Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
Encyclopedia
The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, is the name of a Roman Catholic order of religious sisters, dedicated to providing education
to the poor.
The order was founded in Amiens
in 1803, but the opposition of the local bishop to missions outside his diocese led to the moving of headquarters to then French Namur
in 1809, from which it spread to become a worldwide organization. The Sisters now have foundations in five continents and in 20 countries.
, France
, by St. Julie Billiart
and Marie-Louise-Françoise Blin de Bourdon, Countess of Gézaincourt, whose name as a Sister was Mother St. Joseph. Mlle Blin de Bourdon, who had received spiritual guidance from Julie for many years, offered to defray the immediate expenses of founding the Congregation.
At Amiens, August 5, 1803, they took a house in Rue Neuve. In the chapel of this house, at Mass
on February 2, 1804, the two foundresses and their postulant, Catherine Duchatel of Reims
, made or renewed their vow of chastity, to which they added that of devoting themselves to the Christian education of girls, further proposing to train religious teachers who should go wherever their services were requested. Victoire Leleu (Sister Anastasie) and Justine Garçon (Sister St. John) joined the institute this year and with the foundresses, made their vows of religion October 15, 1804. The Fathers of the Faith who were giving missions in Amiens sent to the five sisters women and girls to be prepared for the sacrament
s. St. Julie was successful and on the invitation of the missioners continued to assist them in the neighboring towns.
Returning to Amiens, the foundress taught the young sisters the ways of the spiritual life. To attain the double end of the institute, they found teachers, among whom were Fathers Varin, Enfantin and Thomas, the last-named a former professor in the Sorbonne
, and Mother St. Joseph Blin, to train the novices and sisters.
The first regular schools of the Sisters of Notre-Dame were opened in August, 1806. Pupils flocked into the class-rooms at once. The urgent need of Christian education among all classes of society in France at that time, led the foundresses to modify their original plan of teaching only the poor and to open schools for the children of the rich also. A unique feature of St. Julie's educational system was to use revenue from the Institute's academies to defray expenses at the free schools.
The community lived under a provisional rule, based upon that of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
, drawn up by Mother Julie and Father Varin, which was approved in 1805 by Msgr. Jean-François Demandolx, Bishop of Amiens. The necessary recognition was accorded on March 10, 1807. A more permanent Rule was adopted in 1818 and it was the basis for the various versions of the Rule until 1968. At that time a total revision occurred guided by changes at the second Vatican Council. The most recent update occurred in 1984.
. St. Nicholas as well as Mother Julie's five other foundations in France, were all temporary. Later and permanent foundations were made in Belgium
: Namur
, 1807, which became the mother-house in 1809; Jumet
, 1808; St. Hubert, 1809; Ghent, 1810; Zele
, 1811; Gembloux
and Andenes
, 1813; Fleurus
, 1814; and all arrangements for Liège and Dinant
, though the communities took possession of these convents only after 1816.
Mother St. Joseph Blin de Bourdon, the co-foundress, was elected Superior General
in succession to Saint Julie. During her generalate the institute passed through the most critical period of its existence, owing to the persecutions of religious orders by William of Orange-Nassau
, King of the Netherlands. To compel them to remain in statu quo, to hold diplomas obtained only after rigid examinations in Dutch
and French
by state officials, to furnish almost endless accounts and writings regarding convent
s, school
s, finances, and subjects, were some of the measures adopted to harass and destroy all teaching orders; but Mother St. Joseph's tact, clear-sightedness, and zeal for souls saved the institute. During his tour in 1829, King William visited the establishment at Namur and was so pleased that he created the mother-general a Dutch subject. The Revolution of 1830 and the assumption of the crown of Belgium by Léopold of Saxe-Gotha
put an end to the petty persecutions of religious. Mother St. Joseph founded houses at Thuin
, 1817; Namur Orphanage, 1823; Hospital St. Jacques
, 1823; Verviers
, 1827; Hospital d'Harscamp
and Bastogne
, 1836, the latter having been for the past thirty years a state normal school; Philippeville
, 1837. The most important work of her generalate was the compiling and collating the Rules and Constitution of the Sisters of Notre Dame. She has left an explanation of the rule; the particular rule of each office; the Directory and Customs. She had preserved a faithful record of all that Mother Julie had said or written on these points. She also drew up a system of instruction based upon that of St. John Baptist de La Salle.
Pope Paul VI canonized St. Julie Billiart in 1969.
Mother St. Joseph was twice re-elected superior-general, the term being at first fixed at ten years. To give greater stability to the government of the institute, a general chapter was convoked which should settle by ballot the question of life-tenure of the office of superior-general. The assembly unanimously voted in the affirmative. In 1819 a foundation was asked for the Netherlands
by Rev. F. Wolf, S.J., but, on account of political difficulties, Mother St. Joseph could not grant it. She offered, instead, to train aspirants to the religious life. Accordingly, two came to Namur, passed their probation, made their vows, and returned to labor in their own country. This is the origin of the congregation of Sisters of Notre Dame of Amersfoort, whose mother-house is at Amersfoort, Netherlands. Later in 1850, the political situation in Europe necessitated that the Amersfoort Sisters go to Coesfeld, Germany to train two young women, Hilligonde Wohlbring, Elizabeth Kuhling,and others according to the rule of St. Julie. The Sisters of Notre Dame of Coesfeld spread to America and have large schools in Cleveland, Ohio
, Covington, Kentucky
, Toledo, Ohio
, Thousand Oaks, California
.
Mother St. Joseph died on February 9, 1838.
The third superior-general was Mother Ignatius (Therese-Josephine Goethals, b. 1800; d. 1842). Her services during the persecution under King William were invaluable. Excessive toil, however, told upon her later, and she died in the fourth year of her generalate; but not before she had sent the first colony of sisters to America
in 1840.
She was succeeded by Mother Marie Therese
, who, on account of ill-health, resigned her office the following year and Mother Constantine (Marie-Jeanne-Joseph-Collin, b. 1802, d. 1875) was elected. She governed the institute for thirty-three years, her term of office being marked by the papal approbation of the Rule in 1844, the first mission to England
in 1845, to California
in 1851, to Guatemala
in 1859. Under Mother Aloysie (Therese-Joseph Mainy, b. 1817, d. 1888), fifth superior-general, the processes for the canonization of Mother Julie and Mother St. Joseph were begun in 1881; twenty houses of the institute were established in Belgium, England, and America. Under her successor, Mother Aimee de Jesus (Elodie Dullaert, b. 1825, d. 1907), the Sisters of Notre Dame, at the request of Léopold II of Belgium
, took charge of the girls' schools in the Jesuit missions of the Congo Free State
, where three houses were established. She also sent from England a community of eight sisters for the girls' schools in the Jesuit mission of Zambezi
, Mashonaland
. An academy and free school were opened later at Kronstadt
, Orange River Colony
, South Africa
. Mother Aimee de Jesus was created by the King of Belgium a Knight of the Order of Leopold, and Sister Ignatia was accorded a similar honor after fourteen years of labor in the Congo. During this generalate Mother Julie Billiart was solemnly beatified by Pius X, May 13, 1906. Mother Marie Aloysie was elected superior general in January, 1908.
The current Congregational Leader is Sister Teresita Weind, elected in 2008.
The first foundation in America was made at Cincinnati, Ohio
, at the request of the Right Reverend John B. Purcell, then Bishop
and later the first Archbishop
of Cincinnati. Sister Louise de Gonzague was appointed superior of the eight sisters who came here for this purpose. After firmly establishing the institute in America, failing health caused her recall to Namur, where she worked until her death in 1866. Upon Sister Louise, another of the original group, devolved in 1845 the charges of superior not only of the house of Cincinnati, but also of the others then founded or to be founded east of the Rocky Mountains. Every year the sisters were asked for in some part of the country and the mother-house of Namur gave generously of Sisters and funds until the convents in America were able to supply their own needs.
Sisters of Notre Dame founded fifteen houses, including Trinity College, Washington, D.C.
, and a provincial house and novitiate at Cincinnati, Ohio. Sister Agnes Mary (b. 1840, d. 1910) made three foundations and built the first chapel dedicated to Blessed Mother Julie in America, a beautiful Gothic structure in stone, at Moylan, Pennsylvania. Over the decades many houses have been founded in multiple states.
In 1846 a colony of eight sisters left Namur under the care of Right Reverend F.N. Blanchet and Father de Smet, S.J., to labor among the Indians of the Oregon
mission. Five years later these sisters, at the request of the Right Reverend Joseph S. Alemany, Archbishop of San Francisco
, were transferred to San Jose, California
. The first establishment on the Pacific Coast was followed in course of time by ten others, which formed a separate province from Cincinnati. For thirty years it was under the wise care of Sister Marie Cornélia.
In 1851 two foundations were made in Guatemala
, Central America
, under government auspices and with such an outburst of welcome and esteem from the people as reads like a romance. In less than twenty years, the forty-one Sisters of Notre Dame were exiled.
It was through the Redemptorists that the Sisters of Notre Dame first went to England. Father de Buggenoms, a Belgian, superior of a small mission at Falmouth
, felt the urgent need of schools for the poor Catholic children. He asked and obtained from the Superior of the Sisters of Notre Dame at Namur a community of six sisters, and with these he opened a small school at Penryn
in Cornwall
. It continued only three years, however, as the place afforded no means of subsistence to a religious house. The Redemptorists having established a second English mission at Clapham
, near London
, and having asked again for Sisters of Notre Dame for a school, the community of Penryn was transferred there in 1848. Through the initiative of Father Buggenoms the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, a community in the Diocese of Northampton, about fifty in number, were affiliated in 1852 to the Institute of Notre Dame, with the consent of the Bishop of Namur and Bishop of Northampton. Scarcely had the Hierarchy been re-established in England when the Government offered education to the Catholic poor; the Sisters of Notre Dame devoted themselves earnestly to this work, under the guidance of Sister Mary of St. Francis (Hon. Laura M. Petre), who was to the congregation in England what Mother St. Joseph was to the whole institute. Before her death (June 24, 1886) eighteen houses had been founded in England. By 1910 there were twenty-one.
Among these English houses is the Training College for Catholic School-Mistresses at Mount Pleasant, Liverpool
, the direction of which was confided to the Sisters of Notre Dame by the Government in 1856. The nuns which governed the Training College resided in what is now known as Notre Dame Catholic College
on Everton Valley.
At the request of the Scottish Education Department, the Sisters of Notre Dame opened the Dowanhill
Training College for Catholic School-Mistresses at Glasgow
in 1895. A second convent in Scotland
opened at Dumbarton in 1910.
Following the Second Vatican Council, and with ecclesiastical approval, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur updated their Constitutions in 1984. Their charism now, as then, is to make known God's goodness.
Teaching order
A teaching order is a Catholic religious order or congregation whose particular charism is education. Many orders and societies sponsor educational programs and institutions, and teaching orders participate in other charitable and spiritual activities; a teaching order is distinguished in that...
to the poor.
The order was founded in Amiens
Amiens
Amiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardy...
in 1803, but the opposition of the local bishop to missions outside his diocese led to the moving of headquarters to then French Namur
Namur (city)
Namur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, in southern Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia....
in 1809, from which it spread to become a worldwide organization. The Sisters now have foundations in five continents and in 20 countries.
Foundation
Founded in 1804 at AmiensAmiens
Amiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardy...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, by St. Julie Billiart
Julie Billiart
Saint Julie Billiart was a French religious leader who founded, and was the first Superior General of, the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.-Childhood:...
and Marie-Louise-Françoise Blin de Bourdon, Countess of Gézaincourt, whose name as a Sister was Mother St. Joseph. Mlle Blin de Bourdon, who had received spiritual guidance from Julie for many years, offered to defray the immediate expenses of founding the Congregation.
At Amiens, August 5, 1803, they took a house in Rue Neuve. In the chapel of this house, at Mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
on February 2, 1804, the two foundresses and their postulant, Catherine Duchatel of Reims
Reims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
, made or renewed their vow of chastity, to which they added that of devoting themselves to the Christian education of girls, further proposing to train religious teachers who should go wherever their services were requested. Victoire Leleu (Sister Anastasie) and Justine Garçon (Sister St. John) joined the institute this year and with the foundresses, made their vows of religion October 15, 1804. The Fathers of the Faith who were giving missions in Amiens sent to the five sisters women and girls to be prepared for the sacrament
Sacrament
A sacrament is a sacred rite recognized as of particular importance and significance. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites.-General definitions and terms:...
s. St. Julie was successful and on the invitation of the missioners continued to assist them in the neighboring towns.
Returning to Amiens, the foundress taught the young sisters the ways of the spiritual life. To attain the double end of the institute, they found teachers, among whom were Fathers Varin, Enfantin and Thomas, the last-named a former professor in the Sorbonne
Collège de Sorbonne
The Collège de Sorbonne was a theological college of the University of Paris, founded in 1257 by Robert de Sorbon, after whom it is named. With the rest of the Paris colleges, it was suppressed during the French Revolution. It was restored in 1808 but finally closed in 1882. The name Sorbonne...
, and Mother St. Joseph Blin, to train the novices and sisters.
The first regular schools of the Sisters of Notre-Dame were opened in August, 1806. Pupils flocked into the class-rooms at once. The urgent need of Christian education among all classes of society in France at that time, led the foundresses to modify their original plan of teaching only the poor and to open schools for the children of the rich also. A unique feature of St. Julie's educational system was to use revenue from the Institute's academies to defray expenses at the free schools.
The community lived under a provisional rule, based upon that of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Ignatius of Loyola
Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish knight from a Basque noble family, hermit, priest since 1537, and theologian, who founded the Society of Jesus and was its first Superior General. Ignatius emerged as a religious leader during the Counter-Reformation...
, drawn up by Mother Julie and Father Varin, which was approved in 1805 by Msgr. Jean-François Demandolx, Bishop of Amiens. The necessary recognition was accorded on March 10, 1807. A more permanent Rule was adopted in 1818 and it was the basis for the various versions of the Rule until 1968. At that time a total revision occurred guided by changes at the second Vatican Council. The most recent update occurred in 1984.
Expansion
The first branch house was established at St. Nicholas, near GhentGhent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
. St. Nicholas as well as Mother Julie's five other foundations in France, were all temporary. Later and permanent foundations were made in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
: Namur
Namur (city)
Namur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, in southern Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia....
, 1807, which became the mother-house in 1809; Jumet
Jumet
Jumet is a section of the Belgian town of Charleroi within the Walloon region in the Province of Hainaut. It was a commune of its own before the merger of the communes in 1977....
, 1808; St. Hubert, 1809; Ghent, 1810; Zele
Zele
Zele is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality only comprises the town of Zele proper. On January 1, 2006 Zele had a total population of 20,371...
, 1811; Gembloux
Gembloux
Gembloux is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Namur, on the axis Brussels-NamurOn 1 January 2006 the municipality had 21,964 inhabitants...
and Andenes
Andenes
is a town and former municipality in Vesterålen district in Nordland county, Norway.Andenes was separated from Dverberg January 1, 1924. It was merged with Dverberg and Bjørnskinn to create the new municipality of Andøy January 1, 1964....
, 1813; Fleurus
Fleurus
Fleurus is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. On January 1, 2006 Fleurus had a total population of 22,221. The total area is which gives a population density of 375 inhabitants per km²...
, 1814; and all arrangements for Liège and Dinant
Dinant
Dinant is a Walloon city and municipality located on the River Meuse in the Belgian province of Namur, Belgium. The Dinant municipality includes the old communes of Anseremme, Bouvignes-sur-Meuse, Dréhance, Falmagne, Falmignoul, Foy-Notre-Dame, Furfooz, Lisogne, Sorinnes, and Thynes.-Origins to...
, though the communities took possession of these convents only after 1816.
Mother St. Joseph Blin de Bourdon, the co-foundress, was elected Superior General
Superior general
A Superior General, or General Superior, is the Superior at the head of a whole religious order or congregation.The term is mainly used as a generic term, while many orders and congregations use other specific titles, notably:* Abbot general...
in succession to Saint Julie. During her generalate the institute passed through the most critical period of its existence, owing to the persecutions of religious orders by William of Orange-Nassau
William I of the Netherlands
William I Frederick, born Willem Frederik Prins van Oranje-Nassau , was a Prince of Orange and the first King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg....
, King of the Netherlands. To compel them to remain in statu quo, to hold diplomas obtained only after rigid examinations in Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
by state officials, to furnish almost endless accounts and writings regarding convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
s, school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s, finances, and subjects, were some of the measures adopted to harass and destroy all teaching orders; but Mother St. Joseph's tact, clear-sightedness, and zeal for souls saved the institute. During his tour in 1829, King William visited the establishment at Namur and was so pleased that he created the mother-general a Dutch subject. The Revolution of 1830 and the assumption of the crown of Belgium by Léopold of Saxe-Gotha
Leopold I of Belgium
Leopold I was from 21 July 1831 the first King of the Belgians, following Belgium's independence from the Netherlands. He was the founder of the Belgian line of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...
put an end to the petty persecutions of religious. Mother St. Joseph founded houses at Thuin
Thuin
Thuin is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. The Thuin municipality includes the old communes of Leers-et-Fosteau, Biesme-sous-Thuin, Ragnies, Biercée, Gozée, Donstiennes, and Thuillies.-Origins:...
, 1817; Namur Orphanage, 1823; Hospital St. Jacques
St. Jacques
St. Jacques is a surname, and may refer to:* Bruno St. Jacques , Canadian professional ice hockey player* Chris St. Jacques , Canadian professional ice hockey centre* Raymond St. Jacques , American actor-See also:...
, 1823; Verviers
Verviers
Verviers is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. The Verviers municipality includes the old communes of Ensival, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Heusy...
, 1827; Hospital d'Harscamp
D'Harscamp
The D'Harscamp were a Belgian aristocratic family from the Namur region, who were Counts of Argenteau. They became wealthy during the Thirty Years' War through possession of the secret of how to cast cannon in a single piece...
and Bastogne
Bastogne
Bastogne Luxembourgish: Baaschtnech) is a Walloon municipality of Belgium located in the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes. The municipality of Bastogne includes the old communes of Longvilly, Noville, Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, and Wardin...
, 1836, the latter having been for the past thirty years a state normal school; Philippeville
Philippeville
Philippeville is a Walloon municipality located in Belgium in the province of Namur. The Philippeville municipality includes the old communes of Fagnolle, Franchimont, Jamagne, Jamiolle, Merlemont, Neuville, Omezée, Roly, Romedenne, Samart, Sart-en-Fagne, Sautour, Surice , Villers-en-Fagne,...
, 1837. The most important work of her generalate was the compiling and collating the Rules and Constitution of the Sisters of Notre Dame. She has left an explanation of the rule; the particular rule of each office; the Directory and Customs. She had preserved a faithful record of all that Mother Julie had said or written on these points. She also drew up a system of instruction based upon that of St. John Baptist de La Salle.
Pope Paul VI canonized St. Julie Billiart in 1969.
Mother St. Joseph was twice re-elected superior-general, the term being at first fixed at ten years. To give greater stability to the government of the institute, a general chapter was convoked which should settle by ballot the question of life-tenure of the office of superior-general. The assembly unanimously voted in the affirmative. In 1819 a foundation was asked for the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
by Rev. F. Wolf, S.J., but, on account of political difficulties, Mother St. Joseph could not grant it. She offered, instead, to train aspirants to the religious life. Accordingly, two came to Namur, passed their probation, made their vows, and returned to labor in their own country. This is the origin of the congregation of Sisters of Notre Dame of Amersfoort, whose mother-house is at Amersfoort, Netherlands. Later in 1850, the political situation in Europe necessitated that the Amersfoort Sisters go to Coesfeld, Germany to train two young women, Hilligonde Wohlbring, Elizabeth Kuhling,and others according to the rule of St. Julie. The Sisters of Notre Dame of Coesfeld spread to America and have large schools in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, Covington, Kentucky
Covington, Kentucky
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 43,370 people, 18,257 households, and 10,132 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,301.3 people per square mile . There were 20,448 housing units at an average density of 1,556.5 per square mile...
, Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
, Thousand Oaks, California
Thousand Oaks, California
Thousand Oaks is a city in southeastern Ventura County, California, in the United States. It was named after the many oak trees that grace the area, and the city seal is adorned with an oak....
.
Mother St. Joseph died on February 9, 1838.
The third superior-general was Mother Ignatius (Therese-Josephine Goethals, b. 1800; d. 1842). Her services during the persecution under King William were invaluable. Excessive toil, however, told upon her later, and she died in the fourth year of her generalate; but not before she had sent the first colony of sisters to America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1840.
She was succeeded by Mother Marie Therese
Marie Thérèse
Marie Thérèse or Marie-Thérèse may refer to:* Marie-Thérèse Assiga Ahanda, Cameroonian novelist and chemist* Marie-Thérèse Colimon-Hall , Haitian writer* Marie-Thérèse de Subligny , French ballerina...
, who, on account of ill-health, resigned her office the following year and Mother Constantine (Marie-Jeanne-Joseph-Collin, b. 1802, d. 1875) was elected. She governed the institute for thirty-three years, her term of office being marked by the papal approbation of the Rule in 1844, the first mission to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1845, to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in 1851, to Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
in 1859. Under Mother Aloysie (Therese-Joseph Mainy, b. 1817, d. 1888), fifth superior-general, the processes for the canonization of Mother Julie and Mother St. Joseph were begun in 1881; twenty houses of the institute were established in Belgium, England, and America. Under her successor, Mother Aimee de Jesus (Elodie Dullaert, b. 1825, d. 1907), the Sisters of Notre Dame, at the request of Léopold II of Belgium
Leopold II of Belgium
Leopold II was the second king of the Belgians. Born in Brussels the second son of Leopold I and Louise-Marie of Orléans, he succeeded his father to the throne on 17 December 1865 and remained king until his death.Leopold is chiefly remembered as the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free...
, took charge of the girls' schools in the Jesuit missions of the Congo Free State
Congo Free State
The Congo Free State was a large area in Central Africa which was privately controlled by Leopold II, King of the Belgians. Its origins lay in Leopold's attracting scientific, and humanitarian backing for a non-governmental organization, the Association internationale africaine...
, where three houses were established. She also sent from England a community of eight sisters for the girls' schools in the Jesuit mission of Zambezi
Zambezi
The Zambezi is the fourth-longest river in Africa, and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. The area of its basin is , slightly less than half that of the Nile...
, Mashonaland
Mashonaland
Mashonaland is a region in northern Zimbabwe. It is the home of the Shona people.Currently, Mashonaland is divided into three provinces, with a total population of about 3 million:* Mashonaland West* Mashonaland Central* Mashonaland East...
. An academy and free school were opened later at Kronstadt
Kronstadt
Kronstadt , also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt |crown]]" and Stadt for "city"); is a municipal town in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg proper near the head of the Gulf of Finland. Population: It is also...
, Orange River Colony
Orange River Colony
The Orange River Colony was the British colony created after this nation first occupied and then annexed the independent Orange Free State in the Second Boer War...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. Mother Aimee de Jesus was created by the King of Belgium a Knight of the Order of Leopold, and Sister Ignatia was accorded a similar honor after fourteen years of labor in the Congo. During this generalate Mother Julie Billiart was solemnly beatified by Pius X, May 13, 1906. Mother Marie Aloysie was elected superior general in January, 1908.
The current Congregational Leader is Sister Teresita Weind, elected in 2008.
The first foundation in America was made at Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, at the request of the Right Reverend John B. Purcell, then Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
and later the first Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
of Cincinnati. Sister Louise de Gonzague was appointed superior of the eight sisters who came here for this purpose. After firmly establishing the institute in America, failing health caused her recall to Namur, where she worked until her death in 1866. Upon Sister Louise, another of the original group, devolved in 1845 the charges of superior not only of the house of Cincinnati, but also of the others then founded or to be founded east of the Rocky Mountains. Every year the sisters were asked for in some part of the country and the mother-house of Namur gave generously of Sisters and funds until the convents in America were able to supply their own needs.
Sisters of Notre Dame founded fifteen houses, including Trinity College, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and a provincial house and novitiate at Cincinnati, Ohio. Sister Agnes Mary (b. 1840, d. 1910) made three foundations and built the first chapel dedicated to Blessed Mother Julie in America, a beautiful Gothic structure in stone, at Moylan, Pennsylvania. Over the decades many houses have been founded in multiple states.
In 1846 a colony of eight sisters left Namur under the care of Right Reverend F.N. Blanchet and Father de Smet, S.J., to labor among the Indians of the Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
mission. Five years later these sisters, at the request of the Right Reverend Joseph S. Alemany, Archbishop of San Francisco
Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco is the Archbishop of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, the Roman Catholic Church in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties in California, the United States...
, were transferred to San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
. The first establishment on the Pacific Coast was followed in course of time by ten others, which formed a separate province from Cincinnati. For thirty years it was under the wise care of Sister Marie Cornélia.
In 1851 two foundations were made in Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, under government auspices and with such an outburst of welcome and esteem from the people as reads like a romance. In less than twenty years, the forty-one Sisters of Notre Dame were exiled.
It was through the Redemptorists that the Sisters of Notre Dame first went to England. Father de Buggenoms, a Belgian, superior of a small mission at Falmouth
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
, felt the urgent need of schools for the poor Catholic children. He asked and obtained from the Superior of the Sisters of Notre Dame at Namur a community of six sisters, and with these he opened a small school at Penryn
Penryn, Cornwall
Penryn is a civil parish and town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated on the Penryn River about one mile northwest of Falmouth...
in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
. It continued only three years, however, as the place afforded no means of subsistence to a religious house. The Redemptorists having established a second English mission at Clapham
Clapham
Clapham is a district in south London, England, within the London Borough of Lambeth.Clapham covers the postcodes of SW4 and parts of SW9, SW8 and SW12. Clapham Common is shared with the London Borough of Wandsworth, although Lambeth has responsibility for running the common as a whole. According...
, near London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and having asked again for Sisters of Notre Dame for a school, the community of Penryn was transferred there in 1848. Through the initiative of Father Buggenoms the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, a community in the Diocese of Northampton, about fifty in number, were affiliated in 1852 to the Institute of Notre Dame, with the consent of the Bishop of Namur and Bishop of Northampton. Scarcely had the Hierarchy been re-established in England when the Government offered education to the Catholic poor; the Sisters of Notre Dame devoted themselves earnestly to this work, under the guidance of Sister Mary of St. Francis (Hon. Laura M. Petre), who was to the congregation in England what Mother St. Joseph was to the whole institute. Before her death (June 24, 1886) eighteen houses had been founded in England. By 1910 there were twenty-one.
Among these English houses is the Training College for Catholic School-Mistresses at Mount Pleasant, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, the direction of which was confided to the Sisters of Notre Dame by the Government in 1856. The nuns which governed the Training College resided in what is now known as Notre Dame Catholic College
Notre Dame Catholic College (Liverpool)
Notre Dame Catholic College is an all-girls' secondary school and sixth form in Liverpool, L4 4EZ, England.-Admissions:The school holds Specialist Arts College status. It is a catholic girls' school. 45% of the girls receive free school meals.-History:...
on Everton Valley.
At the request of the Scottish Education Department, the Sisters of Notre Dame opened the Dowanhill
Dowanhill
Dowanhill is a district of Glasgow, Scotland, occupying the area west of Hillhead, south of Kelvinside and east of Hyndland.A residential district the area generally contains a mixture of terraced townhouses with private communal gardens, detached villas with private grounds and a number of...
Training College for Catholic School-Mistresses at Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
in 1895. A second convent in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
opened at Dumbarton in 1910.
Following the Second Vatican Council, and with ecclesiastical approval, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur updated their Constitutions in 1984. Their charism now, as then, is to make known God's goodness.