CCHA Historical
Studies, 72 (2006), 124-141
Gertrude
Lawler and St Joseph’s Academy: Alumnae, Advocate and Author[1]
Elizabeth SMYTH
The First Annual Alumnae Banquet, or as the
members called it this year, the “Jubilee Banquet” … was a notable gathering of
Catholic women, speaking not only of loyal affection to their Alma Mater, but
also of their devotion to the cause of higher education of women.[2]
Thus the Annals
of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto record the events of 28 October
1911. Two hundred graduates of the
congregation’s flagship boarding school in Canada, St. Joseph’s Academy,[3]
gathered in the reception room of the Toronto motherhouse to celebrate two
events. The first, and most apparent,
was a celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the order’s Canadian
foundation. The second, and for the
purposes of this essay, the more significant was to celebrate the formalization
of their collective heritage and, continuing involvement with the Academy
through the establishment of the St. Joseph’s College Alumnae Association.
Presiding over the
evening’s events was the founding president of the St. Joseph’s College Alumnae
Association and the founding editor of the Alumnae journal, The St. Joseph
Lilies,[4] Gertrude
Lawler. Lawler was a remarkable woman.
The Academy Gold Medalist of 1882 and, since 1910, a senator of the University
of Toronto, Lawler was building a reputation as a prominent Ontario educator
and advocate of the rights of women to higher education. Her contributions to
education and social service in the province of Ontario would be acknowledged
by the University of Toronto, which, as part of its centenary celebrations in
1927, awarded her an honourary Doctor of Laws.
Lawler, like all the
former “young lady pupils,” was a product of a school whose carefully crafted
ideology for the education of the contemporary woman had evolved over its
fifty-seven year history. Sr. Emerentia
Lonergan, the community annalist from 1899 to 1917, who had been both a former
teacher and mistress of the boarding school, described the community’s reflections
on this gathering:
Could a Godless
school, we thought, produce such women as met here this evening? No, it would
be impossible. Education without religion is a failure. The spiritual nature
cannot be disregarded without detriment to the whole.[5]
Drawing on the Annals, the Lilies, and archival materials
housed in the Archives of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto, Morrow Park and
the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet (St. Louis, Missouri), the University
of Toronto and the Toronto Board of Education, this essay explores the career
of Gertrude Lawler in the promotion of ongoing education for women by focussing
on an analysis of the growth of St. Joseph’s College Alumnae Association and its
literary magazine. It was through these
two creations that Lawler, who chose to live her professional life within the
broader secular context of public education and social service, cemented her
associations with the convent-academy that she defined as her spiritual and
intellectual home.
Because of the lack of state-sponsored schools for young women, private
education was the only option available in the early to mid-nineteenth century
for families who wished their daughters to engage in further study. It was this need for opportunities to
educate young women that led to the establishment of the first two Toronto
convent academies—Loretto Academy, founded in 1847 and St. Joseph’s Academy,
founded in 1854. From these two
foundations, the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Loretto Sisters) and the
Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, established boarding schools for
young women in many Ontario cities and towns.[6] In spite of the fact that convent academies
were many and that they educated generations of women, Ontario historians,
unlike their colleagues in the United States[7]
and across Canada,[8] have largely
overlooked the study of nineteenth century Ontario Catholic institutions for
girls and young women.[9]
St. Joseph’s Academy was the first of many Canadian convent-academies
established by members of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of
Toronto. The congregation, an
uncloistered order of religious women, had its origins in seventeenth century
France. The Toronto community was
established by women who had journeyed from France to St. Louis and
Philadelphia, establishing foundations along the way. The order had as its mission “Christian perfection and … service
of their neighbour,”[10]
which in practice meant the order’s members were engaged in both teaching and
social service.
From the Academy’s foundation, it is clear that the Sisters of St.
Joseph had the managing of a large and growing school as a long term goal. The attendance books and other
record-keeping volumes which date from the late 1850s had been specifically printed
for the school. When plans were drawn for a new motherhouse building located on
a site known as Clover Hill, home to St Basil’s Church and St Michael’s
College, and near the campus of the University of Toronto, the building was
designed to accommodate separate quarters for sisters and boarders. Ample room was left for expansion within the
structure of the building and on the surrounding property.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Sisters had achieved this
goal. The order had duly incorporated
regulations concerning the administration of the convent academy into its
constitution.[11] Between 1856 and 1920, over two thousand
pupils of all religious denominations had attended the Academy as boarders.[12] The large and flourishing school within the
motherhouse complex was visible proof of the commitment which the Congregation
of the Sisters of St. Joseph had made to the education of young women.
The scope of
programs offered by the Academy had likewise grown. From an initial Prospectus which offered a mixture of
“accomplishments” and “academics,” the Sisters of St. Joseph offered their
pupils the choice of three courses: a Collegiate Course, an Academic Course and
a Commercial Course. The graduates of the well-subscribed collegiate programs
were examined by members of the Ontario Department of Education and eligible
for admission to university. The
academic courses included those subjects previously defined as the
“accomplishments” in the vernacular of the nineteenth century “ladies academy”:
foreign languages, music and fine arts. The academic graduates were likewise
eligible for external certification and credentials for employment. The music
program was affiliated with the Royal Conservatory of Music; the art program
with the Toronto School of Art and the commercial course, with a number of
Toronto business schools including the Nimms and Harrison Business College.[13] The fact that a commercial program was
offered indicates that the Academy realised the necessity to provide some of
its pupils with training to enable them to compete for the opportunities
available to women in the growing commercial sector.
By 1911, a fourth
option was made available to the pupils of St. Joseph’s Academy. In that year,
the Academy successfully affiliated itself with St. Michael’s College and the
University of Toronto. Pupils could
also proceed to acquire the credits needed for a Bachelor of Arts degree.
By the sixtieth
anniversary of the establishment of the Toronto foundation, the Sisters of St.
Joseph had many pupils in whom to take pride.
Some of their graduates went on to have outstanding careers in the
secular world of public service, business and academic endeavours. Many were active in family life and
contributed to their communities as volunteers. Few joined religious communities (including the Congregation of
the Sisters of St. Joseph). While the Annals
of the order document the many informal links which bound the community and
its graduates together, it was not until the efforts of a core of graduates
from the 1880s, under the leadership of Gertrude Lawler, that their ties were
formalized in the creation of the Alumnae Association. Lawler’s Education and
Career.
Gertrude Lawler was
one of the most notable graduates of St. Joseph’s Academy. Until her death in 1929, she was a prominent
spokesperson for the Academy and for the more general causes of higher
education and increased status for women.
Gertrude Lawler, Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa (1927).
Reprinted
With permission of the Archives of the University of
St. Michael’s College
Lawler graduated from St. Joseph’s Academy in 1882. At the ceremonies
she read the valedictory address and was awarded the Gold Medal.[14] She was the first of the Academy’s graduates
to sit the provincial examinations and gain admission to the University of
Toronto where she proved herself to be an equally outstanding student at
University College.[15]
During her undergraduate
years, she received a number of scholarships and awards, including, in 1889,
the Special University Gold Medal For General Proficiency.[16]
She was active in the student community at University College and involved in
the publication of Sesame, the College women’s annual, as both an author
and an editor. Lawler received her Bachelor of Arts (1890) with honours in
Mathematics, English, Modern Languages and History.[17]
In 1891, she began her career in education as an English teacher at
Stratford Collegiate Institute, the first woman to hold a position on that
staff and, reportedly, the first woman to receive an initial salary of one
thousand dollars a year as a teacher.[18] One year later, she received a Master of
Arts from the University of Toronto and joined the staff of Toronto’s newly
established Harbord Collegiate.
Lawler was a prominent and proficient educator whose teaching career was
chronicled by the Toronto media. When
the Toronto School Board announced its intention in 1906 to move her to Jarvis
Collegiate, the Harbord Collegiate parents held a meeting to protest this move
and had the plan overruled.[19] Lawler was also featured as “Representative
Women,” in a 1913 series of articles printed in the Toronto Globe. The series’ author speculated:
It is of interest ...
that Miss Lawler’s academic qualifications rank among the highest in the
city...[She] has not applied for a principalship, but it is rather curious that
her claims and qualifications have been ignored. Can it be a case of sex
discrimination? Then, Toronto is behind many cities across the border in this
respect, where women are frequently found discharging efficiently the duties of
high school principalship.[20]
In 1914, Lawler was touted as the likely successor to Dr. Luther Embree
as principal of Jarvis Collegiate. Two Toronto newspapers, the Star and
the World, ran articles and
editorials regarding her application for this position. The Star supported Lawler’s
application, noting, “She draws attention to the appointment by the Board of
Education of women as principals and urges that her womanhood not debar her
from promotion.”[21] The Star’s editorial concludes:
There is no reason
why women should not be eligible for the highest educational positions ...
There should be more women professors, women inspectors, women principals if
competent women can be found. The relegation of women to subordinate positions
is a relic of prejudice - one might say barbarism.[22]
The World commented on both Lawler’s scholarship and her experience at Harbord Collegiate.
[She] lacks neither the experience nor the power of discipline ... in the absence of Principal Hagarty at any time she has acted with marked success as principal of that institute.[23]
Despite such public
support, Lawler did not receive the appointment.[24]
Lawler was also very active within the University of Toronto
community. She served as president of
the University of Toronto Alumnae Association in 1899 and again in 1912. She was active in the campaign to have a
women’s residence constructed for University College and she was associate
editor of the University of Toronto Monthly. In addition, Lawler served as an examiner and instructor in
English Methods with the Faculty of Education, and, because of her interest in
teacher education, published several books for use in secondary schools and the
university English classrooms, among them Works of Arnold, Browning and
Tennyson.[25] In 1910, she became a member of the Senate
of the University of Toronto and served on the Board of Governors for four
terms.
In spite of these
numerous achievements and the excessive demands of both her career and her
other commitments, Lawler undertook to establish both an alumnae association
and a literary magazine at her convent academy. Although she had worked and would continue to work with literary
magazines and alumnae associations in other locations, including Harbord
Collegiate and the University of Toronto, she saw it necessary to found both
for St. Joseph’s Academy. Lawler
believed that an alumnae association and a journal would fill a void and would
continue to enhance that formative experience in her life: her days as a pupil at St. Joseph’s Academy.
Established in 1911 with the motto “Pro Deo et Alma Matre”[26],
the
St. Joseph’s College Alumnae Association was the third documented attempt to
found an Alumnae Association within the Academy.[27] The first attempt occurred in 1891, when the
Annals record that
it was proposed to
form an Alumnae or Literary and Musical Association; thus affording the former
pupils an opportunity of assembling at stated times within their Alma Mater.[28]
After several meetings, it seems that the association did not
continue. The second attempt occurred
in 1907, but it too was unsuccessful.[29] The third attempt, and the ultimately
successful one that has continued on to the present, was the association
launched by Gertrude Lawler in 1911.
One could suggest several reasons why Lawler was successful where others
had failed: her experience, her drive and her commitment to creating linkages
between the Academy and its former pupils.
Based on her writings and published speeches, it is apparent that Lawler
believed that the Academy was a special place.
She saw herself formed by and belonging to the Academy. Shortly after her appointment to the Senate
of the University of Toronto, she gave a lecture at her alma mater
commemorating the birth of Cardinal Newman. Wearing the Academy colours of
brown and gold with her 1882 gold graduation medal around her neck, Lawler took
the stage and delivered the following remarks:
To be a Senator of a
University of Toronto is a great distinction, but never can it be so great to
me as is that of knowing that my Alma Mater rejoices in the honour that has
been conferred upon me. To be a senator of the University of Toronto
necessitated being a graduate of the University of Toronto and to become a
graduate, I had to do under-graduate work. Proud am I to say that my foundation
work was laid strongly and firmly, in this, my Convent home … I was placed here
by my beloved guardian to be educated.[30]
Lawler served as the first president of the Almunae Association and
founding editor of the journal, the Lilies. After her first term in office during which she established
structures for their long-term survival, she moved to an advisory position of
both. Always there for support, she
contributed articles, poems and snippets of personal reflections to the Lilies
and attended many of the alumnae-sponsored functions.
Although she was the driving force behind the Association, Lawler did
not operate alone. Its first Executive Committee included many of the prominent
graduates of the 1880s: Gertrude
Lawler, Theresa Korman Small, Margaret Lillis Hart and Elizabeth Conry. These
four graduates represented the diverse paths followed by the graduates of the
Academy. Lawler, an educator, took a leadership role in secular society;
Theresa Korman Small married and became a prominent philanthropist; Margaret
Lillis Hart was a famous journalist and president of the Toronto Women’s Press
Club and Elizabeth Conry joined the Congregation of the Sisters of St.
Joseph. As Mother Irene Conry, the
Superior of the Toronto community, she sanctioned the establishment of the
Alumnae Association and gave it its mandate. As Lawler explained:
To our request to be
allowed to establish the Association, Mother Irene … replied that she was
willing that the Alumnae Association exist, if its serious endeavour was to
work for God and Alma Mater. Her inspiring words form our motto — Pro Deo et
Alma Matre — For God and Alma Mater.[31]
The Association had two stated objectives: “to unite the Alumnae of St.
Joseph’s College; second to prove the loyalty of the Alumnae to their Alma
Mater.”[32]
As founding president of the Association, Lawler participated in the
drafting of the constitution and the circulation of the constitution in the
alumnae journal, the Lilies.
These documents gave the association and the journal both a purpose and
a structure. As Lawler explained in the
Lilies, the activities of the Alumnae Association demonstrate to the
“outside world” that they were the graduates of a “college, which is among the
first and the best of its kind in Canada.”[33]
One could also suggest that it was this need to demonstrate the value of their
collective heritage and disprove the perception that convent-educated women
were “a class of Catholic Women frequently looked upon by fellow Catholics as
utterly useless.”[34]
Ultimately, this led the Association’s Executive Committee to accept an
invitation for membership in the International Federation of Catholic Alumnae.
The Association’s Executive Committee, comprised of elected officials,
oversaw the organization’s temporal and spiritual activities. In addition to
the Executive Committee, the Association’s constitution mandated the
establishment of five standing committees: the Academic Committee, the
Programme Committee, the Social Committee, the Spiritual Committee and the
Cemetery Committee. The Academic
Committee had several functions. In
addition to the building of the College library, it was also responsible for
the provision of scholarships for pupils in the Academy and for the provisions
of scholarships for the higher education of the Sisters in the
Congregation. The Program Committee was
responsible for the intellectual and spiritual development of the Alumnae. It arranged the monthly meetings and
administered charitable events. The Social Committee organized celebrations for
both the Alumnae and the Congregation.
These events took place around the feast of the Holy Innocents (27
December); a Spring Garden Party held on the convent grounds and a November
Alumane Banquet. The Spiritual
Committee provided flowers for the college chapel and arranged memorial masses
for the alumnae and the Sisters. The Cemetery Committee was responsible for the
annual outing to the graves of the Sisters.
The Constitution stated that no officer shall hold the same office for
more than one year; but after the lapse of a year, she may be elected to the
same office. This was one way of ensuring that the Executive of the Association
would not be dominated by the same women year after year. In keeping with the constitution, Lawler
served as President of the Association for one year and then stepped down. She retained editorship of the Lilies until 1914 and remained
linked to the Association until her death in 1929.
The Alumnae Association sponsored activities for the intellectual and
spiritual development its members. It assisted in the growth of educational and
charitable activities of the Sisters of St. Joseph and it contributed to the
general good through specific welfare projects. Interspersed with the events
planned by the Social Committee, and in addition to the invitation to attend
executive meetings, lectures were scheduled for the members. Speakers were drawn from a number of
sources: visiting lecturers to the University of Toronto gave presentations on
such topics as “Christian Art and Grecian Culture;”[35]
clergy and scholars from American universities spoke on topics such as
“Apostolate of Womanhood;”[36]
actors talked about their craft;[37]
writers commented on their latest works;[38]
foreign-decorated observers addressed global events;[39]
the travel observations of sister alumnae, especially the well-travelled
Theresa Korman Small, who frequently spoke on her extensive travels which
covered the globe from Japan and the East to Egypt.[40]
The Alumnae Association played an active part in the various Catholic
charitable endeavours within the Archdiocese of Toronto. It undertook
fundraising activities to help support the social service endeavours of the
Sisters of St. Joseph especially the orphanages, hospitals and old people’s
homes administered by the Sisters.
Once Canada entered World War One, the Alumnae focused their collective
attention on the war effort. The
Alumnae Banquet was cancelled and the funds transferred to the “poor of the
city, the Belgians and the Canadian Contingent.”[41] It is important to note that in addition to
membership in the Alumane Association, many members worked with other
organizations including the Red Cross, the Imperial Order of Daughters of the
Empire, and the Women’s Auxiliary to several of the Toronto Battalions. Yet, these involvements did not stop the
members of the Alumnae Association from sponsoring their own activities. Members organized charitable events as
fundraisers for the welfare of soldiers. They sponsored knitting circles and
prepared Christmas packages to be sent overseas. At the war’s end, the Alumnae
Banquet was re-instated and at the 1919 dinner, Archbishop Neil McNeil
congratulated the Association on its significant contributions to the patriotic
cause.[42]
The Alumnae Association grew in influence both within Toronto and within
North America. Represented by Theresa
Korman Small and Margaret Lillis Hart, it cemented ties with sister
associations across the city and the province and participated in the formation
of the International Federation of Catholic Alumnae Associations. The Annals report that St. Joseph’s
was invited to send representatives by “the New York Chapter” — probably as a
result of correspondence with the network of American St. Joseph Convent
Academies.[43]
From the activities
of the Alumnae Association during the decade of the war period, it appears that
Lawler and her colleagues were successful in realizing their goals. There is ample evidence that the individual
and collective activities of the members disprove that these convent-educated
women were “utterly useless.”[44]
They were community leaders; educational leaders; fund-raisers,
philanthropists and providers of the means for women to enhance their own
education. The public press congratulated
Lawler for her leadership in creating an organization that was
the largest of its
kind in membership. Being noted throughout a broad area for the alert and
progressive nature of its work, the great success of the organization being due
in a large measure to the will, the ability and assiduous attention of its
president.[45]
One of the most useful tools in communicating the activities of the
Association to the world outside the walls of the Academy was Lawler’s other
innovation, the Alumnae literary magazine, the Lilies.
Gertrude Lawler utilized her experience as a writer, an editor and an
administrator to create The St. Joseph Lilies, the quarterly publication
of the Alumnae Association, dedicated
to unite the alumnae
with one another, to keep them united in a truly Catholic bond, and to bask in
the light of the Alma Mater. Our literary aspirations are not feeble, but they
are secondary to our chief aim.[46]
Although the volumes listed the Sisters of St. Joseph’s Superior Mother
Irene Conry and Gertrude Lawler as co-editors, Mother Conry’s role was
honourific. Lawler held primary responsibility for the editorial tasks insofar
as she wrote all the editorials and corresponded with the contributors. Lawler
had definite goals in mind for the Lilies. She wrote that among the reasons for the founding of the Lilies
was to highlight the achievements of the Sisters of St. Joseph:
It seems fitting that
the completion of sixty golden years of noble work in philanthropic and
educational institutions by the self-sacrificing Community of the Sisters of
St. Joseph should be marked in some special way; hence the publication of the Saint
Joseph Lilies wherein the outside world may learn a little of what is being
done in the physical, mental and moral development of young ladies by our
college, which is among the first and the best of its kind in Canada.[47]
As founding editor,
she took the Lilies from a concept to a self-sustaining,
well-respected journal. When she achieved that goal, she stepped down.
The Lilies was a literary magazine. Each of the quarterly volumes
contained on average some 130 pages of text and at least four photographic
plates. Most contributions were prose,
but poetry was also published. The
contributors to the Lilies, both men and women, were drawn primarily
from the Catholic community in Canada but also included American and British
authors and represented both the religious and secular communities. Contributions from members of the alumnae
dealt with a variety of subjects: travel, literary analysis, comments on the
role of women and an array of other subjects. The texts of speeches delivered to
Alumnae gatherings, and invited articles on topics such as the higher education
of women also appeared.
The articles which Lawler published in the Lilies ran the gamut
of opinions on the role of women in the pre-war period. In spite of her own thoughts advocating
equal pay for women and equal opportunity in the job market, Lawler published
the full range of opinions, including an article on “A Convent Training and
Women’s Rights” by Rev. F.J. O’Sullivan, who recommended against
the fashionably
dressed woman of the world. To emulate
her [too many girls] flock to the offices and department stores to earn by hard
work and drudgery the price of a little vanity and pleasure...[rather than] a
correct estimate of life - a happy blending of the ideals of knowledge, work
and worth. Thus she is prepared to take her place in the home which she loves,
adores and sanctifies … imbued with the Catholic principles in the halls of her
alma mater.[48]
In another issue, Lawler published “Catholic Women and Journalism” in
which author Florence T. Robinson complained about the lack of female
representation among the accredited journalists writing for the Catholic press.
Robinson wrote,
The days have long
gone by when it was considered unwomanly for a woman to write; when such
writers as Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and her sisters had to keep a piece of
needlework to throw over their papers in case visitors were announced. Then the
pen, though it might have been mightier than the sword, was not considered, in
woman’s hands, mightier than the needle. There is, believe me, a great future
before the Catholic newspaper woman...
there is no money and there is hard work, work that cannot be shirked or
slurred over, if one is to have any measure of influence.[49]
In addition to topical pieces on women’s rights and current affairs,
Lawler presented her readers with spiritual lessons. Allegorical stories contributed by students and adults, such as
“A Christmas Story” in which a young girl survives a train wreck and is
reunited with her father at midnight mass, was appropriate to the season in
which the volume appeared. Reminiscences of convent education, poems celebrating
friends who entered religious life, prayers and meditations were also included
in the pages of the Lilies.
There were contributions from women religious of both St. Joseph’s and
other religious orders. Those written
by members of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph were generally
identified by initials rather than name.
This was a common characteristic of any works produced by the Sisters of
this order and of others. Paintings were signed with initials; books identified
as being written by a “member of the Community.”
Not all departments of the Lilies had such religious
overtones. As well as the advertising
which contributed to the funding of the magazine, other regular features
included reports from the College Academy, results of examinations, items from
the music department, alumnae items, and a segment entitled the “College
Department” with its own editor, staff and contributions—all drawn from the
students of St. Joseph’s College. This ensured that the Alumnae Association
would have intergenerational contacts and was a strategy to ensure the
long-term survival of the Association.
“Exchanges” was a feature consisting of comments from and about other
college publications. As editor, Lawler
circulated the Lilies among other colleges and invited them to comment
upon the issue. Likewise, she commented upon the contents of their
volumes. In this way, Lawler achieved
her objective of sharing the successes of St. Joseph’s Academy with the outside
world.
Lawler held the job as editor of the Lilies until March of
1914. Her final editorial provided a
personal assessment of her tenure as editor.
She wrote:
We set before
ourselves a task of dutiful love; we gave freely of our best endeavours to
succeed; and now that we have attained our end, we voluntarily resign our high
office, for we are conscious of the pioneer work has been done as well as we
know how to do it...We have tried to do our best for the glory of God and the
lasting welfare of the institution to which we have pledged allegiance. We
resign in the confidence that the ‘Lilies’ is flourishing and needs now only
care and attention to secure a constant and vigorous growth.[50]
Continuing, she
reported that the circulation, currently 1000 copies per issue, could easily be
doubled. Lawler wrote about the authors who had sent her work and thanked “the
unexpected contributions from friends anxious to see our Lilies flourish
and anxious to advance the scholastic interests of the Sisters of St. Joseph in
the cause of high education.”[51]
In the first two years of its existence, Lawler set the standards and
the tone for the Lilies. It
continued to be published under the editorship of members of the community
until 1953. Its first Sister-editor
was Sr. Emerentia Lonergan. As
Annalist, Mistress of Boarders and contributor to the Lilies and other
publications, Sr. Emerentia was well qualified to take over the editorship from
Lawler. Throughout the rest of the war years, the Lilies continued to
receive contributions from prominent Catholic authors. In 1916, Sr. Emerentia
wrote:
It is now two years
since Miss Lawler resigned the Editorship of the “Lilies” and since that time
our little Magazine has been completely in our own hands. We have gained too in that period the
friendship of many distinguished literary people such as Mr. Kilmer, Miss
Eleanor C. Donnelly, Miss Caroline D. Swan as well as drawing closer the bonds
that bind us to our literary friends and helpers, Father Donnard, Dean Harris,
Rev. Dr. Talbot Smith, Dr. Wm. Fischer, Father Casey, Father Kehoe, Rev. Dr.
Ryan, Dean O’Malley and others, all of them such dear good friends who spare
neither time nor labour to make our book a success. Msgr. Bickerstaffe-Drew
(John Ayscough) has not lost interest in our venture. His last letter to the present writer, a couple of weeks ago, was
written from an English Hospital in France where he is ill.[52]
When Sister
Emerentia Lonergan died in 1918, the Archbishop of Toronto commented “Not only has the
Community of St. Joseph sustained a great loss … but the literary world as
well.”[53] Her successor, Sister Dymnpna Stritch, was
the editor for twelve years.[54] The Lilies continued to be edited by
a Sister of St Joseph and published by the community until 1953, when the
Council of the community discontinued it because “there was no one to replace
Sister Leonarda who became ill.”[55]
Thus, Lawler’s creation, the Lilies, survived her leaving the
editor’s chair by some thirty-nine years. It achieved her objectives of giving the
Alumnae a means of communicating with each other. Secondly, it was successful
in bringing to the attention of the wider community the achievements of the
Academy’s teachers and pupils.
In the years following her most direct involvement with the Lilies
and the Alumnae Association, Lawler continued to maintain her actively
involvement with public service agencies. During the years 1914-18, Lawler was
involved in the war effort and she worked closely with the 201st
Battalion under the command of her Harbord colleague, Colonel E.W.
Hagarty. These years must have been
particularly hard on her, for “overwork caused Miss Lawler’s health to break
down last January and since that time she has been on a leave of absence.”[56] In 1918 she retired from Harbord Collegiate,
maintaining her association with the school as Honourary President of the
Alumnae Association.
By 1919 Lawler was pursuing a life of active public service, taking executive
and administrative roles in a host of service organizations. Common among all
these organizations are the causes they represent: the improvement of women’s
social, political and educational status. She organized the Toronto Catholic
Women’s League, wrote its constitution and was its first president. She went on
to hold national executive offices of vice-president and director of education
for the Canadian Catholic Women’s League. She was especially concerned with
social service organizations. Between 1920 and 1929, she served as chairman of
the Mothers’ Allowance Board, where her annual reports continuously advocated
the expansion of its services. She was also active as a co-ordinator of general
fund raising drives: two of the most noteworthy were the campaigns to build a
women’s residence at University College and to expand Women’s College
Hospital. As a member of, and
participant in, countless charitable and literary associations,[57]
she was the recipient of numerous awards: one of the most significant was the
Papal Medal that she received in 1925 for her contribution to “education and
religious work.”[58]
Lawler could be considered among the pioneers of equal rights for women
in Canada. She was a proponent of higher education for women and an advocate of
equal pay for women in the teaching profession. Her thoughts on these two
issues were well highlighted in the Globe’s 1913 profile of her that
appeared as part of its “Representative Women” series. Lawler used this
interview as a platform to advocate equal pay for male and female teachers. She
expressed great concern that “women
teachers, who are freely acknowledged as eminently successful in discipline and
scholarship have always been paid less than men who do the same work ... just
because of their womanhood.” Commenting on her own experience of
always receiving the same salary as a man performing the same job, she
concluded, “Consequently, I
feel it keenly that my women colleagues in the teaching profession have not
been treated so generously as I have been. Why should they not?” [59]
She also strongly
believed that women must receive good and thorough education for their chosen
professions. In the Globe interview, she remarked:
the more solidly that
she [woman] is educated - that is, accurately trained to do her work first in
the home, and secondly, where possible or desirable, out of the home … the more
intelligently the woman is able to act, the more useful she is to her family,
her community, to her nature … as the bread-maker, the bread-earner or the
bread-giver.[60]
As a single woman, Lawler supported herself throughout her life through
her teaching income. She was concerned
that women who held the maximum qualifications earned their rightful salary.
She certainly was not averse to holding her successful experiences in gaining
pay equal to her male colleagues as an example to other women. Lawler’s concern
for the higher education of women at the university level was one of the
driving forces in her life. Her lifelong association with the University of
Toronto began in 1886. The University of Toronto recognized her contribution by
awarding her an Honourary Doctorate of Laws, in 1927, as part of the
University’s centennial celebrations.
Lawler died in 1929. In its expression of sympathy to her sisters, the
Senate of the University of Toronto wrote that her death
was universally
regarded as a deplorable loss to the country, in education, philanthropy,
religion, culture - - all those things most essential to enrichment of the
national life. But assuredly her works do follow her.[61]
Two scholarships were established at the University of Toronto in her
name: the Dr. Lawler Memorial Scholarship and the Gertrude Lawler Memorial
Prize in English. Significantly, scholarships were also given in her name at her
convent academy home.
While a committed Catholic and prominent member of the Toronto Catholic
community, Lawler worked within the public education system and never taught
for the convent Academy. Although she
remained single throughout her life, there is no indication that she ever
considered entering a religious order.
While she saw herself as firmly rooted within a Catholic community, she
chose to live her professional life within the broader context of public
education and social service. Perhaps this is the reason why she was so
committed to the launching of both the St. Joseph’s College Alumnae Association
and the Lilies: she wished to establish a permanent means by which she
and her fellow graduates could be linked with the Congregation that created
their intellectual and spiritual home.