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. 

The Dominican Friars (Order of Preachers) established St. Dominic Priory on July 1, 1981, as the house of studies (studium) of the Province of St. Albert the Great (Central Province) and at the same time moved their school – Aquinas Institute of Theology – to St. Louis.  A “priory” is fundamentally a community of Friars who come together to pursue the end of the Order of Preachers – “preaching and the salvation of souls”; by extension the term is applied to the physical house in which the Friars reside. 

The Congregation of Franciscan Brothers of the Holy Cross is a religious community of vowed men who share in the mission of Jesus by serving the needs of people and The Church in the tradition of St. Francis.  We are called by God to follow gospel values and to respond with compassionate care and ministry to all human needs.  We serve by caring for individuals with developmental disabilities, providing pastoral care, working in health care roles, and serving as teachers, secretaries, musicians, tradesmen, and in leadership roles of service.

As brothers, we live a life in community. we are dedicated to a life of prayer and service as we seek to be witnesses of Christ’s love for all in our community, in our ministries and the world.

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.”

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. 

The Society of Mary (Marianists), an international Catholic religious order of brothers and priests, was founded in 1817 in France by Blessed William Joseph Chaminade. The Society of Mary, together with a religious order of women, the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, and numerous affiliated lay groups, form the Marianist family.

In 1898, the Marianists opened their first school in the St. Louis Archdiocese.  

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

Offering the Perpetual Mass Association since 1933, the Missionaries of the Holy Family (MSF) is a worldwide, Roman Catholic, men’s congregation of over 900 priests and brothers with a special focus on emphasizing the Holy Family as the standard of holiness for all families.

The worldwide leadership for the Missionaries of the Holy Family is the generalate, and it is located in Rome. There are 15 provinces and numerous missions. The Missionaries of the Holy Family serve in 22 countries.

They have served St. Wenceslaus Parish in St. Louis since 1960.

The Franciscan Province of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus began as an American mission from the Saxonian Province of Holy Cross, in Germany.  they are officially recognized as the Order of Friars Minor, a religious order, simply known as the “Franciscans.”  In 1858, they responded to an invitation from the bishop of Alton, Illinois and were entrusted with the care of the german-speaking parish of Saint Francis, in Teutopolis.  Special permission from their Franciscan superiors granted the friars reasonable travel permits, use of money and special garb.  This allowed the Franciscans to spread the gospel throughout the surrounding areas in Quincy, Illinois and Saint Louis, Missouri.  

The modern-day Franciscan Missionary Brothers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus had their beginnings in this tradition when, in 1888, their order was founded in Poland. In 1922, two of the brothers visited the United States and, in 1927, the Franciscan Missionary Brothers were officially welcomed into the Archdiocese of St. Louis.  That same year, we acquired the St. Joseph’s Hill property outside Eureka, restored the buildings that had been abandoned 15 years earlier, and began accepting residents who needed continual nursing care.

Today’s Franciscan Missionary Brothers are steeped in proud and solemn traditions of the past. Their apostolic endeavors range from supporting the needs of nursing home residents, to those afflicted with hiv and other disenfranchised people––as well as as their work in maintaining and operating the Black Madonna Shrine and grottos, which welcome thousands of visitors each year. 

Our Community: The missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette are deeply rooted in the apparition of Our Lady of La Salette which occurred near the hamlet of La Salette in southeastern France on Sept. 19, 1846. The missionaries were founded in 1852 by Bp. Philbert de Bruillard, bishop of Grenoble, France, and presently serve in some 25 countries.

Our Province: The Province of Mary, Mother of the Americas, was founded in 2000ad and is one of several provinces in the congregation. The members of this province serve mainly in the countries of Canada, the United States and the region of Argentina/Bolivia.

Our Mission: Our La Salette ministry of reconciliation responds to the broad vision given by Mary at La Salette as well as in response to the needs of The Church. as reconcilers, we together with the laity take seriously Mary’s mandate: “You will make (Mary’s) message known to all (her) people.”