First women to graduate from Mount Saint Bernard College in the Bachelor of Arts program

Antigonish, Nova Scotia, 1897.
First women to graduate from Mount Saint Bernard College in the Bachelor of Arts program

Saint Bernard Convent opened in 1883 and became affiliated with Saint Francis Xavier University in 1894. It was renamed Mount Saint Bernard College and became the first Catholic college in North America to offer post-secondary education to women. Three years later, four young women received their Bachelor of Arts Degree. They were Florence MacDonald, Mary E. Bissett, Lillian MacDonald and Margaret MacDougall.