Honors Capstone
History of Dominican's Chapels
by Adriana Sigala
In 1889, the Sisters moved to San Rafael from Benicia to build a school, a Motherhouse was constructed along the block of Grand Avenue. The Rosary chapel was a room built on the north side of the motherhouse on the second floor. The Sisters prayed or had small masses during the day. The Rosary chapel was beautiful, it had room for several hundred people, and the students often went to worship with the Sisters for religious services. Unfortunately, on July 12, 1990, the Motherhouse was burnt down and only remains of the chapel were left.
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As the college grew, Meadowlands, Fanjeaux, Pennafort, and Edgehill Mansion were all dormitories, and each of these dormitories had a smaller chapel inside. Around the 1930s, in Meadowlands, where Dr. Ramsey’s office is at, a chapel was established.
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On October 16, 2010, Edgehill Mansion reopened and dedicated it to the Dominican Alumni and Heritage House. The new chapel that currently stands in Edgehill Mansion is named St. Catherine of Benincasa after the Dominican Saint and Doctor of the Church, Catherine Benincasa. She is known for living her life by serving the needs of others and having deep contemplative practices. Overall, the chapel is very functional and open to various religions.
Rosary Chapel, 1934. Photograph Collection, Dominican University of California Archives, San Rafael, CA
Meadowlands Chapel, 1930s. Photograph Collection, Dominican University of California, Archives, San Rafael, CA.
St. Catherine Benincasa Chapel, 2019, Personal Collection, Dominican University of CA, San Rafael CA
Stained glass window of St. Catherine Benincasa Chapel, 2019, Author’s Personal Collection, Dominican University of CA, San Rafael CA.
The stained-glass window that is in the St. Catherine Benincasa’s Chapel is a result of reading her writings that talked about the power of the Spirit flame of faith. It was made by an alumni Elizabeth Devereaux who has her own glassmaking shop in Chico, California. She used an Austrian glass bowl, which was hand blown to form the glass window. In it, there is a holy spirit design that lets some of the outside light come into the chapel.
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Edgehill Mansion was bought off from Mr. William Babcock’s wife Julia after he passed away. In August 1920, the Dominican College seniors moved into their new residence hall. While in Edgehill Mansion, around the late 1920s-1950s, just half of the current chapel was the chapel at that time.
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Edgehill Chapel, 1930s. Photograph Collection, Dominican University of California, Archives, San Rafael, CA.
Listen here for an oral history about the chapels!
Education of Women at Dominican University
by Julia McMahon
Students on Staircase, 1970. Photograph Collection, Dominican University of California Archives, San Rafael, CA.
In an article for the Marin Independent Journal, Dorothy Gardiner called attention to the leaps and bounds the Dominican sisters made for women’s rights; “A half-century before the birth of women’s liberation when suffragettes across the nation were fighting for the right to vote, the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael opened a liberal arts college for women”. The women’s rights movement started around 1848 at Seneca Falls when 300 women and men signed the Declaration of Sentiments, which was a plea for the end of discrimination against women. Although they were allowed to grant degrees in the 1890s, Mother Louis said that they should wait and improve their skills through teaching primary and secondary school. At this time in the women’s rights movement, the first state had just granted women the right to vote in all elections.
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It was obvious to everyone who was involved in the college that it was a progressive environment that encouraged growth and challenged the social norm. "The borders of small-mindedness have broken down here’, exclaimed Sister Mary Patrick, O.P., a former dean, president from 1945 to 1968 and a member of the first resident class”. The students and sisters worked together to make huge societal changes by not being afraid of the social repercussions they would most likely face because of their actions.
Students before class, 1970. Photograph Collection, Dominican University of California Archives, San Rafael, CA.
Unfortunately, the sisters were not able to do all this amazing work without some backlash. It was not a common held belief that women should go to school beyond high school as it was still expected that women stay at home and raise the children, do household chores, and find happiness through doing so. The Dominican sisters saw a women’s role differently than much of America.
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Student in Laboratory,1960. Photograph Collection, Dominican University of California Archives, San Rafael, CA.