Saint of the Week: Eva Lee Matthews
7/9/2025
Eva Lee Matthews
1862 – 1928
Monastic
Eva Lee Matthews was born on February 9, 1862, in Glendale, Ohio. Her father was Thomas Stanley Matthews, U.S. Senator from Ohio who was later confirmed as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. She attended Wellesley College but did not graduate. A devout Episcopalian, during her childhood, she became concerned with helping others. In 1891, Eva spent some time in Omaha, Nebraska, helping the poor and teaching children at a parochial school. She left Omaha in 1894 and traveled with her brother to Palestine. After returning to the U.S., she authored A Little Pilgrimage to Holy Places, which recounted her trip. In 1896, an account of her travels. She also went to England, where she spent several months visiting various religious communities, including the Sisters of the Holy Paraclete in Whitby. Inspired by such religious orders and others she visited in the U.S, Matthews decided to establish a similar community in America. She relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where she worked at the Bethany Mission House, an Episcopal charitable organization that helped less fortunate residents of the city. It was there that Matthews and coworker Beatrice Henderson decided to create a new Episcopal religious order whose avowed purpose was to help Cincinnati's poor, especially children. On August 6, 1898, Episcopal Church officials formally recognized their order, naming it the Community of the Transfiguration (CoT). At this time, Matthews also formally became a nun, taking the name Sister Eva Mary. The CoT remained in Cincinnati for but a short time before relocating to Eva’s childhood home, Glendale. By the 1920s, it had members engaged in charity work in China, Hawaii, and three Ohio cities (Painesville, Cleveland, and Woodlawn). Under Eva's leadership, the CoT grew and expanded its outreach efforts, establishing schools, orphanages, hospitals, and support to those in need. One of their most notable achievements was the founding of the Bethany School, a boarding school for girls that provided high-quality education to underprivileged children. In addition to their work in the U.S. the CoT became the first Episcopal community to send missionaries overseas, creating a religious house in Wuhu, China. Matthews served as the leader of the CoT until her death in July 1928.
