Sisters of the Holy Cross

Founded	1841
Founder	Basil Moreau
Founded at	Sainte Croix, Le Mans, France
Headquarters	Notre Dame, Indiana
President	Sister Sharlet Ann Wagner, CSC
Website	https://www.cscsisters.org/

The Sisters of the Holy Cross are one of three Catholic congregations of religious sisters which trace their origins to the foundation of the Congregation of Holy Cross by Basil Moreau in Le Mans, France in 1837. Members designate themselves with the post-nominals CSC.

The other two congregations of religious women in the tradition of the Holy Cross Family are the Marianites of Holy Cross (New Orleans, Louisiana) and the Sisters of Holy Cross (Montreal, Quebec, Canada). The Sisters of the Holy Cross motherhouse is located in Notre Dame, Indiana on the campus of Saint Mary's College.

They are distinct from the Sisters of the Holy Cross Menzingen, a teaching congregation founded in Switzerland in 1844.

Early history

In 1837, Basil Moreau established the Congregation of Holy Cross. The congregation took its name from the neighborhood of Sainte Croix in Le Mans, where the 12th-century church, Notre Dame du Sainte Croix, was to become the mother church of the new foundation. In 1841, Moreau founded a society of sisters within the Congregation.

In June 1843, four sisters left the mother house in France to join Edward Sorin at his mission at Notre Dame, Indiana. A second story had been added to the log chapel at the University of Notre Dame for their convent. The Sisters of the Holy Cross were founded originally to care for the housework in the boarding schools conducted by the priests. Upon their arrival, they took charge of the sacristy, infirmary, clothes room, etc. In 1844, a novitiate was opened at Bertrand, Michigan, six miles from Notre Dame. The sisters taught the children of the neighbourhood, and cared for several orphans. With assistance from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the sisters were able to extend their work.

A school was opened at Pokagon, Michigan, in 1845. This was followed by other foundations at St. Johns, Mackinac, Louisville, Lowell (Indiana), La Porte, Michigan City, and Mishawaka. In 1847, four sisters with some companions from the mother-house in France opened a convent at St. Laurent, Canada, which formed the nucleus of the subsequently erected province. In 1849 four sisters took charge of the boys' orphan asylum in New Orleans, and from there a house was opened in 1854 in New York with the sanction of Moreau. Sisters were sent to this establishment from Notre Dame, Canada, and New Orleans. Misunderstandings due to orders issued from France and Notre Dame led to the withdrawal of the American sisters from the new foundations, the houses of New Orleans and New York remaining subject to the French motherhouse.

The year 1856 saw the sisters well-established in Chicago and Philadelphia. They had charge of the cathedral parochial school, St. Joseph's German school, and an industrial school in Chicago, and were installed in St. Paul's and St. Augustine's schools in Philadelphia. Later they opened a select school for boarders and day-pupils in West Philadelphia. These foundations all promised success, but the strained relations between the mother-house at Le Mans under Father Moreau and the Provincial House at Notre Dame under Father Sorin led to the recall of the sisters.

In 1853, Eliza Gillespie, sister of Neal Henry Gillespie, received the habit from Sorin, and sailed for France to make her novitiate as Sister Angela. After profession, she returned to Bertrand and took charge of the academy, 1854. From that time until her death (1887), Gillespie laboured indefatigably to develop the highest intellectual and religious qualities in both teachers and students, and must be regarded as the virtual founder of the order in the United States.

On 15 August, 1855, the convent and academy were moved from Bertrand to South Bend, Indiana. Saint Mary's Academy eventually grew to become Saint Mary's College. By 1861 the sisters were operating schools and orphanages throughout the eastern half of the United States.

When Moreau visited the provinces of Canada, Louisiana, and Notre Dame in 1857, he promulgated the Decree of Separation of the sisters from the priests and brothers. In 1869, at the advice of John Luers of Fort Wayne, the Sisters of the Holy Cross in the United States separated from the motherhouse in France and formed a distinct congregation.

American Civil War

Oliver P. Morton, governor of Indiana, requested the assistance of 12 sisters from the congregation. Gillespie along with five other sisters volunteered as nurses. The sisters were sent to Cairo, Illinois, where they met General Ulysses S. Grant. The sisters were then sent to the regimental headquarters of General Lew Wallace's brigade in Paducah, Kentucky. All told, some eighty sisters served as nurses, managing hospitals in Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee, Missouri, and Washington, D.C.

Thomas Ewing, father-in-law of General William Tecumseh Sherman, was a kinsman of Gillespie; U.S. Representative James G. Blaine was her cousin. When generals failed to secure needed aid for the sick and wounded, she made trips to Washington on their behalf. Her influence in Washington was significant both because of her family connections and because of the recognition of her work for the sick and wounded soldiers. Eighty sisters nursed the wounded and ill soldiers in Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. Four sisters served on the U.S. Navy's first hospital ship, the "Red Rover". They were the first female nurses to serve on board a Navy ship.

Post Civil War

Commander Charles Henry Davis of the Western Flotilla presented Gillespie with two civil war cannons, "Lady Polk" and "Lady Davis." During WWII, the cannons were melted down for scrap iron. There is a monument that stands in memory of the sisters that served in the Civil War, erected on September 20, 1924. It is located in Washington D.C., across from St Matthew's Cathedral.

Angela Gillespie returned to Notre Dame, Indiana, where her brother, Neal Henry Gillespie, was soon appointed editor of Ave Maria Magazine. Sorin put Angela Gillespie in charge of editorial management. While the Holy Cross Brothers served as typographers and pressmen, the sisters assisted in various editorial and production capacities.

20th and 21st Century

The Sisters expanded their ministry globally with the establishment of a permanent mission in Bengal (Bangladesh) in 1927, and helping to establish an indigenous order in 1934: Associates of Mary, Queen of the Apostles. Four sisters traveled to São Paulo, Brazil to staff a health facility. The Sisters established a ministry in Uganda in 1967 and welcomed their first two Ugandan women to the Congregation in 1986.

Partnering with 9 other congregations of Catholic women religions, in 2023 the Sisters founded the Heritage and Research Center (HARC) at Saint Mary’s College to preserve and provide access to the archival records of their ministries. The HARC is in the process of being built and is expected to open in 2026.

Location

The Sisters of the Holy Cross are represented in the following countries:

• United States (1843)
• Bengal, India (now Bangladesh) (1853)
• Brazil (1947)
• Uganda (1967)
• Peru (1982)
• Ghana (1983)
• Mexico (1987)

Institutions

• 1844: Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana
• 1868: Academy of the Holy Cross, Kensington, Maryland
• 1869-1990: Saint Mary's Academy, Alexandria, Virginia
• 1875-1969: College of Saint Mary-of-the-Wasatch, Salt Lake City, Utah
• 1935-1973: Dunbarton College of the Holy Cross, Washington, D.C.
• 1947: Colégio Santa Maria, São Paulo, Brazil
• 1905: Holy Cross Anglo-Indian School, Tamilnadu, India
• 1949-1971 & 1985-1992: Blessed Sacrament School, Alexandria, Virginia
• 1950: Holy Cross Girls' High School, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• 1950: Holy Cross College, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• 1952-1972: Cardinal Cushing College, Brookline, Massachusetts

Notable members

• Sister Miriam Joseph, educator
• Madeleva Wolff

Ministry timeline

• 1861-1865 Service as nurses during the American Civil War
• 1974-1997 Sisters minister in Tiberias, Israel
• 1993 Sisters open a house of spiritual study for Holy Cross sisters in India

See also

• Congregation of Holy Cross
• United States Navy Nurse Corps (Civil War)

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Sisters of the Holy Cross — (Mother House, St. Mary's of the Immaculate Conception, Notre Dame, Indiana)

As an offset to the ravages of the French Revolution in the fields of religion and education, the Very Rev. Basil Moreau, professor of divinity in the Grand Séminaire and canon of the cathedral at Le Mans, France, formed a society of auxiliary priests in 1834. The following year his bishop, Mgr. Bouvier, named him superior of the Brothers of St. Joseph, who had been founded for school work in 1820 by the Rev. Jacques-François Dujarié. "The Association of the Holy Cross" was the outgrowth of these two distinct communities banded together under Abbé Moreau for educational purposes in the Commune of the Holy Cross near Le Mans, where they started Holy Cross College in 1836. Several young women offering their assistance a little later, Father Moreau founded a sisterhood "to co-operate with the other branches in their pious labours, and to labour themselves in a particular manner for the benefit of the youth of their own sex". The first candidates received the habit of the Congregation of the Seven Dolours (as it was then called) from Father Moreau on 29 September, 1841, in the convent of the Good Shepherd. Under the direction of its saintly superior, Mother Dorothea, they made their novitiate, and, at the end of a year, were admitted to the religious profession with the title, "Sisters of the Holy Cross". They were consecrated by their founder "to the heart of Mary pierced with the sword of grief". This has ever been the especial devotion of the sisters, and the image of Our Lady of Sorrows is a distinctive mark of their dress. They wear also in her honour a blue cincture and the chaplet of the Seven Dolours, which is recited in common every day.

In 1842 the sisters with Mother Seven Dolours took possession of their new convent at Holy Cross. About this time, the Rev. Edward Sorin and five brothers left the mother-house for the Indiana Missions at the request of the Bishop of Vincennes. It is evident from Father Sorin's letters that he expected the sisters to join him later in his work. He writes that they should come prepared for teaching, establishing an academy, and for the Indian missions. Four sisters left France with Father Cointet on 6 June, 1843. A second story had been added to the log chapel at Notre Dame for their convent. Upon their arrival, they took charge of the sacristy, infirmary, clothes room, etc. Before long the need of an American novitiate was apparent as it was out of the question to send candidates to Le Mans from Indiana. Father Sorin asked the ordinary's permission to establish one, but the bishop refused because he thought his diocese could not support two educational institutions, and the Sisters of Providence were already there by his invitation. Finally, in 1844 the novitiate was opened with the sanction of the Bishop of Detroit at Bertrand, Michigan, six miles from Notre Dame. This mission was attended by the Holy Cross priests. The first American postulants received the habit from Father Sorin on 8 September, 1844. The sisters taught the children of the neighbourhood, and cared for several orphans. In 1845 the inhabitants gave them a large tract of land; and this with five thousand francs from the Society of the Propagation of the Faith made it possible for the sisters to extend their work. The French sisters had already mastered the English tongue, while their American companions were studying the dialect of the Pottawattomies. Those destined for music and painting attended Loretta Convent, Kentucky; others went to France to specialize in the instruction of deaf-mutes.

The first school for Indians was opened at Pokagon, Michigan, in 1845. This was followed by other foundations at St. John's, Mackinac, Louisville, Lowell (Indiana), Laporte, Michigan City, and Mishawaka. In 1847 four sisters with some companions from the mother-house in France opened a convent at St. Laurent, Canada, which formed the nucleus of the subsequently erected province. In 1849 four sisters took charge of the boys' orphan asylum in New Orleans, and from there a house was opened in New York with the sanction of Father Moreau (1854). Sisters were sent to this establishment from Notre Dame, Canada, and New Orleans. Misunderstandings due to orders issued from France and Notre Dame led to the withdrawal of the American sisters from the new foundations, the houses of New Orleans and New York remaining subject to France. The year 1856 saw the sisters well-established in Chicago and Philadelphia. They had charge of the cathedral parochial school, St. Joseph's German school, and an industrial school in Chicago, and were installed in St. Paul's and St. Augustine's schools in Philadelphia. Later they opened a select school for boarders and day-pupils in West Philadelphia. These foundations all promised success, but the strained relations between the mother-house at Le Mans under Father Moreau and the Provincial House at Notre Dame under Father Sorin led to the recall of the sisters. Meanwhile the work at St. Mary's, Bertrand, was recognized by the state authorities who granted its charter in 1851. New buildings were added to accommodate their fifty boarders. In 1853, Eliza Gillespie received the habit from Father Sorin, and sailed for France to make her novitiate as Sister Angela. After profession, she returned to Bertrand and took charge of the academy, 1854. From that time until her death (1887), Mother Angela laboured indefatigably to develop the highest intellectual and religious qualities in both teachers and students, and must be regarded as the virtual foundress of the order in the United States.

On 15 August, 1855, the convent and academy were moved from Bertrand to the present site on the banks of the St. Joseph. This institution, "St. Mary's of the Immaculate Conception", was incorporated under the laws of Indiana. In the early days of the community, property was held in common by the three branches of the Holy Cross. When Father Moreau visited the provinces of Canada, Louisiana, and Notre Dame in 1857, he promulgated the Decree of Separation of the sisters from the priests and brothers. In 1862 the property was divided. Difficulties again arising with the mother-house, Bishop Luers of Fort Wayne sent a petition to Rome asking the approval of the American province, and in 1869 the Sisters of the Holy Cross in the United States were recognized as a distinct Congregation. Father Sorin, who had on the resignation of Father Moreau become superior general, was named their ecclesiastical superior, which office he held until the community was placed directly under the Propaganda. The new constitutions were approved, and Father Sorin was appointed to write the rules. Twenty years later, the apostolic approbation of the rules was given for seven years, at the end of which time the final approbation was received (1896).

While the work of the Holy Cross Sisters is principally educational, they also devote themselves to the care of orphanages and hospitals for the sick. During the Civil War Mother Angela with seventy sisters took charge of hospitals in Mound City and Cairo; the military hospitals at Paducah and Louisville; the naval hospital and "The Overton" at Memphis; and St. Aloysius at Washington.

The community is governed by the mother general and her four assistants who form the council at the mother-house. All the missions are dependent upon the mother-house for their subjects, as there is only one novitiate, and the novices return there from all parts of the country to make their final vows after five years' probation. There are one thousand sisters working in the archdioceses of Baltimore, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco, and in the various dioceses. They conduct over 60 institutions, including 1 college, 2 normal schools, 16 boarding schools, 40 academies and parish schools, 6 hospitals, and 4 orphan asylums.

A Story of Fifty Years (Notre Dame, 1905); CAVANAUGH, The Priests of Holy Cross (Notre Dame, 1904); TRAHEY, The Brothers of Holy Cross (Notre Dame, 1905); LIVERMORE, My Story of the War (Hartford, 1889); SHEA, Hist. of the Cath. Church in the U. S. (New York, 1892); Community Archives of the Sisters of Holy Cross (1843-1909); SORIN, Circular Letters; STARR, In Memoriam Mother Mary of St. Angela (Notre Dame, 1887); SULLIVAN, ibid.; MOREAU, Le Très Révérend Père Basile-Antoine Moreau du Mans et see œuvres (Paris, 1900); WILTZIUS, Cath. Directory (Milwaukee, 1909); Life of Reverend F. Cointet (Cincinnati, 1855); STARR, in Cath. World (1893).

External links

• Sisters of the Holy Cross
• Archival collection and finding aid
• Gift of the Cross Lenten Reflections in the Holy Cross Tradition