In 1809, Elizabeth Ann Seton, assisted by the French émigré community of Sulpicians, founded in Emmitsburg, Maryland, the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph's, named after Saint Joseph's Academy and Free School, which she had established. They adopted for their habit a black dress, cape, and bonnet, patterned after the widows weeds of women in Italy whom Elizabeth had encountered there.[3]
In 1810 Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget was able to obtain from France a copy of the rules of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. The rule, with some modifications, was approved by Archbishop Carroll in January 1812, and adopted. In 1817, Sisters were sent to New York City (Seton's hometown) to establish an orphanage.[4] After some year of negotiation, in 1850, the community at Emmitsburg formally affiliated with the Mother House of the Daughters of Charity in Paris and at that time adopted the blue habit and the white collar and cornette,[5] becoming the first American province of the Daughters of Charity.
The congregation's superiors in France directed that sisters in charge of boys' orphan asylums were everywhere to be withdrawn. This brought them into conflict with Bishop John Hughes, whose sister Ellen (Sister Angela) was a member of the New York Community. Unwilling to abandon their charges, in 1846, the Sisters in New York separated from the motherhouse in Emmitsburg, and were incorporated as the Sisters of Charity of New York. Of the forty-five sisters then in the diocese, ten returned to Emmitsburg.[6] The New York sisters retained their black habit. (During the cholera epidemic of 1849, Mother Angela Hughes opened St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan.)
History
The story of the Canadian foundation begins when four American ladies, black-robed, black-capped, landed in Halifax from the Cunard liner "Cambria" on May 11, 1849. They came from New York City, these first Sisters of Charity, in response to a standing request by Bishop William Walsh of Halifax to his friend Archbishop John Hughes of New York for Sisters to work in his diocese in the care of orphans and in education. Halifax had a population of 20,000 when the four "American ladies" arrived. The Bishop gave them a house on Barrington Street, near the cathedral, where they took in a little orphan girl on the very first day. They immediately opened a school to teach Catholic children, many of them Irish immigrants, victims of the Great Famine. By the end of the school year (July) their classes held 400 children. By that time the Sisters were also caring for twenty little girls in their own house.[7]
They would be the first religious community in this maritime city. Mother Basilia McCann, leader of the original four Sisters who arrived here in 1849, became the first Superior of the Halifax Congregation. Mother Basilia was a pupil of Elizabeth Seton, founder of the first Sisters of Charity in 1809. She served as Superior for three years, then returned to the New York community. The second Superior to serve in Halifax was Sister Mary Rose McAleer, also one of the original group to come to Halifax in 1849.[8]
Shortly after their arrival the Sisters opened their first school, housed at St. Mary's Convent in the heart of the city. Halifax was still a growing city, and with no hospital yet established, the need for assistance spanned beyond education. The Sisters responded to this need. Within a short time they were also caring for the sick.[8]
By 1856, the order in Halifax was accepted as a separate congregation by Pope Pius IX and took on their new official name, the "Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, Halifax."[8] Sister Mary Rose McAleer and two novices began teaching girls in St. Patrick's Parish in the North end of the city. At first they traveled daily to teach in the church basement. A house was soon rented for them, and thus began St. Patrick's Convent – and High School and Elementary School. St. Patrick's was the first of more than a hundred missions that would eventually be opened by the Sisters of Charity. When St Patrick’s moved to larger quarters in 1888, the former convent was converted into a refuge for unmarried mothers and their babies, named the Home of the Guardian Angel.[9]
In 1866 victims of cholera were landed from an immigrant ship on McNab's Island in the harbour and when the Archbishop asked for helpers, all the Sisters volunteered. He chose three. That summer the increase in the number of orphans led to expansion of facilities. By September 1873, the Sisters moved into the newly built Motherhouse named Mount Saint Vincent, just outside Halifax.
Sisters from the order first came to Boston, Massachusetts, in August 1887, called to staff a new school for girls at St. Patrick’s Parish in Roxbury.[10]
In 1873, the order founded Mount St. Vincent Academy in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Mount Saint Vincent received its college charter in 1925.[7] It became Mount Saint Vincent University. A long tradition ended in 2006 when Sister Sheilagh Martin, a chemistry professor, retired as the last member of the congregation to teach there.
On April 30, 1880, Leo XIII issued a document removing from the Archbishop of Halifax "any jurisdiction" he had held over the Sisters of Charity, and placing the Congregation under the Pope's immediate control.[7]
They came to British Columbia in 1923, founding Seton Academy, Vancouver (1923), Our Lady of Perpetual Help Convent, Ladysmith (1923); St. Joseph's Convent, Vancouver (1924); Our Lady of Sorrows Convent, Vancouver (1926); Our Lady's Convent, Point Grey (1927); Kootenay Indian Residential School, Cranbrook (1936); Immaculate Conception Convent, Kelowna (1938); Sacred Heart Convent, Kimberley (1938).[11]
From its opening in 1929 to its closing in 1967, the Sisters of Charity operated the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, the grounds of which were designated by Parks Canada a national historic site based on its history of widespread sexual, physical and psychological abuse of indigenous children. In 2021 the Sisters of Charity posted an apology on their website, but refused to answer questions about the school or allow access to their archives.[12]
The areas of education, health care, pastoral ministry, and social services are still paramount, though the ways in which the sisters work within a given field has changed. While the congregation once operated hospitals, schools, senior citizen homes, and the only women's university in Canada, sisters now serve in a variety of areas in Canada and throughout the eastern United States, in Bermuda, Peru, and the Dominican Republic.[11]
In 1975, at the beatification of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, there were approximately 1700 sisters in the organization and 97 missions.[14] Today, there are approximately 260 sisters.[15]
The headquarters of the religious institute is located in Halifax's Rockingham neighbourhood at the Sisters of Charity Centre. The original Motherhouse building, which also incorporated Mount Saint Vincent Academy and College (the precursors to the current University) was built around the time of the Academy's founding in 1873 and destroyed by fire in 1951. Rebuilt separately in the late 1950s, it housed retired sisters of the order as well as visiting religious and laypeople. It also housed for Mount Saint Vincent University a student residence called Vincent Hall until the residence was closed by the University in 1992. The building, once the largest in all of Atlantic Canada, was demolished in 2008. In 2011 the property was sold to developer Southwest Properties, Ltd. The first phase of the development includes residential and retail components. The development is to be known as Seton Ridge.[16]
Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton was a Catholic religious sister in the United States and an educator, known as a founder of the country's parochial school system. Born in New York and reared as an Episcopalian, she married and had five children with her husband William Seton. Two years after his death, she converted to Catholicism in 1805.
Many religious communities have the term Sisters of Charity in their name. Some Sisters of Charity communities refer to the Vincentian tradition alone, or in America to the tradition of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, but others are unrelated. The rule of Vincent de Paul for the Daughters of Charity has been adopted and adapted by at least sixty founders of religious institutes for sisters around the world.
The Sisters of St. Joseph, also known as the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, abbreviated CSJ or SSJ, is a Catholic religious congregation of women founded in Le Puy-en-Velay, France, in 1650. This congregation, named for Saint Joseph, has approximately 14,000 members worldwide: about 7,000 in the United States; 2,000 in France; and are active in 50 other countries.
The Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, commonly called the Daughters of Charity or Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, is a Society of Apostolic Life for women within the Catholic Church. Its members make annual vows throughout their life, which leaves them always free to leave, without the need of ecclesiastical permission. They were founded in 1633 by Vincent de Paul and state that they are devoted to serving the poor through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
The University of Mount Saint Vincent (UMSV) is a private Catholic university in New York City. It was founded in 1847 by the Sisters of Charity of New York.
The Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul of New York, most often known as the Sisters of Charity of New York, is a religious congregation of sisters in the Catholic Church whose primary missions are education and nursing and who are dedicated in particular to the service of the poor. The motherhouse is located at Mt. St. Vincent in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. They were founded by Elizabeth Ann Seton in 1809.
The Sisters of Charity Federation in the Vincentian-Setonian Tradition is an organization of fourteen congregations of religious women in the Catholic Church who trace their lineage to Saint Elizabeth Seton, Saint Vincent de Paul, and Saint Louise de Marillac.
The Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth are a Roman Catholic apostolic congregation of pontifical right, based in the Convent Station area of Morris Township, New Jersey, USA. The religious order was established in 1859 in Newark, New Jersey, following the example of Elizabeth Ann Seton's community that was founded in 1809 in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
The Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill were founded by Sister Aloysia Lowe. In 1870, she and sisters Blanche O'Keefe, Maria Theresa O'Donnell, Maria Kavanaugh and two novices were sent to western Pennsylvania from the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati and began their work, founding and staffing schools. The sisters later expanded their work to include healthcare.
The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati were founded in 1852 by Mother Margaret Farrell George, by the separation of the community from the Sisters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Maryland. the motherhouse of the community is at Mount Saint Joseph, Ohio.
Robert Seton was an American Catholic prelate who served as Titular Archbishop of Heliopolis. He was a descendant of the aristocratic Seton and Bayley families.
Mary Xavier Mehegan, S.C. was a Roman Catholic sister who founded the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth and opened New Jersey's first four-year college for women.
The Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy is a Roman Catholic religious institute founded by Bishop John England of the Diocese of Charleston in South Carolina, in 1829 as the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. In 1949 the word "Charity" was added to the congregation's name, in order to identify it more explicitly with others that follow the Rule of Life of St. Vincent de Paul. They came to serve throughout the Eastern United States. The members of the congregation use the postnominal initials of O.L.M.
The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton is a U.S. religious site and educational center in Emmitsburg, Maryland, that pays tribute to the life and mission of Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. It is both a minor basilica and a national shrine.
Catholic sisters and nuns in Canada have been an important presence since the 17th century.
Catholic sisters and nuns in the United States have played a major role in American religion, education, nursing and social work since the early 19th century. In Catholic Europe, convents were heavily endowed over the centuries, and were sponsored by the aristocracy. Religious orders were founded by entrepreneurial women who saw a need and an opportunity, and were staffed by devout women from poor families. The number of Catholic nuns grew exponentially from about 900 in the year 1840, to a maximum of nearly 200,000 in 1965, falling to 56,000 in 2010. According to an article posted on CatholicPhilly.com, the website of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in October 2018, National Religious Retirement Office statistics showed that number as 47,160 in 2016, adding that “about 77 percent of women religious are older than 70.” In March 2022, the NRRO was reporting statistics from 2018, citing the number of professed sisters as 45,100. The network of Catholic institutions provided high status lifetime careers as nuns in parochial schools, hospitals, and orphanages. They were part of an international Catholic network, with considerable movement back and forth from Britain, France, Germany and Canada.
SisterUrsula Mattingly, SC was a Roman Catholic religious sister, nurse, and hospital administrator. A member of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, she is best remembered for her role as foundress of Sisters of Charity Hospital in Buffalo, New York. She has been called "one of the most successful and experienced hospital nurses in the country" and "one of God's trouble shooters".
Mother Angela Hughes was an Irish-American Sisters of Charity of New York nun, and was the first superior of St Vincent's Hospital in New York City.
Power, SC, Sister Maura (1956). The Sisters of Charity, Halifax. Ryerson Press.
McKenna, SC, Sister Mary Olga (1998). Charity Alive: Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, Halifax, 1950-1980. University Press of America. ISBN9780761809869.
Sweeney, SC, Sister Mary; Westwater, SC, Sister Martha; Nolan, SC, Sister Elaine; Heslin, SC, Sister Julia (2019). Steadfast Charity: Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, Halifax 1972–2002. Archway Publishing. ISBN9781480870499.
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