The Sisters of Notre Dame of Coesfeld is a Catholic religious institute. Members use the postnominal letters SND. The congregation was founded in Coesfeld, Germany, during a time of religious and social need. In 1849, Hilligonde Wolbring and Elisabeth Kuhling took in orphaned and neglected children, and educated and cared for them. Wolbring and Kuling established the Sisters of Notre Dame of Coesfeld to continue their work. During Kulturkampf, the sisters were forced to leave Coesfeld, and traveled to the U.S. where they taught in parishes in Ohio and Kentucky and, eventually, in many other locations. Sr. Mary Ann Culpert, SND is the current superior general of the congregation.
Hilligonde Wolbring was born in 1828 in the Netherlands and Elisabeth Kuling was born in 1822 in Munster, Germany. They both attended the Royal Teacher Training Seminar for Women in Munster and began teaching at St. Lambert Parish in Coesfeld, Westphalia. While teaching at St. Lambert, Wolbring and Kuling taking in orphaned and neglected children, and realized that they wanted to expand their work with children. Initially, the two teachers moved into a house with seven girls. Hilligonde, who was orphaned at an early age, used her entire inheritance to fund their endeavor. [1]
The parish priest at St. Lambert, Father Theodore Elting, suggested that Wolbring and Kuling establish a religious congregation which would give them a more solid financial economic basis. Three sisters of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur traveled from Amersfoort, Netherlands, to instruct Wolbring and Kuhling, based on their congregation which was founded by St. Julie Billiart in 1804. [1] Wolbring (Sister Maria Aloysia) and Kuling (Sister Maria Ignatia) formally established the Sisters of Notre Dame of Coesfeld on 1 October 1850, [2] and Father Elting acquired an abandoned former convent, St. Annathal, to serve as the first motherhouse. The Prussian Government objecting to teachers dependent on foreign authority, the sisters were compelled to sever their relations with the mother-house in Holland and to erect their own at Coesfeld. [3] In 1855, the Sisters of Notre Dame of Coesfeld became an independent congregation, [4] and on 5 October 1856, Mother Maria Anna, from Munster, Germany, was elected the first superior general.
In 1871, a set of policies called Kulturkampf was established in the Kingdom of Prussia under Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck. Kulturkampf was an attempt to secularize the state and reduce the influence of religion. By 1875, rules were enacted forbidding religious congregation from teaching in school, and all religious foundations were given six months to leave the country. [1]
In 1874, Bishop Richard Gilmour invited Mother Maria Chrystoma (superior general from 1872 to 1895) to send six sisters to Cleveland, Ohio to teach in the parish. She accepted, and in June 1874, Mother Maria Chrystoma, sister Maria Aloysia, and six other sisters boarded a ship in Bremen, Germany and sailed for the U.S. [1] Two months later, the sisters began teaching in Cleveland and Covington, Kentucky.
In the next four years about 200 sisters came to the U.S. to teach. [5] Eventually, three provinces were established in Covington, Toledo, Ohio, and Los Angeles, California. In 1947, the motherhouse was established in Rome, Italy. [6]
Sister Maria Aloysia, who had been part of the first group to travel to the U.S., died in 1889 and was buried in St Joseph Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio. Sister Maria Ignatia died in 1869. [1]
Notre Dame College in South Euclid, Ohio was founded in 1922. [7]
The Sisters of Notre Dame is an international congregation of over 2,000 women religious serving in sixteen countries.
In the 21st century, the Sisters of Notre Dame have provinces all over the world and, in 2008, a province was re-established in Coesfeld. [8] The Immaculate Conception Province is based in Chardon, Ohio; the province has regional centers in Chardon, Ohio, Covington, Kentucky, Los Angeles, California, and Toledo, Ohio. [9]
Julie Billiart, SNDdeN was a French Catholic nun, educator, and cofounder of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are a Catholic institute of religious sisters, founded to provide education to the poor.
The Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity are a Congregation of Roman Catholic apostolic religious women. The congregation was founded in 1869 in Manitowoc, Wisconsin in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee, later part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay. The sisters have active apostolates in education, health care, spiritual direction, and other community ministries. As of 2021, there are 188 sisters in the community. The FSCC is a member of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, an organization which represents women religious in the United States.
The Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ (PHJC) is a female congregation of the Catholic Church. It originated in Dernbach (Westerwald), Germany, where the generalate is still located. Their organization for associates is also open to men. The Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ American Province has its motherhouse in Donaldson, Indiana.
The Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration is a papal congregation of the Roman Catholic Church, founded on July 20, 1863, by Mother Maria Theresia Bonzel in Olpe, Germany. In 1875, they opened St. Elizabeth Hospital in Lafayette, Indiana; now part of the Franciscan Health healthcare system. In 1890 they founded Saint Francis Normal School, a teacher training school; which is now the University of Saint Francis (Indiana).
Covenant Health Systems is a non-profit Catholic regional health care system sponsoring hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living residences and other health and elder services throughout New England.
The Sisters of the Holy Cross are one of three Catholic congregations of religious sisters which trace their origins to the foundation of the Congregation of Holy Cross by Basil Moreau in Le Mans, France in 1837. Members designate themselves with the post-nominals CSC.
The Sisters of Holy Cross, headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada is an international Catholic congregation of religious sisters which traces its origins to the foundation of the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1837 in Le Mans, France by the Blessed Father Basil Anthony-Marie Moreau, CSC. Two other congregations of sisters also have the same origins: the Marianites of Holy Cross and the Sisters of the Holy Cross.
Mary Ignatia Gavin, C.S.A., was an Irish-born American Religious Sister, better known as Sister Ignatia, belonging to the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, who served as a nurse. In the course of her work she became involved in the care of those suffering from alcoholism, working with Bob Smith, a co-founder of what became Alcoholics Anonymous. In this work she became known as the alcoholic's "Angel of Hope".
Notre Dame High School is a Roman Catholic, private, all-girls school located in Lemay, St. Louis County, Missouri. just south of St. Louis city, on the 43-acre grounds of the motherhouse of the School Sisters of Notre Dame on the Mississippi River. While its roots go back to 1897, its present form and name date to 1934.
Notre Dame Academy (NDA) is a Roman Catholic secondary school for girls in Patna, India, in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Patna, serving girls in grades 1–12. It is affiliated to CBSE board.
The Benedictine Sisters of St. Walburg Monastery is a Roman Catholic congregation of women. whose motherhouse, St. Walburg Monastery, is located at Villa Madonna, in Villa Hills, Kentucky. It was founded in 1859 by three sisters of the Benedictine congregation of Mount St. Benedict Monastery in Erie, Pennsylvania, who came to Covington to teach the German-speaking children of St. Joseph's parish. They became an independent congregation in 1867. Villa Madonna Academy, a private, Roman Catholic K-12 school is an integral part of the sisters' ministry in Kentucky. Besides operating the Academy, the sisters taught in parish schools and staffed St. John's Orphanage.
Benedictine Sisters of Chicago is a Roman Catholic Benedictine congregation of women. It was founded in 1861 by three sisters of the Benedictine congregation of Mount St. Benedict Monastery in Erie, Pennsylvania, who came to Chicago to teach the German-speaking children of St. Joseph's parish. They became an independent congregation in 1872. St. Scholastica's Monastery in Rogers Park, Chicago is the Motherhouse. St. Scholastica Academy was an integral part of the sisters' ministry in Chicago.
The Poor Brothers of the Seraphic St. Francis, abbreviated C.F.P. are a Catholic lay religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, instituted for charitable work among orphan boys and for youth education. They commonly also use the title of Brothers of the Poor of St. Francis.
The Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus is a Roman Catholic religious congregation for women, founded at Aachen, Germany, in 1844 for the support and education of poor, orphan, and destitute children, especially girls. It was approved by Pope Pius IX in 1862 and 1869, and by Pope Leo XIII in 1881 and 1888. They also founded a school in Barnet, London, called St Michael's Catholic Grammar School.
The Sisters of the Humility of Mary is a Roman Catholic religious congregation, founded at Dommartin-sous-Amance, France, in 1855. The community immigrated to the United States in 1864, and established themselves near New Bedford, Pennsylvania. This community is known as the Sisters of the Humility of Mary and is based at Villa Maria, Pennsylvania.
The Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women, have served health, education and social service needs in the Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio, since 1851.
St. Peter Church, is a Catholic parish church in Cleveland, Ohio and part of the Diocese of Cleveland. Founded in 1853, it is located at the intersection of Superior Ave. near East 17th St., in the Downtown neighborhood.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Sisters of Notre Dame (of Cleveland, Ohio)". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.