Lyon, France
Today, Lyon is the second largest metropolitan area in France. The history of Lyon is linked to its geographical location at the confluence of two navigable rivers, the Rhone and the Saone. It was a center for Roman merchants as early as the 2nd century, but experienced a decline until the Franc's conquest in 470 AD led to the building of bridges, abbeys, and hospitals. The Italians introduced the silk industry in the 15th century, and German printers took refuge during the Reformation. Florentine bankers transferred their financial operations to Lyon, increasing the city's prominence and reputation as an industrial and cultural center. In 1822, the Society for the Propagation of the Faith was founded in Lyon, upon the insight and initiative of a young French laywomen, Pauline Marie Jaricot. It grew to become one of four Pontifical Mission Societies, and the principle fund-raising and distribution agency for all Roman Catholic missions, assisting missionary priests, brothers, and nuns in mission areas.Pauline was committed to the formation of a missionary conscientiousness in Christians. Through prayer and small monetary donations, ordinary lay women and men could support the preaching of the Gospel and establishing it in areas of the world where it had not been before. The very first collection of the Propagation of the Faith in 1822 supported the vast Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas in the United States, which then extended from Florida to Canada.This culture of "missionary zeal" as well as a spiritual renewal in France (post Revolution) generated spiritual luminaries and communities formed for evangelization and mission to the poor. It was one such community, the Monastery of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, that Louise Chollet (later Mother Madeleine Chollet) and Jeanne Pierrette Cinquin (later Mother St. Pierre) joined in 1867. They journeyed to the mission in Texas a year later, and in 1869, established the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas.
La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière
Fourvière is a district of Lyon, France, a hill immediately west of the old part of the town, rising from the river Saône. The hill's landmark is the gleaming Notre-Dame Basilica, built in the late 1800s. Inside this ornate building, everything is covered with elaborate, gleaming mosaics that tell stories of the Virgin Mary. Next to the basilica, a chapel that predates the church by 500 years is capped by a glorious gold statue of Mary overlooking the city.Before their departure for Texas, the new "missionary" band of Sisters celebrated Mass in the chapel, presided over by Bishop Claude Marie Dubuis, Bishop of Texas. (It was Bishop Dubuis who recruited the first women for the new mission.) According to accounts, a "large number of faithful" were present: "All joined in chanting the Sub Tuum, the traditonal prayer for travelers," and then another prayer to Mary, "consecrating the new Texas missionaries to Mary, Queen of the Apostles."
L'Antiquaille
The L'Antiquaille is now a cultural center and holds in its undercroft a museum dedicated to telling the story of the early Christian martyrs of the city. Lyon was the capital of Roman Gaul and the site of the first Christian foundation in the region. Visit their website: https://www.antiquaille.fr/ . The Antiquaille is located at 49 Montee Saint Barthelemy, 69005 Lyon France.L'Antiquaille was a hospital, staffed in the 19th century by the Hospital Sisters, a group of semi-lay and semi-religious women. (Church law recognized as "religious" only those nuns who oberserved enclosure.) They had no local superior, and formed community in the hospital in which they worked. They were bound by religious rule, and were under the guidance of the head chaplain and control of the hospital administration. Mother Angelique Hiver was superior of the Monastery of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament from which the first Incarnate Word Sisters came to Texas. She herself had spent seven years as a Hospital Sister in the Antiquaille, and played a critical role in helping to recruit and form women for the mission in Texas.
Roanne, France
Louise Chollet was born in Roanne on February 7, 1846, the same city in which Jeanne Chezard de Matel, foundress of the Order of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament had spent her childhood. Jeanne had decided in 1625 to found her order, and two hundred years later, Louise was moved to follow in the religious tradtion of Jeanne, responding to a call to care for the sick and suffering people of Texas. She entered the novitiate in Lyon in 1867, received the habit, and the name, Sister Marie St. Madeleine of Jesus. After four months of formation, she left with the second group of volunteers for the mission in Texas. With her she brought a "rule" (way of life), and the habit designed especially for the new Congregation.
Beaujeu, France
Jeanne Pierrett (Mother St. Pierre) was born May 22, 1845 in Beaujeu, France to Pierre and Claudine Cinquin - wealthy, cultured, well educated, and deeply religious. Jeanne's early education was received from the Ursuline nuns in Beaujeu, who fostered her intellectual as well as her spiritual development. In April 1868, at the age of 23, she asked for admission to the novitiate in Lyon to begin her preparation for missionary work as a Sister of Charity of the Incarnate Word.She left Lyon for Texas that same year, and just a few months later in March 1869, she was sent to San Antonio to open a hospital there. She travelled with two professed Sisters, Madeleine Chollet and Agnes Buisson, to open what became Santa Rosa Infirmary. It was in the convent chapel of the Ursuline Sisters in San Antonio, that Pierre professed her religious vows on August 15, 1869.
Galveston, Texas
The first three Hospital Sisters arrived from Lyon, and began work immediately to open an infirmary, St. Mary's Infirmary, in Galveston, Texas. It was to this mission that other sisters came, from the Monastery of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament in Lyon. In 1869, three sisters (whose only training in nursing was in this small infirmary) were appointed to leave Galveston, and open an infirmary in San Antonio, to tend to citizens dying from cholera. By 1871, two separate foundation were codified: The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Houston; and, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio.In 1926, the novitiate of the Galveston sisters moved from there to Houston, into a newly completed motherhouse, Villa de Matel. Two years later, the Generalate moved from Galveston to Houston: The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Houston
San Antonio, Texas
Three Sisters, Madeleine, Pierre, and Agnes arrived in San Antonio sometime in April, 1869. Even before leaving Galveston, they received the news that their home and new hospital, still under construction, had burned to the ground. Undeterred, they arrived to what must have been, to them, a shocking place. Gun-toting cowboys roamed the street. Tribes of Comanches often traveled through the surrounding areas. Their thoughts can only be imagined as they caught their first sight of dusty, unpaved, and filth-infested streets, lined with adobe houses, saloons, and rough and ready Texans speaking English and Spanish. To add to their distress, they found that no provision had been made for their arrival. At last, they were given a place to stay with the Ursuline nuns who had come from France to San Antonio in 1851.
Ursuline Convent
Arriving in San Antonio, the Incarnate Word foundresses found they had no place to live. They were given hospitality by the Ursuline Sisters, who had come to San Antonio in 1851. It was in the chapel at the Ursuline convent, that Sr. St. Pierre made her vows on August 15, 1869.
Original site of Santa Rosa Infirmary
Santa Rosa Infirmary was built at the corner of Commerce and Cameron Steets. After the original building burned while under construction, work began anew, with the generous support of the people of San Antonio. Two prominent citizen of San Antonio, Francisco Guilbeau and John Twohig led the effort. As construction neared completion, the sisters themselves took on the work of cleaning and scrubbing the interior of the building. The small infirmary finally opened on December 1, 1869, with the Mass of Foundation celebrated on December 3, in a small makeshift chapel.From the very beginning, it was determined that the facility would be open to "all person without distinction of nationality or creed. The simple stone structure had two floors with a few small wards and private rooms for patients. Eight patients were admitted on the opening day: four women and four men, one of whom was black.It was not a promising beginning, despite the urgent need for a hospital to tend to those suffering from cholera. Hospitals were places to be avoided. Wealthy people were tended to by private physicians, and were not usually referred to hospitals. They were customarily cared for in their homes. Only persons who had no other recourse for health care or those in the advanced stages of their illness sought admission to the hospital.
St. Joseph's Orphanage
The Sisters' care for children began in 1872 when four small children were left one day "homeless and alone" at the infirmary.The Sisters made room for the children, beginning a service which eventually led to the building of not one, but two orphanges. Initially living alongside the Sisters, as the number of children began to grow, it became increasingly difficult to accomodate them in Santa Rosa.Mother St. Pierre purchased a piece of property on Houston Street, and began construction of a two-story stone building to be called St. Joseph's Orphanage. The orphange was completed and ready for occupancy in September of 1874.Things didn't remain this way for long. The following year, it was decided that the location of the orphanage should be exchanged with that of the infirmary. Santa Rosa's position on the very busy Military Plaza had become unsuitable for recovering patients. In the summer of 1875, the sisters moved all the sick from Santa Rosa to the stone building that had been erected as the orphanage, and the Houston Street location became the permanent site of the hospital.
St. John's Orphanage
In 1890, Mother St. Pierre determined that a building of an orphange for boys could no longer be delayed. The new home woud be constructed on the site of Santa Rosa (now on the Houston Street property) "at the far end where the stables were." It's proximty to the hospital meant the children could be fed from the same kitchen; morever it was close enough to the San Fernando School for Boys that the young children could easily and safely walk to school.When the 4-story St. John's Orphanage opened in December of 1890, the two top floors were used for the novitiate of the growing community; the orphans occupied the lower floors.
Sts. Peter and Joseph Orphanage
When St. John's Orphanage burned, the citizens of San Antonio stepped forward and plans were drawn up immediately to erect a new orphanage on a tract of land at Mission Concepción. Architect Fred Gaenslen prepared plans for a complex of buildings that would include accommodations for both boys and girls. The new home opened on December 28, 1913, and was named for Peter Kuntz who was particularly supportive of the new building. In 1929, St. Joseph's Orphange for Girls moved to the buildings at St. Peter's, and the orphanages came to be known as St. Peter and St. Joseph, "Saint PJ's."
Santa Rosa Hospital, San Antonio
Santa Rosa Infirmary continued to expand as the needs grew. By 1884 the two-story stone building on Houston Street was filled to capacity. It was decided to construct a three-story addition, the beginning of “Old Main.” In 1894, the hospital was expanded with the addition of an east wing. Two years later, the original structure (used first at St. Joseph’s Orphanage) was torn down to make room for a three-story west wing. In 1903, a School of Nursing was chartered. By 1913, the enrollment had increased to such an extent that a separate building was constructed directly adjacent to the west side of the hospital to provide classrooms and a residence hall for the student nurses. Up until the 1940’s it was almost the sole mainstay of the medical practice in the city of San Antonio.
San Fernando Cathedral
San Fernando Cathedral was founded on March 9, 1731 by a group of 15 families who came from the Canary Islands at the invitation of King Phillip V of Spain and is the oldest, continuously functioning religious community in the State of Texas. This church was planned to be at the center of the life of this city. The Cathedral building has the added distinction of being the oldest standing church building in Texas, and for all of its more than 281 years, has been serving the people of the Archdiocese and San Antonio. For almost 95 years, San Fernando served as the church for all of the religious denominations of San Antonio as the Catholic Church was the only recognized religion of the Spanish and Mexican governments prior to Texas' independence.St. Joseph's Orphange for Girls (the original site of Santa Rosa Infirmary) was across Military Plaza from San Fernando Church (now Cathedral). The Sisters began teaching children in the orphange, and not long afterward began to accept children of the parish (of San Fernando Church) in the orphanage classes. San Fernando School for Girls was established, the first parochial school in the city, and the first to be conducted by the sisters.
San Francisco de la Espada
San Francisco de la Espada is one of the seven missions established in the 1700's along the San Antonio River by Franciscan missionaries. In 1915, it was restored to be used as a parish church; other buildings were restored to be used as a school, and a convent for sisters. On August 15, 1915, three Incarnate Word Sisters took charge of the new school. There were 53 children in grades one to six, crowded into three small classrooms. By the end of the first year, enrollment had jumped to ninety-nine. Conditions were harsh: a leaking roof, cold, no electricity or telephone, and no water. Water was carried in each day from wells in the surrounding area. Incarnate Word Sisters staffed the school until it closed in 1967.
Brackenridge Villa
What is known today as the Brackenridge Villa was first the Sweet Homestead, built near the headwaters of the San Antonio River by James R. Sweet, a city alderman whose purchase of the headwaters land effectively gave him control of the city’s water supply and triggered a long-term controversy. The raised one-story cottage with Greek Revival symmetry and detailing was purchased along with the headwaters land by George W. Brackenridge, who in 1886 added a high Victorian three-story wing that included a dining room with walls covered by tooled elephant hide. Brackenridge, who became San Antonio’s leading philanthropist, sold his estate in 1897 to the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.Mother Madeleine, then Superior General of the Congregation, had begun searching for a location for a motherhouse and novitiate, and in1896 she found it in the 40 acres of the Brackenridge estate that included his home, "Fernridge." Brackenridge agreed to negotiate with the Sisters, but Brackenridge conditioned the sale to include all 283 acres of his estate. Mother Madeleine agreed, and the Congregation purchased the property, along with his home.Almost immediately after purchasing the property and occupying the house, the Sisters set to building a house (Motherhouse) large enough to serve as residence for women in formation, and for the administration of the growing congregation. When the Motherhouse was completed in 1900, the Sisters moved their residence, and Brackenridge Villa began to serve its longest-lived purpose: providing a home for chaplains and for visiting clergy and dignitaries. During the Mexican Revolution, members of the clergy were forced into exile to escape rampant persecution. Many found sanctuary at Brackenridge Villa.After serving many years as offices for the University of the Incarnate Word, Brackenridge Villa now houses offices and meeting rooms for the Congregation's General Leadership Team.
Chapel of the Incarnate Word
The Chapel of the Incarnate Word was dedicated on May 30, 1907. A place of prayer and celebration, the Chapel stands both as the symbolic center of the life of the Congregation and of our presence in the community. The Chapel has been in continuous use since 1907, and is the primary place for celebrating major Congregational feasts, including professions, jubilees, and funerals. For many years, the bell tower was the tallest structure in San Antonio.The interior of the Chapel is 564 feet long, and 68 feet wide. The Chapel is Romanesque in style with rounded arches, columns with gilded Corinthian capitals. The fourteen large stained-glass windows were designed and installed in 1907, by the Emil Frei Stained Glass company of St. Louis, Missouri. They tell the story of the life of Jesus, from the Incarnation to the Ascension, primarily through the lens of the Gospel of Luke. The designs follow the German tradition of showing clothing, furniture, and building styles from the Middle Ages.Seating in the Chapel is primarily in stalls, carved in golden oak. They are arranged in monastic style, providing individual seating and facilitates the chanting of the psalms in alternating (antiphonal) choirs. The top of each choir stall in the upper rows is crowned with the fleur-de-lis, the national symbol of France and the birthplace of the Congregation.A new Schoenstein pipe organ was installed as part of the 2007 renovation of the Chapel.. The electric-pneumatic action instrument has 24 voices in 27 ranks in the gallery orgn, which is linked to the one-manual console organ in the sanctuary.In addition to being a place of worship, the Chapel has been used in recent years to host performing artists: organ concerts, chamber music recitals, and choral concerts.The Chapel of the Incarnate Word |4503 Broadway San Antonio, TX 78209 | https://www.ccvichapel.org/-about
University of the Incarnate Word
The 154-acre main campus, located on Broadway, is at the urban core of San Antonio and situated in the enclave city of Alamo Heights. Established in 1893, Incarnate Word School was originally located just a few miles south on Government Hill in San Antonio. The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word purchased the George Brackenridge estate and built a Motherhouse on the property. The elementary and secondary schools were then transferred to the Broadway location. At the time, there was no college for women in San Antonio, so college courses were added to the curriculum. The school became known as the College and the Academy of the Incarnate Word. The mission of the University of the Incarnate Word is based on the Sisters’ commitment to service and responding to the needs around them. For more information at the University, and perhaps arrange for a tour of the campus, please visit the University's website:www.uiw.edu
Our Lady of Guadalupe
In 1940 the sisters established, with Fr. Carmelo Tranchese, SJ, the Our Lady of Guadalupe Community Center, and Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. The sisters had taught in the school since 1918, and shared Fr. Carmelo’s desire to do something more for the parishioners. Sister Mary of Victory Lewis, who had been director of the nursing program at Incarnate Word College, led the effort and was assisted by Sisters Imelda Walshe, Martha Murphy, Pauline Fierro, and Ana Guadalupe Gamero. They began by feeding the children – 250-300 each day. They were soon operating a nursery school, a clinic for mothers and infants, arts and crafts activities, a recreational program, and classes in religion, English, citizenship, and childcare. The community center is still in operation, under the auspices of Catholic Charities.
Chicago, Illinois
In 1924, st. Frances of Rome Parish was established in Cicero, Illinois and Rev. John Kelly, newly appointed pastor, requested the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word to provide teachers for his new school. A combination church and school building was erected and a duplex remodeled to provide a comfortable convent. Eight Sisters arrived in September, 1924 and were warmly welcomed by Father Kelly and a delegation of parents. The September enrollment reached 225 and thereafter the number increased annually. The distinctive contribution of the pioneers was the foundation they laid for subsequent growth and advancement. The original church and school were supplemented by additional buildings and the enrollment peaked at 1150 in 1964. The fruits of the labor of the original Sisters and pastor are evident in the priestly and religious vocations from the parish (17 priests and 7 nuns), the existence of a strong family life, and genuine involvement in parish ministries. Heroism and courage characterized the beginnings, and solidarity with priests and people were evident through the Depression years and beyond.
New Orleans, LA
Our first Sisters went to New Orleans in 1919 at the invitation of Archbishop John Shaw, to open St. Frances de Sales School. Seven years later, in 1926, the Congregation established St. Catherine of Siena in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans. The Sisters opened a Catholic high school in 1962 in Metairie, under the auspices of the archdiocse of New Orleans, and named after Archhbishop Olacide Louis Chapelle.Incarnate Word Sisters taught at St. Catherine of Siena until 2013 when Srs. Imelda Moriarty and Marceline O'Connell retired.
Dunmore County Galway
In 1925, the Congregation purchased 13 acres (along with a private residence) in Dunmore, County Galway, to receive candidates. Over the years, over 1,000 young women from Ireland traveled to Texas to participate in the mission of the Congregation.
Incarnate Word Hospital
Twenty years after their founding, the Sisters responded to a call to work at the Missouri Pacific Railroad Hospital in St. Louis. They worked hard to expand their work in St. Louis, serving at St. Joseph’s Sanitarium, and later at the Josephine Heitkamp, a privately owned hospital. After many years of changing leadership and financial challenges, the Sisters were asked to purchase the hospital in 1932. Thus began their dedicated service to the poor which continued until the mid-1990s when the Sisters merged with the Deaconess Hospital, providing a continuum of care of the sick and elderly, including extensive outreach services to bring health care to those struggling to access it in a changing city. In 1997, Deaconess Incarnate Word Health System was finally sold. Part of the proceeds from the sale were used to establish Incarnate Word Foundation, whose mission today continues the ministry of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in the Greater St. Louis area. For more information about the work that continues under the auspices of the Incarnate Word Foundation, visit their website: https://www.incarnatewordstl.org
St. Louis and mid-Missouri
In 1914, the Sisters were invited by Father Patrick Bradley to teach at Blessed Sacrament School on North Kingshighway. With growing numbers of Sisters, they requested to establish a Province in St. Louis. Cardinal Glennon granted that request. In 1921, the Sisters purchased eight acres of the Lucas Estate in North St. Louis County where they built a Provincial House and Novitiate. In 1932, they were finally granted permission to open a girls’ academy on the property. Incarnate Word Academy continues to thrive as the only single gender college-preparatory school in the North County area. Always eager to expand their mission and ministry, the Sisters served in almost twenty parish schools in St. Louis, Illinois, and mid-Missouri. The Incarnate Word Academy is still a vibrant presence among Catholic schools, in St. Louis. To read more about the Academy, please visit the website:https://www.iwacademy.org
Saltillo Mexico
A major development in the life of the Congregation began when in 1885, Bishop Montes de Oca of Saltillo, Mexico, asked the Congregation to open a school for girls of wealthy Catholic families. Because of the laws of reform in the government of Mexico, the sisters would have to “arrive incognito” and appear as being ordinary teachers. The school, “La Purisima,” was dedicated on December 8, 1885. The school was a successful venture, thus beginning the building of the Incarnate Word school system in Mexico. A second school was opened shortly after Saltillo, in Monterrey – Colegio de San José. All of the Sisters that taught in these schools came from the foundation in San Antonio; most could not speak Spanish … several took course to learn Spanish before they could begin teaching. More and more schools were built; today there are 8 very active and vibrant schools throughout Mexico.https://www.colegiosccvi.org/
Mexico City
By 1918, the Congregation had grown to over 600 members with 60 different places of ministry scattered across the United States and Mexico. The need for establishing provinces had become an urgency, in order to more effectively govern, manage, and serve the ministries and the sisters. The province in Mexico was established in 1920 with purchase of property in Tucubaya, a suburb of Mexico City. The convent was blessed on December 8 with Mother Berchmans O’Connor being appointed provincial. The province had 77 sisters and 9 houses: 8 in Mexico and one on the Texas border (St. Joseph’s Academy in Eagle Pass, Texas.) The Provincial House, more commonly known as Casa San Angel, still serves as home to many of our Sisters, primarily those who are retired. The house also serves as the administrative locale for the general operation of the Congregation in Mexico. It is where our Sisters gather for major celebrations and other gatherings.
Peru, Chimbote
In the early 1960’s, leaders of the Catholic Church were ever more concerned with the plight of the people of Latin America who were living in extreme poverty and often under political oppression. The Holy See appealed to religious congregations in the United States to pledge ten percent of their membership over a ten-year period to serve the religious, educational, economic, and social needs of the Latin American people. As a response to this plea, it was decided a new mission would be founded in Chimbote, Peru. Sr. Charles Marie Franck had broad experience in working with the ministries of health in Brazil, Colombia, Chili, and Peru, and helped guide the decision as to where a mission in South America could be established. The new mission was placed under the direction of Sr. Charles Marie, with Sisters María Villegas, Rosaline Acosta, Louis Katherine Schuler, Mary Mark Gerken, and Gwendolyn Grothoff.Arriving in Chimbote in 1964, the sisters began their work in St. Francis of Assisi parish. In addition the sisters set about seeing to the construction of a promised clinic, Centro Santa Clara, named after Rev Mother Mary Clare, Superior General of the congregation. Soon, the facility was serving over 1,000 persons each month. In 2014, the Congregation celebrated 50 years of ministry and presence in Peru.
Huancane and Cambio Puente
In 1982, the Sisters extended the mission in Chimbote to the rural area of Cambio Puente. Here, they organized a pastoral team in a parish, working with catechists. They also accompany various groups, advocating for social justice, and working for reforms in human rights.In 1985, the Sisters established a mission in Hauancane (Puno), accompanying the most vulnerable: those suffering from chronic disease; prisoners; children; and, young people.
Pastoral Popular
In 1973, the first comunidades de pastoral popular were established in Mexico by the Mexican Sisters, wanting to live with, accompany, and minister with the indigenouse people in remote parts of the country as well as to person living in extreme povertry in large metropolitan areas. The Sisters worked in small groups, teaching religion, training teachers of religion, organizing literacy classes, helping establish parish organizations, operating medical clinics, visiting the sick in their homes. They lived in houses like those in the village and among the poor people whom they served, believing it was important to share their way of life. Sisters are still involved in pastoral popular, all over the rural areas in Mexico, and in the large cities, especially Mexico City.
Mongu, Zambia - Africa
The year 2000 was a Jubilee Year for the Church, and as a gift to the Church on this occassion, the Congregation opened a mission in Zambia. The Mother and Infant Care Program was established by the Sisters to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Since its inception, the program has been extremely effective in achieving its goal. Sadly, the mission in Zambia was closed in 2016.
