School Sisters of Notre Dame Come to America

Today in 1847 marks the day that the first School Sisters of Notre Dame, led by Mother Caroline Friess came to the United States from Germany. The community website has the following to say:

In 1847, only 14 years after the congregation was established, the sisters set out for America to help the German people who had emigrated to a forest settlement in Pennsylvania, where they hoped to build a new and better life for themselves and their children. The need to help these almost destitute people impelled the sisters to make the stormy voyage to America, only to be told that because they had no invitation from a bishop, it would be better to return to Germany on the next boat. They did not turn back.

In Baltimore, they received help from the provincial superior of the Redemptorists, Father John Neumann, now St. John Neumann. His guidance led to permission to teach in Baltimore and soon Mother Theresa, the community’s foundress, and Sister Caroline Friess traveled more than 2000 miles by stagecoach and steamboat as far as the Mississippi River, returning via the Great Lakes. Often young women applied for admission to the congregation.

Over the years the School Sisters of Notre Dame established motherhouses in Milwaukee; Baltimore; St. Louis; Mankato, Minnesota; Waterdown, Ontario, Canada; Wilton, Connecticut; Dallas; and Chicago. From these missions sisters traveled and founded new missions all over the world. In our own day, despite extraordinary social, political, and economic changes, sisters continue to encourage and provide for women, to educate in the broadest sense of the word, to care for children and the poor, and to work for justice and peace.