Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/585

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JOSEPH


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JOSEPH


been established. The novitiate was removed from Canandaigua to Buffalo in 1S61. The community de- veloped rapidly and soon spread through different parts of the diocese. By IStiS the sisters were suffi- ciently strong to direct tlieir own affairs, and elected their own superior, thus forming a new diocesan con- gregation. In 1891 the mother-house and novitiate were removed to the outskirts of tlie city, where an academy was erected. The congregation, which now (1910) numbers 285 members, also has charge of 28 parochial schools in the diocese, 3 orphan asylums, a working boys' home, an infants' asylum, and a home for women and working girls. The sisters have under their care 5000 children, not including 470 orphans and deaf mutes and 600 inmates of their various homes.

Burlington. — In 1873 the Rev. Charles Boy- Ian of Rutland, Vermont, petitioned the mother- house of the Sisters of St. Joseph at Flushing, Long Island, for sisters to take charge of his school. Sev- eral sisters were sent, and a novitiate was opened at Rutland, 15 October, 1876. The congregation now (1910) numbers 75 religious, in charge of an academy attached to the mother-house, 6 parochial schools, one in the Diocese of Pittsburg, and a home for the aged, with 36 inmates. The total number of children under the care of the sisters is 1700.

Chicago. — The Sisters of St. Joseph were established at La Grange, Illinois, 2 October, 1899, by two sisters under Mother Stanislaus Leary, formerly superior of the diocesan community at Rochester, New York. On 14 July, 1900, the "corner-stone of the mother- house was laid. The sisters, who now (1910) number 05, are in charge of an academy with an attendance of 100 and a school for boys.

Cleveland. — The Sisters of St. Joseph of the Diocese of Cleveland are chiefly engaged in the parochial schools. They number about SO and have charge of an academy and 13 parish schools, with an attendance of 4500.

Concordia. — In 1S83 four Sisters of St. Joseph arrived at Newton, Kansas, from Rochester, New York, and opened their first mission. After remain- ing there a year they located at Concordia, Kansas, in the fall of 1884, and established the first mother-house in the West, in what was then the Diocese of Leaven- worth. The congregation now numbers 240, in charge of 3 academies, 2 hospitals, and 26 schools, in the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Dioceses of Marquette, Rockford, Kansas City, Omaha, Lincoln, and Con- cordia. The sisters have about 4000 children under their care.

Detroit. — In 1889 Sisters of St. Joseph from the Diocese of Ogdensburg established a new congregation at Kalamazoo, Michigan. The novitiate was trans- ferred, in 1897, to Nazareth, a hamlet founded by the sisters on a four-hundred-acre farm. The congrega- tion, which numbers 187, has charge of a hospital, training school for nurses, normal school, a home for feeble-minded children, an orphan asylum, and several other educational institutions, besides supplying teach- ers for 7 parish schools of the diocese. The sisters have about 1600 children under their care, including 200 orphans.

Erie. — This congregation was founded in 1860 by Mother Agnes Spencer of Carondelet, Missouri, who, with two other sisters, took charge of St. Ann's Acad- emy at Corsica, Pennsylvania, where postulants were admitted. In 1864 a "hospital was opened at Mead- ville, and the sisters took charge of the parochial schools of that city. Later an orphan asylum, a hospital, and a home for the aged were erected in the city of Erie. Villa Maria -Academy was opened in 1892 and in 1897 was made the novitiate and mother- house of the Sisters of St. Joseph in the Erie diocese. The congregation now numbers 210 members, in charge of 14 parochial schools, attended by 3900 VIII.— 33


children, in adtlition to the other institutions men- tioned above.

Fall River.— In 1902 nine Sisters of St. Joseph from the mother-house at Le Puy took charge of tlie school in the French parish of St-Roch, Fall River, Massachusetts. The accession of other members from the mother-house enabled the community to take charge of three other schools in the city attached to French parishes. In 1906 St. Theresa's Convent was formally opened as the provincial house of the community, which was legally incorporated in the same year, and a novitiate was established. The sisters now number 43, in charge of four parochial schools, with an attendance of about 1200.

Fort Wayne. — The Sisters of St. Joseph, with their mother-house at Tipton, number 60, in charge of an academy and 5 parochial schools, with an attendance of 1000.

Ogdensburg. — In 1880 several sisters from the mother-house at Buffalo made a foundation at Water- town, New York, which was later strengthened by the accession of another sister from the Erie mother-house. From Watertown as a centre missions were opened in other parts of the diocese. The congregation, which now numbers about 75 members, has charge of several parish schools, the Immaculate Heart Academy at Watertown, which is the mother-house, an orphanage, and a school for boys, having about 1100 children under its care. In 1907 the sisters estabhshed a mission at Braddock, Pennsylvania, for work in the parochial schools there.

Philadelphia. — In 1S47 the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, in response to an appeal of Bishop Ken- rick, sent four members of the community to Phila- delphia to take charge of St. John's Orphan Asylum, until that time under the Sisters of Charity. _ The Know-Nothing spirit, which had but a short time previously led to the Philadelphia riots, to the burning and desecration of churches and religious institutions, was still rampant, and the sisters had much to suffer from bigotry and difficulties of many kinds. Shortly afterwards they were given charge of several parochial schools, and thus entered on what was to be their chief work in the coming years. By the estabUshment, in October, 1858, under "the patron- age of Venerable Bishop Neuman, of a mother-house at Mount St. Joseph, Chestnut Hill, the congregation in Philadelphia began to take a more definite develop- ment. When, in 1863, the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Louis formed a generalate, approvetl later by the Holy See, the congregation of Philadelphia, by the wish of the bishop, preserved its autonomy. During the Civil War, detachments of sisters nursed the sick soldiers in Camp Curtin and the Church Hospital, Harrisburg; later, under Surgeon General Smith, they had more active duty in the floating hospitals which received the wounded from the southern battle-fields. When the number of religious increased to between three and four hundred, and the works entrusted to them became so numerous and varied as to necessitate an organization more detailed and definite, steps were undertaken to obtain the papal approbation, which was received in 1895. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Pliiladelphia now (1910) number 626 professed mem- bers, 64 novices, and 31 postulants, in charge of a collegiate institute for the higher education of women, an academy and boarding-school, 42 parish schools, and 2 high schools in the Archdioceses of Philadelphia and Baltimore, and the Dioceses of Newark and Har- risburg, and 4 asylums and homes. The number of children under their care, including those in asylums, is nearly 26,000.

Pittsburg. — In 1869, at the petition of the pastor of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, three sisters were sent there to open a day-school and a boarding-school for boys. The accession of new members enabled the sisters to meet the increasing demands made upon them, and