School Sisters of Notre Dame is a worldwide

religious institute A religious institute is a type of institute of consecrated life in the Catholic Church whose members take religious vows and lead a life in community with fellow members. Religious institutes are one of the two types of institutes of consecrate ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

founded in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

in 1833 and devoted to primary, secondary, and

post-secondary Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

education. Their life in mission centers on prayer, community life and ministry. They serve as teachers, lawyers, accountants, nurses, administrators, therapists, social workers, pastoral ministers, social justice advocates and more. The School Sisters of Notre Dame are known by the abbreviation "SSND" and are not to be confused with another teaching order, the

Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (Congregationis Sororum a Domina Nostra Namurcensi) are a Catholic institute of religious sisters, founded to provide education to the poor. The institute was founded in Amiens, France, in 1804, but the oppo ...

(SNDdeN), which was founded in France.

Founding and growth

The School Sisters of Notre Dame developed from the Canonesses Regular of St. Augustine of the Congregation of Our Lady, founded by

Peter Fourier Peter Fourier (french: link=no, Pierre Fourier, ; 30 November 15659 December 1640) was a French canon regular who is honored as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Foregoing offers of high office, he served for many years as an exemplary past ...

and

Alix Le Clerc Alix Le Clerc (2 February 1576 – 9 January 1622), known as Mother Alix, was the founder of the Canonesses of St. Augustine of the Congregation of Our Lady (french: link=no, Notre-Dame), a religious order founded to provide education to girls, ...

in the

Duchy of Lorraine The Duchy of Lorraine (french: Lorraine ; german: Lothringen ), originally Upper Lorraine, was a duchy now included in the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France. Its capital was Nancy. It was founded in 959 following t ...

in 1597 for the free education of poor girls. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, several convents of the congregation were established in Germany.Josephine, Sister Mary. "School Sisters of Notre Dame." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 2 March 2019

Karolina Gerhardinger Karolina Gerhardinger (20 June 1797 – 9 May 1879) (also known as Mother Maria Theresia of Jesus) was a German people, German Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic religious sister who founded the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Gerhardinger served ...

commenced her training as a lay teacher at the local monastery of the Canonesses Regular of Notre Dame in Ratisbon. She developed her skills as a teacher at the monastery until it—like all monastic communities—was closed in 1809 after the Napoleonic army had occupied Bavaria. By 1812 she had secured a teaching accreditation and began teaching at a girls school in Regensburg. In 1815 she asked

Bishop of Regensburg The Bishops of Regensburg (Ratisbon) are bishops of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany.

Georg Michael Wittmann Georg Michael Wittmann (22 (23?) January 1760, near Pleistein, Oberpfalz, Bavaria – 8 March 1833, at Ratisbon) was a German prelate of the Catholic Church. Life He studied first with the Jesuits, then with the Benedictines at Amberg (17 ...

, for guidance on entering the religious life, although she was unable to pursue this religious calling at that time. However, she continued to teach at the school from 1816 until 1833. The congregation was founded in

in 1833, during a time of poverty and illiteracy under Bishop Wittmann of Ratisbon and Father Job of Vienna. While retaining the essential features of the rule and constitutions given by Peter Fourier, they widened the scope of the Sisters' educational work. Its founder Karolina Gerhardinger, known by the religious name of ''Mary Theresa of Jesus,'' formed a community with two other women in

Neunburg vorm Wald Neunburg vorm Wald is a municipality in the district of Schwandorf, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 21 km east of Schwandorf on the river Schwarzach, a tributary of the Naab. Mayor The mayor is Martin Birner (CSU). He was elected in 20 ...

to teach the poor. In 1839 they removed to a suburb of Munich, and in 1843, into a former Poor Clare convent, built in 1284 and situated within the city limits. In 1847, Blessed Theresa and five companion sisters traveled to the United States to aid German immigrants, especially girls and women. That year the sisters staffed schools in three German parishes in Baltimore, Maryland: St. James, St. Michael, and St. Alphonsus, as well as opened the

Institute of Notre Dame The Institute of Notre Dame was a private Catholic all-girls high school located in Baltimore, Maryland. After 173 years, the school closed on June 30, 2020. History The Institute of Notre Dame, known as "IND" or "the Institute" by those who are ...

, a private school for German girls. Eventually, the congregation spread across the United States and into Canada, ultimately forming eight North American Provinces.

Governance

The original rule of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, approved by

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

in 1865, allowed Blessed Theresa and her successors, instead of local bishops, to govern the congregation. The main motherhouse was moved from Neunburg vorm Wald to Munich in 1843 and remained there until the 1950s. Today, the Generalate of the Congregation can be found in Rome, Italy.

Works

Much of their work has been in schools, but the curriculum vitae of a group of jubilarians in 2014, from a province based in St. Louis, showed a wide variety of assignments: spiritual direction, retreats, adult basic education,

RCIA The Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA), or ''Ordo Initiationis Christianae Adultorum'', is a process developed by the Catholic Church for its catechumenate for prospective converts to the Catholic faith above the age of infant bapt ...

programs, pastoral care among

Hispanics The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties former ...

, in hospitals, and among the disadvantaged, language interpreting, outreach to native Americans and to migrants (also founding an Immigrant and Refugee Women's Program), and on mission to

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Empowering underserved women has been a special effort of theirs. Their involvement in migrant services is evidenced in their hosting at the US-Mexican border a conference for Shalom, an international network for justice, peace, and integrity of creation. In 2017 more than 3,000 School Sisters of Notre Dame were working in thirty-four countries in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

. Africa has come to produce the largest number of vocations.

Nun Study of Aging and Alzheimer's Disease

Since 1986, 678 members of the congregation in the United States have been participating in Nun Study of Aging and Alzheimer's Disease, a

longitudinal study A longitudinal study (or longitudinal survey, or panel study) is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables (e.g., people) over short or long periods of time (i.e., uses longitudinal data). It is often a type of obs ...

of aging and

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

. Convent archives have been made available to investigators as a resource on the history of participants. The sisters participated in yearly intellectual and physical tests, including memory tests, basic living assessments (putting on a sweater, pouring a glass of water), mobility, and more. These sisters also agreed to donate their

brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...

s to

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

upon their death. These sisters have played an integral role the progressive research of Alzheimer's Disease because of their uniquely similar backgrounds and living habits.

Education

Schools

Asia

Notre Dame School The Notre-Dame school or the Notre-Dame school of polyphony refers to the group of composers working at or near the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris from about 1160 to 1250, along with the music they produced. The only composers whose names hav ...

Bandipur Bandipur () is a hilltop settlement and a Rural municipality (Nepal), rural municipality in Tanahu District, Tanahun District, Gandaki Province, Gandaki province of Nepal. Bandipur is primarily known for its preserved, old time cultural atmosphe ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

Europe

* Erzbischöfliche Liebfrauenschule,

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Lingfield College Lingfield College is an independent day school situated in Lingfield in the English county of Surrey, for pupils aged two to eighteen. It was originally a boarding school for girls and became fully co-educational in 1996. As of 2022 there are ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, UK *Theresia-Gerhardinger-Gymnasium am Anger ( de),

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Germany
Patrona Hungariae Katolikus Iskolaközpont

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Hungary
Svetits Katolikus Óvoda, Általános Iskola, Gimnázium és Kollégium

Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...

, Hungary
Karolina Óvoda, Általános Iskola, Gimnázium, Alapfokú Művészeti Iskola és Kollégium

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

, Hungary
Szent István Egyházi Általános Iskola és Kollégium

Makó Makó (, german: Makowa, yi, מאַקאָווע Makowe, ro, Macău or , sk, Makov) is a town in Csongrád County, in southeastern Hungary, from the Romanian border. It lies on the Maros River. Makó is home to 23,272 people and it has an area ...

, Hungary

North America

;Canada * Notre Dame Convent and School, Leipzig, Saskatchewan (closed) *Mother House,

Waterdown, Ontario Waterdown is a village in Canada which since 2001 has been a community of Hamilton, Ontario. Waterdown is approximately 60 km west of downtown Toronto. On January 1, 2001 the new city of Hamilton was formed from the amalgamation of six mun ...

, Notre Dame Academy and Convent (closed)https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/07/10/remains-of-300-nuns-to-be-exhumed-from-waterdown-convent-cemetery.html, Remains of 300 nuns to be exhumed from Waterdown convent cemetery ;United States (including territories) * Academy of the Holy Angels,

Demarest, New Jersey Demarest is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 4,881,Academia del Perpetuo Socorro Academia del Perpetuo Socorro (English: "Academy of Our Lady of Perpetual Help") was founded in 1921 as a Catholic parochial school of the Perpetuo Socorro Parish at the Archdiocese of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The school is located in Miramar in Pu ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

Academia San Jorge Academia San Jorge ("Saint George Academy") is a private, Roman Catholic school in San Juan, Puerto Rico founded in 1925 by Rev. Msgr. José M. Rivera as a parochial school with 53 students from grades K–3. Shortly after, the school started const ...

, Puerto Rico * Colegio Católico Notre Dame, Puerto Rico *

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

(closed) *Notre Dame Catholic School, Spring Hill,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

* Notre Dame High School,

Talofofo Talo'fo'fo, formerly Talofofo, is a village located in the southern part of the United States territory of Guam, on the east coast. The village center is located in the hills above the coast, while the smaller coastal community below the cliff is ...

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

* Notre Dame Preparatory School,

Towson, Maryland Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorpo ...

* Saint Saviour High School,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

*School Sisters of Notre Dame Educational Center, Woodhaven, Queens, N.Y. *

Notre Dame High School (St. Louis) Notre Dame High School is a Roman Catholic, private, all-girls school located in Lemay, St. Louis County, Missouri. just south of St. Louis city, on the 43-acre grounds of the motherhouse of the School Sisters of Notre Dame on the Mississippi ...

* Rosati-Kain High School (St. Louis) (cofounders)

Tertiary institutions

* Kyoto Notre Dame University,

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

Notre Dame of Maryland University Notre Dame of Maryland University is a private Catholic university in Baltimore, Maryland. NDMU offers certificate, undergraduate, and graduate programs for women and men. History The Roman Catholic academic/educational religious congregation ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

* Mount Mary University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA

Notable members

* Catherine Cesnik, American high school teacher whose 1969 murder was the subject of the documentary series ''

The Keepers ''The Keepers'' is a seven-episode American documentary web series that explores the unsolved murder of nun Catherine Cesnik in 1969. Cesnik taught English and drama at Baltimore's all-girls Archbishop Keough High School, and her former student ...

'' * Maria Antonina Kratochwil, Polish martyr during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

* Maria Stanisia, American painter *

Margaret Traxler Margaret Ellen Traxler, SSND, (March 11, 1924 – February 12, 2002) was a prominent American Religious Sister with the School Sisters of Notre Dame and a prominent women's rights activist. She was also a leader in developing institutions to he ...

, American

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

activist * Mary Theresa of Jesus Gerhardinger, founder

References

External links

School Sisters of Notre DameSchool Sisters of Notre Dame - International
* {{Authority control 1833 establishments in Bavaria Catholic teaching orders Religious organizations established in 1833 School Sisters of Notre Dame