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The first Sisters coming to the United States spoke German while making valiant efforts to master English. Their area of apostolate became the towns of German immigrants, for example in Delphos, Ohio, where Reverend John Bredeick, whose inheritance would make him comparable to a millionaire today, had great influence on commerce, especially railroads in the…

Perhaps you’ve seen one of your current or former teachers or parish leaders in the grocery store. You chatted and she got into her car for home. That didn’t happen during the 1870’s and 1880’s when our Sisters bought food. Sisters always went everywhere in twos. Cars weren’t invented. And the Sisters were limited in…

Annals will apprise you of exact dates and places. For now, let’s look at the homes where one sister—Sister Justina Rickert—lived. Do any of these towns surprise you? Do you know Sisters of Notre Dame who have lived there? Can you find Sisters there now? Ask a Sister if her life sounds like that of…

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…

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…

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…

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…

In the Areopagus Paul told the Athenians “In Him [Jesus Christ] we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17). There is nothing else we need. Jesus Christ is our life; his Spirit is our breath. We’ve got it all! We need nothing more, so why do we feel empty, unsatisfied, wondering where is…

            Christmas lets us know Christ in his humanity. Epiphany lets us know Christ better in his divinity. The grace of Holy Week lets us know Christ in his suffering and death, while Easter lets us know him in is triumph over sin and death. The grace of the Ascension is to know him as…

            When Jesus became human, he annihilated the dichotomy between matter and spirit. In the Person of the Divine-human Being, we see God’s plan to make matter divine, something already done in the glorified humanity of his Son. The grace bestowed on us by the Ascension is the divinization of our humanity, meaning our person…