Consecrated Religious Women

Adorers of the Blood of Christ, U.S. Region

Founded by St. Maria de Mattias in 1834 in Italy, the mission of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ worldwide is to collaborate with Christ in His work of redemption. The sisters strive to build up the Body of Christ so that all creation can move toward "that beautiful order of things in which the great Son of God came to establish in His blood," according to St. Maria.

In the world today, the Adorers specifically live this out by witnessing to God's love and ministering that love to others, especially to the poor, oppressed and deprived.

The Adorers have 12 sisters in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. They serve in community leadership, parish ministry, counseling, social services and tutoring.

Adrian Dominican Sisters (Dominican Sisters Congregation of the Most Holy Rosary)

The Adrian Dominican Sisters, of Adrian, Michigan, are part of the worldwide Order of Preachers established in 1216 by St. Dominic. Our foremothers came from Holy Cross Convent in Regensburg, Bavaria, a Dominican monastery established in 1233 with a lineage that traces back to the first monastery for women established by St. Dominic in 1206.

The Adrian Dominican Sisters first came to the Archdiocese of St. Louis in August 1958 when one Sister began a two-year term as teacher at Marillac College. Other Sisters followed and in all, eight Sisters served in education in the Archdiocese through the present at: Aquinas Institute of Theology, Kenrick Seminary, and in the GED program of Rockwood School District.

The Collaborative Dominican Novitiate also brought in numerous Adrian Dominican Sisters from its establishment in St. Louis in 1988. Three Adrian Dominican Sisters served as Co-directors and numerous Sisters attended as novices – many making a difference as they spent days of ministry in schools, social service agencies, and healthcare settings.

Four Adrian Dominican Sisters served in the healthcare field at the Catholic Health Association, University Hospital, the Sisters of Mercy Health System, Ranken Jordan Pediatric Rehabilitation Center, and Ranken Jordan Children’s Hospital.

Finally, four Adrian Dominican Sisters came to the Archdiocese of St. Louis to serve in parishes and social service agencies, including the St. Louis Association of Community Organizations; Emmaus Community, a residential program of personal growth and development for women religious; Boys Hope Girls Hope; and St. Cronan Parish in St. Louis.

Currently, one Adrian Dominican Sister ministers in St. Louis, but the Congregation’s legacy remains active with nine Adrian Dominican Associates, who live out the Dominican charism through active ministry in healthcare, parish ministry, and active retirement.

Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (U.S. Province)

The Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a Congregation of religious women that claims Mother Clelia Merloni as its foundress, first arrived in St. Louis to bring the Faith to the Italian immigrants. Since those early years downtown when they were known as “Missionary Zelatrices of the Sacred Heart,” the Sisters have served in over 20 different locations in greater St. Louis. The Apostles’ role in the great story of the Archdiocese of St. Louis began on January 24, 1913.

Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus (Central Province)

The Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus (Carmelites DCJ) were founded in 1891 in Berlin, Germany, to blend the contemplative spirit of Carmel with the active apostolate. Their charism is comprised of four facets – contemplation, reparation, spiritual motherhood, and mission. Their life has a deeply contemplative dimension. The life of a Carmelite is one devoted to penance, reparation, silence, and, most importantly, seeking union with God in prayer. In addition to chanting the Divine Office four times a day in community, their way of life also calls them to a half hour of silent contemplative prayer before the tabernacle in both the morning and the evening, a time to simply remain in His presence and love.

From this prayer flows their active works, which as Carmelites DCJ takes the form of being mothers who provide homes of love for the old and the young where they can be close to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and experience daily His love for them. All they do, whether in active works or in prayer, is done in a spirit of reparation and with a burning desire for the salvation of souls.

Congregation of Divine Providence, San Antonio, TX

We Sisters of Divine Providence are a community of women religious rooted in our confidence that God is provident. We participate in the mission of Jesus by responding to the needs of the time through ministry and service. We live our lives with complete trust in a provident God --guiding, loving, and caring for all creation.
We believe in the reality of Providence. We believe that the movements of history in which we participate are guided by the loving power of God. We believe that God cares for all creation. We believe that we have an active role in this creative redemption because God works in us and through us.

Congregation of Mary, Queen (American Region)

The Congregation of Mary, Queen is a religious institute of diocesan right, with our Motherhouse located in Vietnam and our regional/provincial house located in Springfield, MO. In 1991, the sisters began discerning the possibility of establishing a local convent in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Then, Archbishop John L. May, visited with three of the sisters in the Congregation’s Regional Council. It was evident that St. Louis was an ideal place for establishing a new community of sisters and strengthening the Formation Program of the younger sisters.

Congregation of the Carmelite Religious (St. Louis Centre)

The Congregation of the Carmelite Religions has its hallowed origins in Bayonne, France. It is a part of the historic foundation of the Third Order apostolic of Mount Carmel established by Mother Veronica to prepare and train sisters for the Indian mission.

The Congregation believes in the proclamation of the Gospel through selfless service to the people of God. Education is our chief apostolate. The spirit of Carmel is our inspiration. We believe in a way of life that advocates uninterrupted contemplation of God even in the midst of a busy apostolate. The Lady of Mount Carmel is our Mother and Patroness and the saints of Carmel are our inspiration.

Our Motto: In His Presence We Stand and Serve.

Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul

In 1828, at the request of then St. Louis Bishop Joseph Rosati, four sisters set out from their Motherhouse in Emmitsburg, Maryland, in September to journey to St. Louis. Bishop Rosati requested the sisters to take charge of a hospital. When the sisters arrived, they found an expanding city and many in need of health care. The sisters established the first hospital west of the Mississippi River; today, it is known as DePaul Hospital. The sisters then began to serve in education and in needed social ministries. Mental health, care for orphans, and schools for the needy were opened and staffed.

Daughters of St. Paul

“You must be Saint Paul living today.” These words from Blessed James Alberione, founder of the Daughters of St. Paul, capture the life and mission of the sisters to “live and give Christ” to the people of today.

Living a profoundly Eucharistic spirituality and immersed in the culture of communication, the Daughters of St. Paul use media—print, visual, digital, music, and more—so that every person may encounter Christ, be transformed by His love, and in turn bring Christ’s love, peace, and justice to the world. The Daughters have been present in Saint Louis since 1973 and have operated Pauline Books & Media in Crestwood since 1989, where they offer Catholic resources from their publishing house (Pauline Books & Media Publishing) and host faith formation and prayer opportunities. Saint Louis is also the home of the Daughters of St. Paul postulancy, where young women beginning their life as Daughters of St. Paul start the initial formation process.

Dominican Sisters of Sparkill, NY (Congregation of Our Lady of the Rosary)

Though tracing their history to St. Dominic's founding of the Dominicans in 1215, the Sparkill Dominicans came to be in 1876, with sisters Alice Mary and Lucy Thorpe serving poor in New York City. They purchased property in Sparkill in 1884 and used it as a base of operations for their education ministry in the 1900s. Locally, the community ministers at East Side Heart and Home Family Center in East St. Louis.

The Dominican Sisters of Sparkill taught at numerous parish schools in the Archdiocese of St. Louis -- part of their mission that includes residential housing for the elderly and handicapped, missions in Pakistan and Peru, and the arts and culture.

At present, there are 40 Sparkill, Dominican Sisters and 16 associates ministering to God's people in St. Louis. We minister to the marginalized in many differing areas: The Family Center in East St. Louis and Queen of Peace Center and Nia Kuumba Spirituality Center in St. Louis. We serve in Prison Ministry and in Health Ministries. Our sisters are involved in Spiritual Direction, Prayer and Healing Ministries, and Community Service. In the field of Education, we have sisters who are Principals, Registrar, and Teachers as well as Educators working with Immigrant and Refugee Women's Program. We are involved in Pastoral Care and Parish Ministers.

Dominican Sisters (Congregation of St. Cecilia) (Nashville, TN)

Eight centuries ago St. Dominic de Guzman founded a new religious Order whose contemplative framework was to support its active mission of preaching for the salvation of souls. Today, the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia Congregation live out this mission through a life of prayer, study and community, which nourishes a contemplative spirit and bears fruit in their teaching apostolate.

In the spirit of Saint Dominic, the community embraces the Church’s call to the New Evangelization, responding creatively to the needs of our time. The Sisters’ apostolate includes classroom teaching preschool through college; family formation programs; campus ministry and work with young people; retreats and other catechetical efforts that encourage growth in the faith and in the spiritual life.

Serving in 15 U.S. states, and in Canada, Australia, Italy, Scotland, and the Netherlands, the Sisters seek to inspire students and their families to engage and transform the culture with the saving truths of the Gospel.

Founded in 1860 in Nashville, Tennessee, the Congregation of St. Cecilia today numbers over 300 Sisters. The community is marked by joyful fidelity to the Church, devotion to Christ in the Eucharist and to his Blessed Mother, and zeal for teaching the truth.

Franciscan Sisters of Mary

On November 16, 1872, Mother Mary Odilia Berger and her five companions landed on the St. Louis riverfront with a mission—a mission that remains the mission of the congregation today: “to be the presence of the loving, serving, compassionate, healing Jesus.” They set to work in the poorest neighborhoods of the city, caring for the sick and poor in their homes, people who would never be able to afford medical care.

The Franciscan Sisters of Mary continue to carry out their mission “to be the presence of the loving, serving, compassionate, healing Jesus” with their special focus on “compassionate care of creation in collaboration with others.”

Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

One hundred years ago, the Spirit manifested itself to three women of faith, prophetic vision, and courage—Sister Solana Leczna, Sister Ernestine Matz, and Sister Hilaria Matz, members of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary Immaculate of Joliet, Illinois. Responding to the needs of Polish immigrants, these three Sisters separated from the Joliet Franciscans to remain at St. Stanislaus Kostka in St. Louis, a parish consisting of 2300 parishioners with over 600 children in the school where the Sisters taught. In the early twentieth century, the vision of the Sisters broadened beyond only Polish-speaking parishes to include staffing other schools in predominantly rural parishes in Missouri and Illinois.

Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, whose generalate is in Rome, have as their particular mission in the Church reparation to the Heart of Jesus, centered in the Eucharist, and as characteristic expression, worship of adoration to Christ in the Eucharist and education in service of the Gospel, principally for the poor, by means of formation of children and youth in Educational Centers, hospitality to those coming to pray in Houses of Spirituality, and pastoral involvement with various groups of young people and adults.

Hospital Sisters of Saint Francis

Hospital Sisters of Saint Francis are women who have dedicated their lives to and for the love of Christ Jesus, and to their brothers and sisters in Christ. Public vows made to God, through the church and community, are the manifestation of a life of simplicity and service to the sick and poor.

Lovers of the Holy Cross of St. Louis

Ten members of the Lovers of the Holy Cross came to St. Louis from Vietnam in 2012 at the invitation of Archbishop Robert J. Carlson. It was the first time that the community, founded by Bishop Pierre Lambert de la Motte in Vietnam in 1670, had sent a group directly from the motherhouse to minister in the United States. A separate community is in Los Angeles. The Lovers of the Holy Cross have a charism embodied in a love for Christ, crucified on the cross.

Missionaries of Charity

We commit ourselves to the proclamation of the reign of God through a ministry for justice wherever the need presents itself at the time.

Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver

The most divine of divine things is to cooperate in the salvation of souls.

The spirituality of the Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver, inherited from their Foundress, Blessed Mary Theresa Ledochowska, is rooted in Ignatian spirituality; from there it branches into a uniquely Claverian way of following Christ.

Racine Dominicans (Congregation of St. Catherine of Siena)

Committed to Truth, Compelled to Justice

Commitment to truth in the light of the Gospel compels us to consecrate whatever power we have, personally and as community, to sustain the fundamental right of every person to pursue the fullness of life and to share in the common good. – Constitution - Article 8 (partial)

Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan

The Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma formed in 1973 "in response to the renewal called for in the Second Vatican Council," RSMs serve as doctors, nurses, and hospital administrators in the medical field, and also teach in seminaries and schools. A Religious Sister of Mercy is called to professional excellence while living in a religious community as the Bride of Christ.

The community has 10 convents in the United States, three in Europe: Rome, England and Germany -- and another in Sydney, Australia. They came to St. Louis at the invitation of Archbishop Robert J. Carlson, formerly the bishop in their diocese of Saginaw, Michigan.

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Rural Parish Workers of Christ the King

The Rural Parish Workers of Christ the King are located in Fertile, MO (just south of Potosi), which has been in existence since 1942. This agency is supported by the Annual Catholic Appeal and helps provide food, clothing, utilities and spiritual needs to the people in the surrounding area.

Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate

The Institute of the Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate (SMMI), the religious missionary branch, was born from the Society of the Daughters of Saint Francis de Sales, founded in Paris in 1872 by Father Henry Chaumont, a diocesan priest, and Madame Carré de Malberg, a housewife and mother. They founded this society for lay women to “live the Gospel” and spread its spirit in the world. From this lay society, in 1885, our founder founded a missionary branch, the Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate.

School Sisters of Notre Dame (Central Pacific Province)

Founded in 1833 by Blessed Theresa Gerhardinger in Bavaria, the School Sisters of Notre Dame have more than 2,500 sisters in more than 34 countries. They came to the United States in 1847 and to St. Louis not long after, educating generations of children in the St. Louis area. Their teaching ministry continues today with schools throughout the United States, including Notre Dame High School in St. Louis. Notre Dame sisters teach at all levels of education -- elementary, secondary and post-secondary. The sisters also host regular events at their campus, which is home to Notre Dame High School, the motherhouse with its exquisitely rehabbed St. Theresa Center Chapel, and the offices for the Central Pacific Province -- among five in the U.S.

Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary are a community of Catholic women called to live the mission of Jesus through core values of: Freedom, Charity, Education, and Justice.

Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word (Houston)

The Archdiocese of Sr. Louis has been the home of initial formation for the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Houston, Texas since September of 1990.

The Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word was founded in Galveston, Texas, in 1866 by Bishop Claude Marie Dubuis, second bishop of Texas. At that time the diocese encompassed the whole state of Texas with its See in Galveston. (Today there are 15 dioceses in Texas!) The first three sisters came from Lyons, France to establish the Congregation. In 1926, the Motherhouse moved to the newly built Villa de Matel Convent in Houston where it still is today. The Sisters serve in ministries of education, health care, social concerns, and spirituality in five countries: El Salvador, Guatemala, Ireland, Kenya, and the United States of America.

Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word (San Antonio)

A visible sign of God's love often is evidenced in the promotion of human dignity. And that's exactly what the Sisters of Charity of Incarnate Word embrace as their charism.

That's the same charism that sisters are helping to live out at Incarnate Word Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school, located in the north St. Louis County suburb of Bel-Nor. The sisters' community founded the school here in 1932.

Sisters of Divine Providence (Marie de la Roche Province)

The Congregation of the Sisters of Divine Providence was founded in 1851 by the Most Reverend William Emmanuel Baron von Ketteler, Bishop of Mainz, Germany, and pioneer of social justice, and Marie de la Roche, a French noble woman whom he instructed and baptized in the Catholic faith. The first foundation of the Sisters of Divine Providence was in Pittsburgh, PA. In 1930 the community began a new province in the Midwest, establishing the St. Louis Province on August 1, 1930, the anniversary of the death of its foundress, Marie de la Roche. The temporary headquarters of the new province was located at St. Elizabeth hospital in Granite City, Illinois and Mother Rosalia Weaver was installed as its first Provincial Superior.

Sisters of Loretto at the Foot of the Cross

The Sisters of Loretto, one of the first religious communities of women founded in the United States, began on the Kentucky frontier in 1812. From this beginning, the Loretto charism of loving service, rooted in Jesus on the cross and Mary at the foot of the cross, has shaped and formed this community and keeps it alive today.

Sisters of Mercy of the Americas

Founded more than 180 years ago, the Sisters of Mercy is an international community comprised of 9,000 Sisters of Mercy who live and minister in 46 countries. Through the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Sisters of Mercy serve those in need in the U.S., Central and South America, Jamaica, Guam and the Philippines. In the St. Louis Archdiocese 61 Sisters of Mercy live and serve in a number of ministries including health care, social services, education, spiritual direction, prison and prayer ministry. Sisters of Mercy sponsor Mercy Conference and Retreat Center, a spacious complex for individual and group retreats as well as meeting space and overnight accommodations on 70+ acres in west St. Louis County.

Sisters of St. Francis (Oldenburg)

The year 2016 will mark the 165th anniversary of the founding of the Sisters of St. Francis in Oldenburg, Indiana in January 1851. We are thankful for all those who have welcomed and served with us during these years in education, social services, and parish ministry.

"As Oldenburg Franciscan Sisters, we continue the journey in simplicity, openness and joy as we follow in the footsteps of the greatest of all visionaries...Jesus of Nazareth, whose vision of peace and justice brings new life to all places in all times." Prologue to the Rule and Constitution of the Sisters of St. Francis.

Sister Theresa Hackelmeier had been persuaded to leave her European convent to establish a community in the Indiana wilderness. A few children awaited her and thus began the history of the new Franciscan foundation whose ministry is education.

Eight years after being founded, the Community was invited by Fr. Charles Doebbner to begin a school at Holy Trinity Parish in St. Louis, Missouri. Three Sisters were assigned to the new venture and made the trip from Oldenburg in a covered wagon drawn by horses.

Today, three Sisters of St. Francis still serve in St. Louis and the surrounding area. Their ministries include adult day care, parishes and Nia Kuumba Spirituality Center.

Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George

In December 1923, 5 Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George came to America to serve at Fr. Dunne’s Home for Newsboys in St. Louis, MO. For 2 years they lived and worked with these boys, learning English and getting a start in this new land. Their roots were deep, planted in the soil of northern Germany, in a village called Thuine, yet they willingly answered the call to come to America.

Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet

A combination of circumstances contributed to the first establishment of the Sisters of St. Joseph in America. Through her work with the Propagation of the Faith, Felicite’ Duras, a Countess, was greatly moved by a letter from Bishop Rosati, the first Bishop of St. Louis, asking for sisters who would undertake instruction of deaf-mutes. She offered to defray the expense of establishing a community of Sisters of St. Joseph in this diocese of St. Louis. She had a great love and admiration for Mother St. John Fontbonne and asked her to send the sisters to America.

Sisters of the Good Shepherd (Apostolic)

The apostolic Good Shepherd sisters are located in Normandy. There currently are seven sisters who make up the core community, and nine international sisters going through the English as a Second Language program to prepare them for future leadership roles for the congregation. The campus also houses the offices of the Province of Mid-North America and includes a retirement residence for members of the community's apostolic and contemplative branches.

Opened in 1979 and operated by the Good Shepherd Sisters, Maria Droste provides a residential program for women who are battling drug and alcohol addictions. It's a quiet, homelike setting that can take up to 11 women at a time. The average stay is about four months to a year, and residents receive in-house support from the 24-hour staff and sisters, while they receive professional treatment outside. The ministry is just one example of the apostolic community's charism, which is to foster reconciliation and Jesus' mercy among those the sisters serve.

Sisters of the Most Precious Blood (O'Fallon, MO)

In 1845, a group of young German women began the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of O’Fallon, Missouri in Steinerberg, Switzerland because their native Germany was hostile to the formation of new religious congregations. Magdalena [Mother Theresa] Weber and Rev. Karl Rolfus are revered as their founders. They were founded as a contemplative order dedicated to prayer, simple tasks, and devotion to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus.

Society of Our Mother of Peace (Daughters)

The Society of Our Mother of Peace was founded in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1966 by Father Placid Guste. The original foundation was transferred to Springfield Missouri in 1976. In the meantime, in 1971 a second foundation was made in High Ridge Missouri, approximately twenty miles from St. Louis Missouri. A third foundation was made in 1998 in the Philippines and a fourth in Nigeria in 2002.

The Society is composed of three separate Communities: the Sons of Our Mother of Peace for Religious Priests and Brothers; the Daughters of Our Mother of Peace for Religious Sisters; and the Lay Members Community for lay, married or single men and women. It was born of an inner call to combine the contemplative and apostolic lives in a context of material simplicity in such a manner that the apostolic call would express rather than submerge the contemplative spirit.

Society of the Sacred Heart

The Society of the Sacred Heart was founded in France in 1800 by Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat. Four years later, Rose Philippine Duchesne entered the new community. In 1817, American Bishop William Du Bourg came to call at the motherhouse in Paris to recruit religious to open schools for Native Americans. Rose Philippine Duchesne and her four companions arrived at the Market Street landing in St. Louis on August 22, 1818, the first women religious in St. Louis. On September 14, 1818, Philippine and her companions opened the first free school west of the Mississippi, with twenty-two girls too poor to pay any tuition. This was the beginning of the Academy of the Sacred Heart and international Sacred Heart education, which now spans the globe.

History of the Society of the Sacred Heart

Ursuline Sisters of the Roman Union (Central Province)

The Ursuline Sisters of the Roman Union, Central Province, are members of a worldwide community whose lives and mission are rooted in the Gospel of Jesus and the spirit of its foundress, St. Angela Merici. Grounded and empowered by their relationship with God and with one another, the Ursulines seek to be a compassionate, reconciling presence of God in the world.

Angela Merici, a visionary and practical woman, founded this company of women in 1535 in Brescia, Italy, to renew the church from within during the religious conflicts of the 16^th century.

At the request of Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick, the Ursuline Sisters came to Missouri from convents in Austria and Germany in 1848 to establish a convent and school in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. update

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