“From the Archives” — First Saint Mary Women to Enter Religious Life

It is hard to determine which Saint Mary parishioner was the first to enter religious life. A number of early parishioners were from Maryland, with members of women’s religious orders in their families. Some went to convents in Europe; others to the Carmelite Monastery in Port Tobacco, Maryland, founded in 1790. But the records are incomplete and it is not known if any of those original sisters worshiped at Saint Mary.

Mary Sabrina Roach. The first documented Saint Mary parishioner to enter a religious order was Sister Mary Sabrina Roach of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary. She died at the age of just 28 at Georgetown Visitation Convent in Washington, DC, on September 5, 1849. Sister Mary Sabrina was a native of Alexandria, the daughter of James and Matilda Roach, from Wexford, Ireland. Her parents are buried in Saint Mary Cemetery.

Mary Olympia O’Brien Fulton. Another Alexandrian also may have been the first woman religious from Saint Mary. Mary Olympia O’Brien Fulton was the young widow of James Robert Fulton, a diplomat who died aboard ship enroute to Europe in 1836. When her son, Robert Fulton, was a student at Georgetown College, he entered the Jesuits in 1843. At the same time, Mary Fulton also entered the Visitation order. She later served as Sister Superior of the Georgetown Visitation Convent. Father Robert Fulton, S.J., had a distinguished career. After teaching at Georgetown, he helped found Boston College, became president of the college and served as Jesuit Provincial. The Fultons have the unique distinction of being the only mother-son vocations in Saint Mary’s parish history.