Sister Madeleva was born in Cumberland, Wisconsin, in 1887, and christened Mary Evaline Wolff. Her father, August Wolff, was a Lutheran and a saddle and harness maker, who was twice mayor of Cumberland. He read poetry to Mary Evaline. Madeleva’s mother, Lucy, was a devout Catholic. Mary Evaline learned how to handle pliers, tacks and hammers. She climbed thorn apple trees, diagrammed wildflowers and in winter ice-skated from morning to night. At school, she "lived to learn, and so lived richly," she wrote in one of her books, My First Seventy Years. Madeleva decided to become a religious sister during her first semester at Saint Mary's College. She was given the name "Madeleva" upon her acceptance into the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1908. Sister Madeleva was known for her poetry, her eloquence and her outspokenness. She was a medieval scholar, whose literary essays won her distinction. She wrote a good deal in defense of Geoffrey Chaucer's character "The Prioress". In all, she authored more than 20 books. She studied at numerous universities, including the University of California, Berkeley and University of Oxford. When she completed her M.A. degree in English at The University of Notre Dame, she had been one of only four Sisters to pursue graduate work there. In 1925, she earned a doctorate in English from the University of California at Berkeley. She served as a teacher and the principal of the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Ogden, Utah, and as President of College of Saint Mary-of-the-Wasatch in Salt Lake City. She later became the head of the English department at Saint Mary's College. The tenure of Sister Madeleva as President of Saint Mary's College began in 1934. She told leaders that "the essence of our college is not its buildings, its endowment fund, its enrollment, or even its faculty; the essence is the teaching of truth." Some of her most tangible contributions included the establishment of the School of Sacred Theology, the introduction of the Department of Nursing Education, and the construction of the Moreau Center for the Arts. In 1958, she received an honorary degree from Indiana University. She retired from her position as president in 1961. She died in Boston in 1964. The Madeleva Society, composed of benefactors of the College, bears her name, as well as Madeleva Hall, the Madeleva Memorial Classroom Building, The Sister Madeleva Poetry Society, and the Madeleva Lecture Series, all at Saint Mary's.
Quotations
"I like to go to Marshall Field's in Chicago just to see how many things there are in the world that I do not want."
"Thinking of things to be done, hopes to be realized, persons to be helped, I say laughingly that I go to a multitude of funerals daily, burying so many deceased projects, so much of what I have had to let die and must bury without regret."
Literary works
With Marian Anderson co-written with Sister Mary Pieta
