A Leader in Education

Ann Malone of Carbondale, PA, did not realize that she would someday be so notorious in the field of education. She was born on November 3, 1867 and her parents were considered pioneers in settling the town of Carbondale. She entered the IHMs in 1885 and was received in 1886. After her reception, she was sent to St. Patrick’s, West Side Scranton, and in 1887 to St. Alphonsus, in Susquehanna, PA. Sister Leo returned to Carbondale for her profession in 1888. The year 1888 also saw her at Holy Rosary, Scranton, and Annunciation Convent in Williamsport, PA. In 1902 she was sent to St. Cecilia’s in Scranton. In 1908 she was appointed as examiner of parochial schools in the Scranton Diocese until 1911. Sister Mary Leo was described as a “born teacher.”

But her education did not stop there. As a woman in her 40s, in 1911 she and Sister Germaine (Mother Germaine O’Neill) were sent to the Sisters’ College at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. with which Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary was affiliated, where they received both their Bachelor of Arts Degree and Master of Arts Degree from that educational institution in a very short time, receiving high honors in the process. In fact, this detail was noted in the newspapers of the day: “The conferring of degrees upon the sisters yesterday was the first time in four centuries that degrees have been conferred upon women by a pontifical university. Sister Mary Germane (sic) and Sister Mary Leo are among the best-known members of the order of Sisters of the Immaculate Heart in the Scranton diocese.”

Sister Mary Leo died at St. John’s Convent in South Scranton where she served from 1913 until her death in July of 1915 after a very short bout of pneumonia. Sister Leo Malone is buried in the cemetery here on campus.

Sources used are from Newspapers.com