Mary Hardey was born on December 8, 1809, in Piscataway, Maryland, United States. She was a descendant of Nicholas Hardey who came to Maryland with Leonard Calvert in 1634, and the daughter of Frederick and Sarah (Spalding) Hardey. Until she was six years old Mary was brought up by her grandmother Spalding in Baltimore. When she was still a child her family removed to a plantation in Grand Coteau, Louisiana.
Mary Hardey was one of the first girls to receive instruction at the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, finishing her studies in 1824 with the highest honor attainable.
In September 1825 Mary Hardey entered the convent desirous of joining the Order, and on October 22, received the religious habit. The next day she accompanied Mother Aude and others to St. Michael’s, where they took possession of a new convent. In 1835 she became assistant superior and the next year, superior, of St. Michael’s. The number of pupils increased to two hundred or more, an estate some two miles from the original location was secured, and the building of a new convent was begun. In 1841, however, before it was completed, she was transferred to New York, where with Mother Galitzin she established the first convent of the Order to be opened in the East.
Going abroad in 1842, Mary received the Pope’s benediction, and in France conferred with Mother Barat, the foundress of the Order. Upon her return she was appointed superior of the convent in New York, which under her direction became a popular educational institution and the center of a far-spread influence. In 1844 she was made provincial of the houses of the Eastern states and Canada. For years she traveled extensively in the interest of the Society, establishing houses in the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Ohio, and Michigan, and in Canada and Cuba.
In 1871 Hardey was appointed assistant general and deputed to visit the convents in North America. When this mission was completed she took up her residence in the mother house, Paris. She still continued to supervise the foundations in America, making three visitations to this country between 1874 and 1882. Her duties also took her to Spain, Belgium, England, and Ireland. Worn out by her labors she died at Paris in her seventy-seventh year. Her body was placed in the crypt at Conflans, but in 1905 it was brought to America and buried at Kenwood, Albany.
Mother Mary Hardey was known as the first American-born Assistant General of the Society of the Sacred Heart. She established all the convents of her order, up to the year 1883, in the eastern part of the United States as well as in Canada and Cuba. She also provided twenty-five free schools in the States and Canada.
At sixteen, Mary Hardey was tall, handsome, dignified in bearing, and mature beyond her years. She soon showed herself capable of self-abnegating obedience, sound judgment, great prudence, and marked organizing and administrative ability.
