Mother Hardey becomes Superior

I have given details about the young life of Mother Hardey. Now I hope to just outline the highpoints of her life as she did so much that I just need to condense it all. Her first vows were advanced seven months to March 15, 1927. At the age of seventeen whe was acting as Mistress General of the school that had more than fifty children. By age twenty-three, she was not only Mistress General but Assistant Superior and Treasurer. By 1836 she was superior at St. Michael's and there were two hundred students, thirty religious in the community, a novitiate and some orphans.

After the General Council in 1839, Elizabeth Galitzin was appointed Assistant General and sent to visit the American houses. She arrived in New York and promised Bishop Hughes that the Society of the Sacred Heart would open a house in New York. In May of 1841, the first Religious arrived to look for a house. Mother Hardey was to be Mistress General. The school opened on August 3. By May of 1842, Mother Hardey was on her way to Europe, the first of 19 crossings, with Mother Galitzin to attend a General Council. She was only 30 years old!!