Heritage

CCVI Founring MembersKnowing our past helps us to understand our present and guide our decisions for the future.  The stories of the founding of our communities and the lives of our founders are stories of courage and dependence on the providence of God. Today’s sisters stand on the shoulders of valiant women and (and sometimes men) who faced incredible obstacles and endured difficult circumstances in the belief that God was calling them to a greater good.

Read the stories of how our communities were founded and how we have developed.  They make fascinating reading and inspire us to travel in their footsteps.

CCVI LogoThree young French women respond in 1866 to the call of Claude Dubuis, Bishop of Galveston, to come to Texas to care for the sick and the orphans…. In 1869, Bishop Dubuis chooses three from the Galveston community,  to begin a new foundation in San Antonio and open the first hospital in the area. Explore the historical timeline of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.

Houston DominicansLeaving Somerset, OH, on September 26, 1882, a group of twenty sisters arrived in Galveston by train on September 29 (our Founders’ Day). Sacred Heart Academy was opened immediately in Galveston. By 1891, the year of Mother Agnes’ death, 26 women had joined the congregation. In June, 1902, we received formal affiliation with the Order of Preachers. Read more about the Texas Dominican Trail of the Dominican Sisters of Houston.

Sisters of Divine ProvidenceIt was in 1866, that Mother St. Andrew Feltin and Sister Alphonse Boegler, left France in answer to the call of Bishop Dubuis of Texas to establish schools in Texas…. In early April of 1867 they opened their first parochial school in Texas, St. Mary’s School.  In 1868 the Bishop asked the Sisters to establish their Motherhouse in Castroville, Texas. Learn more about the heritage of the Sisters of Divine Providence.

  Photo Credits: Sr. St. Pierre and Sr. St. Madeleine, founding members, 1869. Sisters of Charity and the Incarnate Word.
  Background: Sisters depart for our first mission in Peru, 1965. Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
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