Sister Henrietta Nicholson
1876-1908
– by Catherine Podvin, OP

Attracted by the farmland offered through the Homestead Act, Sarah (Dempsey) and John Nicholson left Canada for the “Thumb” of Michigan, and settled on a farm in Dwight, a small community near Bad Axe. They were the parents of Mary and Margaret Nicholson, the first twins to enter the Congregation. The twins were born on July 24, 1876. After their entrance, Mary was known as Sister Henrietta, and Margaret as Sister Louis.

In the attic of an old homestead identified as the original Nicholson farm, a portrait of the twins, done before their entrance, was discovered. The portrait was of two pretty young women with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing pink dresses.

Little is known about the twins’ early life, but it is believed that they might have made their preparation for First Holy Communion with the Dominicans at one of the nearby towns — Port Austin, Ruth or Gagetown. At the time, it was the custom for children who lived at a distance to board with the sisters, and they may have done that. However it may have come about, they met the Adrian Dominican Sisters, and the Dominican habit and lifestyle appealed to them.

Both of them entered the Adrian postulate in early 1893 at the age of sixteen, and received the habit on April 11 of that year. Ellen Walsh, the future Mother Augustine, was also received at that time. Sister Henrietta professed her first vows on November 18, 1895; but her twin, Sister Louis, had to wait until August 1896. The reason is not known.

After profession, Sister Henrietta was at first assigned to domestic work; but after a few years, she became a teacher. She was teaching at St. Mary School in New Salem, Michigan, when she became ill. Doctors diagnosed her illness as “the wasting disease,” as tuberculosis was sometimes called. Because the disease was so contagious, she was not allowed many visitors. Some, however, who did visit her were not permitted to enter her bedroom, but stood in the doorway. They were impressed by her gentleness and patience. They knew that she must have been in pain.

It is possible that Sister Henrietta’s pain was increased by her grief over the death of her sister in 1904 at the age of twenty-eight. She herself lived four years longer. She died on December 23, 1908, at the age of thirty-two, and celebrated that year’s Christmas in eternity with her beloved sister and with the One in whose honor the day is observed.