American Province
Accepting an invitation from Bishop Peter Joseph Baltes of Alton, IL,
twenty Sisters arrived in the United States on November 3, 1875. At his
direction they established their Motherhouse in Springfield, IL, and were
sent to five other locations in Illinois (East St. Louis, Belleville,
Alton, Litchfield, and Effingham). They learned English, introduced themselves
to the people of the area, and began nursing care, earning the residents
trust.
They quickly became engaged in providing home care and building hospitals.
Eventually other locations requested their services, primarily in German
communities in Illinois and Wisconsin. The community in Germany continued
to send young women to the United States to assist with the ministry until
1933.
Schools of Nursing
The schools of nursing were established to ensure a high level of nursing
skill. To this end, a School of Nursing was founded in 1886 to train the
Sisters. Schools were located in Springfield, IL. (1886 -present) and
Eau Claire, WI. (1917-1932). Skills were taught for clinical and technical
support services including anesthesia, laboratory, EEG, x-ray and pastoral
care. St. John's College of Nursing exists today under the auspice of
St. John's Hospital in Springfield. Sisters still serve on the board of
the school. For more information on St. John's College of Nursing please
visit their Web
site.
Motherhouse in Springfield
In 1917, the congregation purchased 500 acres of land five miles northeast
of Springfield for the erection of a tuberculosis sanitarium and the construction
of a new Motherhouse complex.
First Missions
Missionary Sisters were sent to China in 1925 in celebration of the 50-year
anniversary of the American Province. Other Sisters were sent to minister
to Native Americans in Arizona and New Mexico in the mid-1940s and early
1950s. In 1948 all but three of the Chinese Sisters fled China and some
members of the group migrated to Japan to begin serving the post-bomb
victims. Eventually, in 1977, this Japanese mission became a separate
Province.
125th Anniversary of Founding
In the year 2000, the community celebrated the 125th anniversary of the
founding of the American Province. During the Closing Celebration, a mission
was commissioned in Tanzania, South Africa, sending a Sister and Lay Associate
to Bukoba.
