Mother Mary Innocenta Montay

Elected provincial superior in 1963, Mother Mary Innocenta Montay and her administration continued to emphasize professional excellence, educational innovations, and spiritual renewal. 

In the year Mother Innocenta’s term began, the sisters accepted the operation of Christ the King School in Lombard, Illinois, and St. Damian in Oak Forest, Illinois. That same year, Holy Family School in Birmingham, Alabama, returned to the jurisdiction of the Chicago province.

In 1965, the new Good Counsel High School opened. Felician College continued its expansion and in 1967, opened to lay students on a full-time basis. The Psychoeducational Center of Felician College was initiated in 1966 to aid children with reading disabilities and perceptual difficulties.

St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee enhanced its services, adding an intensive care unit in 1964. St. Mary's Hospital in Centralia established a nuclear medicine department, and succeeding years saw the expansion of the hospital's labs and plans for a new 40-bed wing.

In 1965, St. Mary's Home in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, added to its 1954 building with a third-floor residential wing to accommodate a greater number of elderly. In 1967, that same building underwent extensive remodeling and further construction that provided a host of improvements.

To provide a place for the sisters to rest and relax, Mother Innocenta purchased an estate in St. Charles, Illinois, with a generous monetary gift. Originally called Creek Bend Farms, it was rechristened Our Lady of Creek Bend.