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In 1867, Reverend Patrick Healy built the Convent of the Sacred Heart of Mary and received the permission of Sister Superior Louise to have the Sisters of Notre Dame come to Chicopee to take charge of St. Joseph School. Having first seen the work of the Sisters in East Boston while he was curate there, Father Healy wanted them as his co-laborers in Chicopee. The four Sisters chosen for this mission were Sister Mary Rosa, Sister Felicitas, Sister Magdalen of St. Joseph, and Sister Superior Mary Albania. Met in Springfield by Father Healy on Tuesday, August 20, 1867, the Sisters were brought in a hack to Chicopee where they were greeted by the parishioners who were gathered in the church. Three hundred children who were assembled in the middle aisle began to chant the Litany of the Blessed Virgin when the Sisters entered and continued to sing hymns prior to an address of welcome read by Sarah Bowe. Miss Bowe said:
"Permit me, dear Sisters, on behalf of my youthful companions who have chosen me to represent them on this joyful occasion, to offer you from our hearts a most sincere and cordial welcome to your new home. You come to devote your lives to us, and we trust that in all our actions nothing may ever occur to cause you any regret. We beg God, dear Sisters, to bless and strengthen your charitable undertaking, and we sincerely hope that we may ever bless this day when we for the first time become your obedient and devoted children."
On August 22, the Blessed Sacrament was brought to the Convent Chapel, and on August 24, Mass was said there for the first time. On September 2, 1867, the Sisters began classes in the Chapel connected to the Church; this room served as a temporary school until October 15, when the Right Reverend Bishop Williams of Boston came to bless the new school as well as the Sisters' Chapel.
The year 1867 came to an end with the Sisters' efforts having yielded much fruit. One hundred forty adults had been prepared in the Sacraments; there were eighty-six First Communicants and three hundred parochial scholars.
In January, 1868, an evening school was opened for the benefit of the girls who had to work during the day, but was later discontinued because of the strain imposed upon the Sisters by the extra hours of teaching. On April 4 of that year, the boys' Sunday School was opened. During the summer, Sisters Mary Martha and Columba came to join the community of four. Unfortunately, however, Sister Mary Martha contracted consumption and died before the opening of the second school year. She was laid to rest next to the Church. Before seven months had passed, Sister Columba was fatally stricken with fever and she succumbed on March 14, 1869. Tombstones mark their graves as well as that of Sister Gertrude Aloysius, who more than twenty years later was laid to rest beside them.
In 1881, Father Healy brought the Irish Christian Brothers from New York to take charge of the boys' school. Before this time the boys were under lay direction. Among their teachers were: Mr. Fox — later a member of the British Parliament, Dr. Keyes, Eugene Sullivan, Ellen Prendergast, Ellen Houlihan, Margaret Hogan, and Anna Blanchfield. Brothers Alfred and Cosman, together with many other Christian Brothers, gave years of devoted service to the young men of Chicopee and it was with much regret that their co-workers and parishioners watched them leave Chicopee in 1906. The financial burden of supporting two religious communities was too great for the parishioners to bear, so that when the Sisters' Rule was modified to allow them to teach boys in the first eight grades it was deemed advisable for the Brothers to withdraw and allow the boys to obtain their high school education at Cathedral High School.
Two notable events marked the year 1882; the celebration of the anniversary of the consecration of the Church and the pilgrimage from Cambridge. The first, combined with Commencement Day at the school, was held on June 28. Many notable clergy took part in the day's festivities which began with a solemn High Mass. On August 10, a pilgrimage from St. Mary Church in Cambridge to Chicopee was conducted by Fathers Scully and Mundy. Exercises took place both in the Church and the hall where William Dwyer, a student at St. Thomas Aquinas College and one of the pilgrims, stated in an eloquent address that the purpose of the pilgrimage was to make a profession of faith and to congratulate Holy Name Parish on its success in the cause of Catholic education.
The death of their good friend Father Healy on January 22, 18 89, saddened the hearts of the Sisters. During the twenty-two years the Sisters had been under his care, their needs had been thoughtfully looked after. He was ever to them the true Irish gentleman and priest, and his heart and purse were ever open to their needs. A large Celtic cross marks his final resting place in the west churchyard.
In September of 1890, Sister Mary Albania, Superior and faithful co-worker of Father Healy for so many years, was called to labor in other fields. Her charitable works equaled those of the pastor and that is commendation in itself. Among her projects was a day nursery to care for the little children of mothers who were obliged to work in the mills.
Sister Mary Albania was replaced by Sister Teresa of Mary, a member of the community who, being in delicate health, remained only two years. Sister Agnes Aloysius then became Superior, but was transferred to a larger field of labor after one year of service. Sister Imelda of the Sacred Heart replaced her as head of the community.
In the fall of 1893, a sewing circle was organized by the Sisters for the benefit of the poor. An important purpose was to keep in contact with the young girls who had left school after the seventh or eighth grades. The girls began by sewing clothes for the poor children and were then placed in charge of the altar linens and vestments which they not only made but kept in repair.
In 1894, the pastor, Reverend John McCoy, presented the Sisters with a grand piano which enabled them to begin teaching music. Father McCoy, unlike his predecessors, favored teaching the higher branches of learning and therefore, on September 4, 1894, a high school was opened. The laundry was turned into a classroom since there was no room vacant in the school building until after its renovation, when the high school pupils then moved into one of the finished rooms. Father McCoy also built the present Sisters' chapel and said Mass there for the first time on the feast of the Visitation, 1901.
In April, 1902, Sister Imelda of the Sacred Heart was transferred to East Boston; replacing her was Sister Lidwin of the Sacred Heart as Superior and Principal. It was her successor, Sister Loretta of the Sacred Heart who welcomed the Diocesan Superintendent of Schools, Reverend John F. Conlin, as pastor, in November, 1905.
Diocesan examinations were held at the school for the first time in May, 1907, and Holy Name became the center for some of the neighboring schools.
The year 1917 marked the Golden Jubilee celebration of the coming of the Sisters of Notre Dame to Chicopee and the beginning of parochial school education in the Springfield Diocese. The parish gift at the request of Monsignor Conlin was the embellishment of the chapel and convent interiors. A porch was added to the east side of the chapel for the Sisters' convenience. The festivities on September 2, 1917, began with a solemn High Mass celebrated by Doctor McCoy and presided over by Bishop Beaven. In his address Father Conlin said of the Sisters:
"Three generations of the people of Holy Name Parish have passed under the care and influence of these noble, self-sacrificing Sisters. It would be impossible for anyone to tell the good they have done, what grand, noble, self-sacrificing lives they have led here in our midst. Their aim has never been to find rest or to look for any sign of appreciation. During the fifty years they have been here, not once has their voice been heard asking a single thing for themselves, or for recognition of the work they have so nobly done. What splendid schools they have! How well they teach! We need fear no failure, for the result of these fifty years speaks for itself."
On September 3, 1925, the new Science Building of Holy Name High School was opened. At the time it was unique in New England, for no other high school had a building devoted exclusively to domestic, physical and commercial sciences. In keeping with the custom begun in 1868 of annually exhibiting the work of the school children, the cooking classes had an exhibition of some of their skill in the culinary department on the first Sunday in May, 1926.
During the summer of 1929, remodelling of the boys' school was begun in order to give the Sisters one class instead of the double grades which had always existed.
The Sisters prepared the students of the grammar and high schools for the participation in the parish centennial which was celebrated on October 12, 1938.
When the work of Sisters Marie Francesca and Mary Gilberta in preparing diocesan schedules for all parochial schools was finished, Sister Marion Cecilia was appointed Inspectress of Schools. At the beginning of 1940, high schools in the diocese were asked to develop debating teams for inter-scholastic competition. In the years when participation was mandatory, Holy Name High School girls maintained a creditable record, becoming Diocesan Champions in 1949.
The annals of Holy Name are replete with accounts of the many services of three Sisters of Notre Dame whose combined years of service to the people of Notre Dame totals one hundred and thirty-five. The pleasant voice and gentle smile of Sister Louise Magdalen greeted generations of students and parishioners sent to the convent on errands. So well was Sister remembered by "her boys" that a lovely statue of St. Joseph was erected in her memory in the Sisters' garden. Sister Francis Catherine holds the next highest record of service with thirty-six years of catering to the Sisters' needs in sundry duties within the community and in the domestic science department of the high school. In 1964, Sister Madeleine Julie celebrated her Golden Jubilee of Religious Profession and for thirty-four years has given of herself and her musical talents to many erstwhile piano virtuosos here in Chicopee.
The famous Chancel Choir was under Sisters' jurisdiction from the 1930's until the recommendations of Vatican Council II called for congregational singing. High school girls who studied music under Sister's tutelage in the teen years of this century have sent their children to her since her return in 1934. Because of failing health, Sister Madeleine Julie was transferred from her Chicopee home to another Notre Dame home, Notre Dame du Lac in Worcester. It is sincerely regretted by the Sisters and all at Holy Name that Sister is not able physically to be with us for the centennial celebrations.
In writing an account of this kind it is difficult to give due recognition to all those whose presence in the web of local history was vital; to all those whose untiring efforts on behalf of Catholic education were successful, and to all those whose spirit still inspires those who carry on the work, Holy Name's school record would never aim at completeness unless we remember the dedication of Sister Rose of the Sacred Heart, Sister Mary Hilary, Sister Lucy of the Sacred Heart, Sister Aloyse Julie, Sister Angelita of the Sacred Heart, Sister Louise Angela, Sister Mary Catherine, Sister Clarissa of the Sacred Heart, Sister Bernadine Julie, Sister Marie Martha, and Sister Catherine Francis. All these Sisters — and others — helped nurture the seed planted by the original four Sisters and three hundred students until now one century later we find the following educational statistics for the Diocese of Springfield:
SCHOOLS STUDENTS
9 High Schools (Parochial or Diocesan) 6,028
2 Private High Schools 425
60 Parochial Elementary Schools 23,803
2 Private Elementary Schools 259
134 Parish CCD Schools of Religion Instruction 5 8,411
Approximately one thousand teachers priests, religious and lay teach over thirty thousand children in the Catholic schools of the diocese and others join them to instruct approximately ninety thousand students in the Catholic faith. In this day when many ask: "Are parochial schools obsolete?", we can but pose another question; "What are the Nation's needs?" The answer? Intellectual discipline, commitment to law and moral standards, and the exercise of rational restraint. These are the warp and woof of our Catholic educational tradition and present ample argument for its continuance.
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School History 
