Knowing the history of McNicholas is an important part of being a Rocket. In the first semester of freshman year, Rockets learn all about the Sisters of St. Joseph and their impact on making their all-girls school St. Joseph Academy into the first co-ed Catholic high school in Cincinnati, the McNicholas that is today. However, one aspect of our heritage that is often missed is our Irish Heritage.
John T. McNicholas, who was from Ireland, was archbishop from 1925-1950 and paved the way for co-ed education especially for that time period. His progression in the Catholic church is what pushed for the Sisters of St. Joseph to honor his name in March of 1950, and he died a month later in April of 1950. The official naming of McNicholas High School did not occur until 1951.
“He [Archbishop McNicholas] was not… super excited about co-education,” stated Director of Mission and Ministry and theology teacher, Mr. Jeff Hutchinson-Smyth. “Our religious order [Sisters of St. Joseph] was a pretty progressive order; they were pretty early to leave habits behind.” Hutchinson-Smyth said that the Sisters of St. Joseph knew it would be beneficial for boys to be with girls in school. “They knew informing girls would be beneficial to lead and serve and be treated as equals in a world that doesn’t always practice that… they knew intuitively that that was an essential part of educating young girls, that it was no longer that old tradition of holding girls up in a convent to protect them from the harsh outside world. There was an element of wanting that ‘cross-pollination’ of male and female experience,” Hutchinson-Smyth added.
With Archbishop McNicholas High School being the first in the city to transition to co-education, there was an appeal to many families. However, with the time period of the 1950s, there were also many who were not in favor of this progression. The Sisters of St. Joseph persevered and stuck true to what they believed in and are the reason that McNicholas High School has made the impact on current students and alumni even today.
While there are not many ways that McNicholas’ Irish heritage is shown in modern day, one of the ways that it used to be recognized was through the Irish crest.
Hutchinson-Smyth said that each aspect of the crest represents something different. It is a combination used to represent many different aspects of who McNicholas is using a part of Archbishop McNicholas’ own family crest, his Dominican order, along with symbols used to represent the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. The plow represents the connection to Cincinnati, Cincinnatus handed over the fasces (unbreakable bundle of sticks) which he handed over at the end of his term to symbolically give up his power and went back to his plow. Both the eagle and the three crosses are a part of the McNicholas family crest in Ireland.
In recent years the crest has not been associated with the identity of McNicholas due to marketing tactics. The goal was to modernize the look of McNicholas and removing “archbishop” from the name of the school helps differentiate McNicholas from other schools who have archbishop in their titles. Former Director of Communications, Mrs. Anne Jones, stated that these changes were made “before her tenure,” but stated that the rebranding project in previous years worked to phase out both the crest and title “archbishop”; however, the school will continue to use them on official school documents such as diplomas.
While there are no Sisters of St. Joseph left at McNicholas and the main aspects that point back to the Irish heritage have been mostly lost, the impact of the Sisters of St. Joseph and their collaboration with Archbishop McNicholas are still seen throughout the school today. The motto, “That youth may attain full stature in Christ” comes from Ephesians 4:13 that the sisters chose.
The McNicholas Milestone 