The following article appeared in the Centennial Newsletter on January 20th, 2025.
Mohun Musing
As we ring in the new year, Albertus Magnus College eagerly awaits its 100th birthday on September 24, 2025. However, the history of Albertus does not start on its first official day of classes, rather, it begins far before September of 1925 with a group of dedicated Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs and their Mother General, Mother Stephanie Mohun, OP. Mother Stephanie led the Dominican Sisters as Mother General from 1923 until 1947. She was the driving force behind the establishment of Albertus Magnus College and is the namesake of Mohun Hall. In anticipation of our Centennial Celebration, it seems only fitting that we pause to hear from Mother Stephanie and her words of wisdom and encouragement to those preparing to open our institution one hundred years ago.
On New Year’s Eve in 1924, Mother Stephanie Mohun wrote the following to the Dominican Community:
“What serious thoughts! What memories – both sad and joyous – does not New Year’s Eve bring to each one of us as the day slips by and midnight of the old year breaks into the dawn of the new! O, my dear Sisters, what has the year meant in our fleeting lives! What has become of its sorrows and difficulties, its troubles and disappointments, its joys and pleasures? All are over, and nothing remains but the merit we may have gained or the punishments deserved – these await us in eternity!
And the New Year, it steals on us in the silent night. What does it hold for us! We know that it will bring to all of us some measure of suffering and trial, but we know, too, that it will bring to us everyday the Banquet of the King, where we shall find strength and courage to go on in His service.
For some of us, it may be the gateway to the Eternal Years and for all of us it is a gift of God’s love which we must use for our own perfection and for His honor and glory: if we do this, then in truth will this be for us a “Holy Year”, one entirely consecrated to the service of the Divine Master.”
- A Treasured Legacy: Mother M. Stephanie Mohun, OP, Her Life And Letters, by Sr. M. Mercia Rice, OP, page 33.
As we look towards 2025, we share these words of wisdom in joyful New Year wishes.
