A tale of two Sister-Principals: Mother Mary Edward (Catherine) McKinley, Sisters of Providence of St Vincent de Paul (Kingston, ON) and Mother Mary of Providence (Catherine) Horan, Sisters of Providence of Holyoke, MA

This paper analyzes the career of two Sister-Principals who began their religious life in the same congregation: Mother Mary Edward (Catherine) McKinley and Mother Mary of Providence (Catherine) Horan. Depending on whose version of history you read, these women were rival religious or virtuous sisters in habit. Drawing on archival sources and their own writings, the paper analyzes the perceptions, in their own words, of the experiences Mother Mary Edward McKinley and Mother Mary of Providence Horan as Sister-Principals. It also provides an assessment of the historical significance of their careers as case studies of Sister-Principals. The careers of the two Sister-Principals reveal much: both members of the Sisters of Providence of Vincent de Paul (Kingston), both committed to the social welfare of the poor, both forced unwillingly to be Sister-Principals; both elected as congregational leaders; both memorialized in the public domain as powerful women leaders.