, OH
Mother Mary of the Annunciation Beaumont (1818-1881) was an English-born, French educated Ursuline Sister, she arrived in Cleveland from Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, in 1850, accompanied by three other Ursulines and a lay teacher. Invited to Ohio by Bishop Amadeus Rappe, the Ursulines vowed to improve society through religious education. That same year, Beaumont established the city’s first Catholic school (grades 1-12), “Ursuline Academy,” and dedicated it to teaching girls “to think for themselves.” Beaumont not only taught at area parishes, she ably guided the opening and staffing of schools in Toledo (1854), Tiffin (1863), and Youngstown (1874). In 1874, the Ursulines purchased property on the Shores of Lake Erie and opened St. Mary’s School (1878). The school, re-named Villa Angela Academy in 1941, educated women for 112 years.