By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Sister Mary Consolata

DELHI TOWNSHIP - Sister of Charity Mary Consolata Schmidt, former principal and retired teacher at Seton High School in Price Hill, died Wednesday at Mother Margaret Hall nursing home.

Sister Mary Consolata, 87, received Seton's highest honor, the Elizabeth Ann Seton Award, in 1994. It is bestowed on alumnae or friends of Seton who have enriched the community and fostered the values of Seton High School and of St. Elizabeth Seton.

March 29, 1994, the day she received the award, was proclaimed "Sister Mary Consolata Day" by then-Mayor Roxanne Qualls.

"The Gospel says, `Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart.' All those who were privileged to know or work with Sister Mary Consolata most assuredly know that she personified this message," said Sister Brenda Busch, principal of Holy Family School in Price Hill. "She was indeed gentle and humble of heart. We all learned from her and we are all richer because of her."

Virginia Wiltse, a former student of Sister Mary Consolata at Seton, concurred. "She was the best, most loyal friend and she was one of my spiritual mothers. She would give me the most sound, practical advice."

Sister Mary Consolata was born Marie Helen Schmidt in Cincinnati in 1915. After graduating from Seton, she earned a bachelor's degree in Latin from the College of Mount St. Joseph and a master's in Latin from St. Louis University.

During the 1930s and '40s, she taught at various elementary schools in Springfield, Ohio, and Cincinnati. She began teaching at Seton in 1952 and served as principal of St. Mary High School in Hyde Park from 1955 to 1961.

She was assistant principal at Seton from 1961 to 1964 and principal there from 1964 until 1970, when she became principal at Trinidad Catholic High School in Trinidad, Colo. for the next 10 years.

She returned to Seton in 1980 and taught there until her retirement in 1994.

Sister Mary Consolata was a member of the National Catholic Education Association, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the North Central Education Association and the National Forensic League.

Visitation is 2-3:30 p.m. Monday in the Heritage Room at the Sisters of Charity Motherhouse, 5900 Delhi Road in Delhi Township, followed by Mass of Christian burial in the Immaculate Conception Chapel at the Motherhouse. Burial will be in the Motherhouse cemetery.

Memorials: Seton High School, 3901 Glenway Ave., Cincinnati OH 45205 or Sisters of Charity Retirement Fund, 5900 Delhi Road, Mount St. Joseph, OH 45051.