas one step closer to being recognized a saint by the Church.
Mother Maria Kaupas opened St. Casimir Academy (SCA) at 2601 W. Marquette Rd. on September 5, 1911. Permission to build an expansion of SCA – Maria High School – was granted by the archdiocese in 1949. The Sisters broke ground in a once-empty prairie across from Marquette Park on June 11, 1950, and opened Maria’s doors to 750 young women on September 8, 1952, as a continuation of SCA. The new school was renamed Maria to honor its Patroness, the Virgin Mary, and Mother Maria Kaupas, the foundress of the Sisters of St. Casimir.
Altogether, over 14,000 women have been educated by SCA/Maria High School from 1911 the present time. This fall, Maria is entering the 100th year that the Sisters of St. Casimir have been educating young women in the Marquette Park community, and it is looking forward to celebrations marking the upcoming centennial in 2011.
In addition to opening SCA, Mother Maria Kaupas, in 1932, opened Villa Joseph Marie High School, an all-girls high school in Holland, Pennsylvania, which is still sponsored by the Sisters of St. Casimir. Mother Maria also opened 28 elementary schools in seven states between 1907 and 1938. Twelve of these schools were located in the Archdiocese of Chicago, two of which, Nativity BVM and St. Paul/Our Lady of Vilna, are still in existence.
Mother Maria Kaupas began her life’s journey of faith as Casimira Kaupas in the Lithuanian village of Gudeliai in 1880. Casimira’s path took her to America in 1905, where she discovered her call to religious life and to founding a Congregation. In 1928, reflecting on the Congregation’s ministry of education, Mother Maria expressed to the Sisters of St. Casimir: “It is our duty to cherish and perfect these flowers (students), watering them with wholesome lessons, to uplift them with the rays of good example and love, so that they may ever more closely resemble their eternal portrait and advance nearer their eternal destiny.”
Young women at Maria High School continue to benefit from the wonderful legacy of Mother Maria. For more information about how young women can become students at Maria High School and participate in this legacy, visit us at mariahighschool.org or call Mario Escobedo at 773-925-8686, ext. 116.