Arrival in the United States—July 4, 1874
If you’ve been reading these blogs, the last account told of the Sisters’ voyage to the United States in 1875. Today let’s backtrack to 1874 with a segment of the autobiography of Sister Mary Justina Rickert of German descent, who was the last of the sisters driven from Germany. Sister Mary Benedict, provincial superior of […]
Boarding the Rhine, the Third Trip to America, May 1875
When the sisters boarded the steamer, RHINE, they saw many men on board. They soon learned that there were 90 Franciscan Fathers and several of the priests’ students also making the trip. After waving goodbye from the ship, the sisters returned to their cabins, crying all the while. To console them the Franciscan Fathers “opened […]
How the Sisters Arrived in Ohio
Due to the Kulturkampf when Sisters were banished from their homeland in Germany, they needed to find other countries. One connection between the United States and Germany brought more Sisters to the shores of America after the first trip arranged by the bishop of Munster, Johannes Bernard Brinkmann. This trip was arranged by Bishop August […]
One Hundred Fifty Years and Still Going Strong
We Sisters of Notre Dame were founded by Sister Maria Aloysia Wolbring and Sister Maria Ignatia Kühling in 1850 in Coesfeld, Germany. Our congregation grew rapidly in the first 20 years, as sisters taught school, cared for orphans, and welcomed those aspiring to religious life. But that would change with the Kulturkampf when the Sisters […]
