Page 17 - Pages for FlipBook 2018

x In 1233 a cloistered monastery of Dominican nuns was founded in Ratisbon and was called
Heilig-Kreuz, In the 19th Century after Napoleons conquest the sisters were told to teach
children or be disbanded. They chose to teach which gave rise to the fact that the Sisters of
Holy Cross Monastery came to be very well trained educators.

x Conditions in America gave rise to an invitation to found a convent of the Order in America
which gave rise to Mother Josepha, Mother Augustine, Sisters Franziska and Jacobina coming
to teach the German immigrants in Pennsylvania.

x In 1853 the four Sisters from Holy Cross monastery in Regensburg, Germany set sail for the
United States. Upon their arrival Fr Stephen Raffeiner and the Redemptorist Fathers in
Manhattan offered shelter to the Sisters in the rectory basement of Most Holy Trinity Parish
in Brooklyn, N.Y.

x The Sisters arrival gave rise to a home and ministry in Williamsburg and the beginnings of the
American Congregation of the Holy Cross.

x In 1875 Mr. Schlegel donated his farm at Amityville, N.Y. of 83 acres for the care of orphans
and old people giving rise to Mother Seraphina’s purchase of eleven adjacent acres for the
building of a large convent and church dedicated to Queen of the Most Holy Rosary.

x In 1898 the ministries of schools, hospitals, and orphanages, practically led to the change
from Second Order to Third Order.

x In 1910 responding to persistent invitations by the Dominican Fathers and a letter from Rome
to Bishop McDonnell, the pioneer Sisters were sent to Puerto Rico which was now part of the
United States which gave rise to a new sense of mission.

x Throughout the first 65 years of the twentieth century there was a growth of membership
which in 1965 reached its high point of 1725 members giving rise to the need for housing and
many schools.

x In 1974 the Dominican Sisters adopted a Congregational Goal Statement which would
eventually give rise to a new sense of identity and vision.

x In 1977 the Congregational Assembly took shape giving rise to full participation of the
membership participation in Chapter and governance as well as to many new projects.

x On December 5, 1992 Puerto Rico became a Province giving rise to new collaboration on a
mission in the Dominican Republic.

x In 1999 the Sisters of St. Dominic gave held a Chapter of Charism and Mission where they
claimed their identity as preachers and moved more deeply into the mission that the
preaching may continue in their daily live

The complete history of the Sisters of St. Dominic can be accessed

through their webpage: www.sistersofstdominic.org/