"At times when I might have
been met with difficulties,
Providence suddenly placed
in my path people who could
help me.”

Historic Firsts

1809 – St. Elizabeth Bayley Seton founded the American Sisters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Md.
1829 – Four Sisters arrive from Emmitsburg to open St. Peter’s Girl’s Orphan Asylum and School – first religious congregation to become established in Cincinnati and in Ohio
1842 – Sisters assume charge of St. Aloyius Boy’s Orphan Asylum; withdrew 1846
1852 – Seven Sisters made the decision to establish the independent congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati under Mother Margaret George.
1852 – Founded St. John’s, later Good Samaritan, Hospital, the first Catholic Hospital in Cincinnati
1854 – Established Mount St. Vincent Motherhouse and Academy
1857 – Founded St. Mary’s Academy in Dayton, Ohio – first mission outside Cincinnati
1858-59 – Trained novices in preparation for beginning of Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth in Newark, New Jersey
1861-65 – Sisters served as Civil War nurses.
1865 – Founded St. Vincent’s Hospital in Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory – first hospital in New Mexico Territory
1870 – Founded St. Joseph Academy in Trinidad, Colorado
1870 – Assisted in the establishment of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill
1873 – Founded St. Joseph Infant and Maternity Home in Cincinnati
1873 – Founded first Catholic co-educational high school at St. James in Bay City, Michigan
1884 – Mount St. Joseph established as Motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati.
1897 – Founded Santa Maria Italian Educational and Institutional Home for immigrants, the first Catholic settlement house, under the direction of Sisters Blandina and Justina Segale.
1915 – Began staffing the residential St. Rita School for the Deaf
1920 – Founded College of Mount St. Joseph on-the-Ohio
1926 – Became a Congregation of Pontifical Rite
1928 – Sisters opened first foreign mission in Wuchang, China, where they remained until Communist takeover in 1948.
1930 – Welcomed members of the Pious Union of Our Lady of Good Counsel, a religious society for deaf and hard-of-hearing women, when it was forced to dissolve.
1940s-50s – Post World War II baby and building boom led to new parish schools, hospitals and a move into retreat and day care programs.
1941 – Sister Eugene Marie Carpe worked with doctors in doing the first exchange transfusion in a “blue baby” in Cincinnati
1945 – Opened El Pomar Retreat House in Colorado Springs, the first Catholic retreat house west of the Mississippi
1951 – Sisters sent to staff Villa Nazareth Orphanage in Rome, a home for gifted poor Italian boys
1960s – Second Vatican Council caused period of renewal – changes in ministries, names, clothing, lifestyles.
1961 – Sent Sisters to open missions in Huancane and Lima, Peru
1961 – Sisters today work in education, health care, pastoral and social services in 23 U.S. states and in Guatemala.
1975 – Started Associates in Mission program
1979- Sisters of Charity Health Care Systems (SCHCS) established under the leadership of Sister Grace Marie Hiltz
1985 – Founded Eldermount adult day program, one of the first in Ohio
1996 – SCHCS was a founding member of Cathilic Health Initiatives (CHI)
2004 – Members of the Vincentian Sisters of Charity joined with the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati to become one congregation