Alumni News
17
Biography of Mother Barry
Sister Mary Philip Ryan
celebrates with 2001 BFA
graduate Aneesah McNamee, OP
Happy 100th to a Legend!
ary Philip Ryan, OP celebrated
her 100th birthday May 9 amid
a large gathering of friends and
fans. Sister “Mary Phil” is a
legend among the Adrian Dominican Sisters
and among many Siena Heights alumni, as
well. She entered the Congregation in 1920
and, during 81 years of ministry, played a
major role in the Congregation’s development.
Recognized early in her life as a distinguished and creative writer, she received
the coveted Hopwood Prize in Literature
from the University of Michigan for her
biography of a missionary bishop from
Florida. In her later life, she
wrote the highly acclaimed
first volume of the Adrian
Dominicans’ history, “Amid
the Alien Corn.” She also undertook the monumental task
of compiling short biographies
of all deceased members of the
Adrian Dominican Sisters.
Between these two poles
of her writing career, Sister
Mary Philip was called upon
to assume extraordinary
responsibilities. From 1933 to 1945, she
was novice mistress for the Congregation.
In this capacity she directed hundreds of
young women in the formative years of
their lives as Adrian Dominicans.
She then supervised the building of the
Colegio Santo Domingo, a girls’ school,
in the Dominican Republic. She served as
principal there for 12 years and, during this
time, extended the Congregation’s ministry
to the poor in outlying areas of the country.
She was awarded an honorary doctor’s degree from the University of Santo Domingo
and was appointed chair of English on the
faculty of that institution.
In 1956, Sister Mary Philip returned to the
U.S. to open Rosary High School in Detroit
where she served as principal for six years.
Then, after a short time at Sie