The Dominican Sisters of Hope formed in 1995 from the merger of three Dominican congregations: the Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Newburgh, New York (1883), the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena (1891) of Fall River, Massachusetts, and the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor (1910) of Ossining, NY. They sponsor Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh and Mariandale Retreat Center in Ossining. The Sisters minister in healthcare in New York City, and in education, social service and pastoral ministries.

History

Dominican Sisters of Newburgh

In 1853 four Dominican Sisters from the convent of the Holy Cross in

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

, Germany arrived in Williamsburg. In 1869, the Convent of the Holy Rosary on Second Street in lower Manhattan separated from the Brooklyn motherhouse. In 1883, at the invitation of Father Michael J. Phelan, pastor of St. Mary's Parish, the sisters traveled to

Newburgh, New York Newburgh is a city in the U.S. state of New York, within Orange County. With a population of 28,856 as of the 2020 census, it is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area. Located north of New York City, a ...

and opened Mount Saint Mary Academy, which later became

Mount Saint Mary College Mount Saint Mary College is a private Catholic college in Newburgh, New York. It was founded in 1959 by the Dominican Sisters. The campus overlooks the Hudson River, halfway between New York City and Albany. More than 2,700 men and women are ...

. In 1883, the sisters of the Convent of the Holy Rosary on Second Street moved their motherhouse to Newburgh. In 1886, when St. Mary's parish school was opened, the sisters took charge of that as well. In 1973, the sisters formally separated the college from the congregation.

Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena

In 1891 several Dominican sisters move to

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

and founded the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena to serve the many French-Canadian immigrants. The sisters taught at Dominican Academy in Fall River, at

Bishop Stang High School Bishop Stang High School is a private Catholic high school located in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, in the New England region of the United States. It was the first diocesan secondary school in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River, which inc ...

North Dartmouth North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

and in Acushnet,

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

Plattsburgh, New York Plattsburgh ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is a city in, and the seat of, Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the 2020 census. The population of the surrounding ...

and elsewhere.

Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor

Mary Walsh was an immigrant from

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

, Ireland who worked as a laundress in wealthy homes in Manhattan. Moved by the condition of poor families in her neighborhood, she founded what would become the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor. In 1879 She and another young woman began their work from two rooms on West 57th Street. They eventually moved to a house owned by the

Paulist Fathers The Paulist Fathers, officially named the Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle ( la, Societas Sacerdotum Missionariorum a Sancto Paulo Apostolo), abbreviated CSP, is a Catholic society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men founded ...

on West 59th Street in Manhattan. They took in laundry to finance their work with the poor, and later established a laundry on 71st Street that provided employment for ten or twelve poor women. Due to the support of an auxiliary, the Friends of the Sick Poor, they were able to close the laundry and focus on nursing. In 1910, the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor were officially affiliated as a community of Dominican Tertiaries. Mother Mary Walsh, OP died on November 6, 1922. In 1949, the congregation acquired the

Joseph Medill Patterson Joseph Medill Patterson (January 6, 1879 – May 26, 1946) was an American journalist, publisher and founder of the '' Daily News'' in New York. At the time of his death the ''Daily News'' maintained a Sunday circulation of 4.5 million copi ...

in Ossining, New York. The sisters began a home health agency, to continue their work of providing home care to poor.

Present day

In 1995, the three congregations merged to form the Dominican Sisters of Hope. The congregation is based out of The Center at Mariandale in Ossining. In 2018 the sisters granted a conservation easement for thirty-four of the sixty-one acres of Mariandale to the Westchester Land Trust.Pietrafesa, Dan. "Dominican Sisters of Hope Preserve Much Of Mariandale From Development", ''Catholic New York'', October 10, 2018
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References