|
|
Living in Love:A Brief History of The Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine1851-2006 |
|
|
Pioneering Labors: 1851-1901 "Surely
I can do this for God. I am free. No earthly tie binds me. Yes, I will
go to America and care for the little Indians" reasoned 24-year old
Mademoiselle Louise Brulois, a postulant in the Augustinian Sisters at
Saint Louis Hospital, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. No matter that
Cleveland, Ohio, in 1851 was nearly as devoid of Indians to convert as
it was full of immigrants with ship fever and forgotten orphans to be
cared for, Louise had finally decided to leave her beloved country and
go with her superior to America. The
Most Reverend Amadeus Rappe, first Bishop of Cleveland, long aware of
the need for establishing a hospital staffed by Sisters, had tried
unsuccessfully in his native France to obtain Sisters. Finally directed
to Sister Bernardine Cabaret, superior of Saint Louis Hospital, he found
her an enthusiastic volunteer. Though
the Sisters at the hospital were reluctant to let her go, they responded
to Sister Bernardine's spirit of sacrifice and unanimously remitted the
remainder of her term as superior. Having earlier secured the assistance
of Sister Francoise Guillement, she had now convinced Louise Brulois and
another postulant, 20-year‑old Cornelie Muselet, to join in the
missionary venture. Beginning
their two-week trip across the Atlantic on the Feast of Our Lady of
Mercy, September 24, 1851, the four missionaries, with little more than
chapel furnishings and boxes of linen destined to be made into sheets
and bandages, spent their stormy trip learning the rudiments of English. Early
Hardships Bishop
Rappe, eagerly awaiting the Sisters' arrival, had written in the spring,
"Come, my children, I have now prepared a place for you. On it is
good spring water and good fresh air." The house on the eight
acres, though, was still occupied on October 10 when the Sisters came to
Cleveland. However, the Ursuline Nuns, who had come to the city from
Boulogne just the year before, received them as guests and provided
religious training for the postulants. Within
two weeks, Sister Bernardine and Sister Francoise, advised by the
Bishop, began living with individual families so that they could better
visit the sick and poor in their homes. Cleveland's first public health
nurses were soon a familiar sight in the city, and people called them
"angels" because of their white habits. By
March 1852, the Sisters were able to move into their small,
two‑story frame house in the fresh air of the country, Ohio City.
In August, they opened Saint Joseph's on the same site, the first public
hospital in what later became part of the city of Cleveland. The
encounter with the hardships of a pioneer land, an unfamiliar language,
an historically severe winter, and failing health were perhaps the
reasons why Sisters Bernardine and Francoise obtained permission to
return to France in September, 1852. Cornelie and Louise, who had become
Sister Saint Joseph and Sister Augustine, strengthened themselves with
the Scriptural injunction that those who put their hand to the plow and
look back are not fit for the kingdom of Heaven and decided to remain in
Cleveland. First
America
n Bishop
Rappe then turned to Sister Ursula Bissonette, an Ursuline novice, for
assistance in continuing the work he had begun, which had already
attracted two more young women. As a laywoman, Sister Ursula was
well-known to Bishop Rappe from her work in the Sandusky area,
particularly instructing First Communion classes. In addition, she had
worked with the cholera victims in the epidemic of 1849, gathering
orphans and widows and caring for them in an abandoned house until the
disease passed. Sister Ursula made her profession as a Sister of Charity
in the chapel of the Ursuline convent on October 21, 1852, --adding a
fourth vow to devote herself to works of charity‑‑and in the
afternoon became, at age 35, the superior of the new American community. Under
her direction, the Sisters continued their work with the sick, and in
order to care for children left by deceased patients, built an addition
to the hospital. To support the orphanage, the boys were taught
tailoring and carpentry and, with the Sisters, weekly pulled their wagon
to deliver suits and cassocks for the clergy and furniture to the West
Side Market. Hospitals
and Orphanages By
1856, a number of considerations forced the closing of Saint Joseph
Hospital, and the entire building was used by the orphans until Saint
Vincent Orphanage was completed in 1859. Later, additional room was
again needed for the orphans and 100 boys and several Sisters moved to
Saint Louis Orphanage, Louisville, Ohio. The
original convent continued to house a few patients and the elderly
remaining from the hospital until the present Saint Vincent Charity
Hospital was opened in 1865. The hospital had long been discussed by
Mother Ursula; Doctor Gustave E. Weber, a prominent retired Army
surgeon; and Bishop Rappe, who finally purchased the property for
$10,000. Though Mother Ursula did not live to see the building
completed, her spirit of sacrifice remained with the Sisters who
willingly gave their pillows to furnish the hospital while they slept on
straw. "Charity towards the poor," said Bishop Rappe at the
dedication, "was ever to be the motto of the hospital." To
continue this charitable service, the hospital added a school of
nursing; to staff the pharmacy, two Sisters became the second and third
women in Ohio to be certified by the State Board of Pharmacy. Sister
Augustine, long since aware of more than Indians in America, headed the
hospital while Sister Saint Joseph continued to direct the orphanage. On
a cold winter's night in 1873, a widow about to deliver a child was
taken in and the Sisters began Saint Ann Hospital and Infant Home, first
near Charity Hospital and later on Woodland Avenue. Encouraged by Bishop
Richard Gilmour, the Sisters cared particularly for unmarried mothers
and neglected infants. To
the continual door-to-door begging trips of the Sisters were added
"Donation Days" for this new work to which the people of
Cleveland and the surrounding areas gave generously; however, the money
never seemed quite enough to meet the growing demands for the care of
the sick and needy. EXPANDING
MINISTRIES: 1901-1951 Though
by the turn of the century, Sister Saint Joseph, the last of the pioneer
Sisters, had died, she had lived long enough to see a community of over
one hundred Sisters of Charity of Saint Augustine established in a new
motherhouse in Lakewood, Ohio. From this center, the expansion of the
works of health, education, and welfare in Cleveland and other areas
continued during the next fifty years even though the requests for the
Sisters' service far exceeded their ability to respond. Nevertheless,
the Sisters made significant contributions in the development of the
health care field. Providence
Hospital, Sandusky, and its nursing school were staffed by the Sisters
from its beginnings in 1902 until 1922 when Sandusky became part of the
Toledo diocese. A bequest from a wealthy woman and her brother, who had
seen the need, led to the opening of Mercy Hospital in Canton in 1908.
Later, another donor provided for the establishment of Little Flower
Hospital for Children near Mercy. In
1916, Bishop John Farrelly, desiring a school of nursing at Saint John
Hospital on Cleveland's West side, requested the Sisters to assume
administration and staffing of the 26-year-old hospital which had just
been rebuilt. Prior
to the opening of Saint Thomas Hospital, made possible by the financial
contributions of the people of the area, Akron was the largest city in
the country without a Sisters' hospital. In addition to directing and
staffing the hospital and nursing school in 1928, the willingness of the
Sisters in 1939 to respond to a new need caused St. Thomas to be the
first general hospital to open its doors to Doctor Bob Smith, co-founder
of Alcoholics Anonymous, when he brought his first patient there.
About the same time, Bishop Emmet M. Walsh of Charleston, South
Carolina, had traveled over 120,000 miles trying to get Sisters to
operate the sole Catholic hospital which was being built after much
effort in Columbia. Circumstances led him to the Sisters of Charity who
extended their service to South Carolina and Providence Hospital was
opened in 1938. Educational
Initiatives Although
the education of orphans had been undertaken from the early days and was
under the supervision of the diocesan superintendent of schools, other
elementary and high school education was not begun until 1922 when
Bishop Joseph Schrembs formally requested the Sisters to prepare
themselves to staff schools. Saint Augustine Academy, enrolling students
from kindergarten to sixth grade, was established on the Motherhouse
grounds in 1925 and classes extended to high school the next year. By
the time the Sisters celebrated the seventy‑fifth anniversary of
their coming to Cleveland, grade schools in Cuyahoga Falls, Ashtabula,
Amherst, Harrisburg, Maximo, and
Cleveland were part of their apostolic ministry. Social
Service Development Established
to organize the charitable services of the diocese on a sound financial
basis, the Catholic Charities Corporation freed the Sisters from the
constant struggle of trying to raise sufficient funds while caring for
the sick and unfortunate. One of the first acts of Catholic Charities in
1925 was to re‑locate all the orphans cared for by the Sisters at
Saint Vincent and at Saint Louis Orphanages on 180 acres which became
known as Parmadale, the nation's first cottage-plan home for dependent
children. The
years surrounding the centennial of the Community witnessed the
expansion of Charity and Saint Thomas Hospitals; the building of
Timken-Mercy Hospital and subsequent consolidation of Little Flower
Hospital with Mercy; and the
development of a new Saint Ann Hospital separate from De Paul Infant
Home. In addition Sisters continued on the faculty of Saint John College
School of Nursing; engaged in Confraternity of Christian Doctrine work
in parishes and missions; and cared for pre‑school
children at Saint Edward Home, across from Parmadale. The growing needs
of the Community were met by purchase of 350 acres in Richfield for a
new Motherhouse, completed in 1957, to train the young sisters and care
for the retired. WIDENING
HORIZONS: 1951-2006 If
the first fifty years of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine were
those of birth and beginnings, the second half century saw growth and
expansion. Amid the complexities of the late twentieth century and the
new twenty-first century, these last fifty-five years seem marked by
maturity, evaluation and increased collaboration with others in
expanding ministry. Pope
John XXIII in opening the Second Vatican Council in the fall of 1962
called the whole Church to renew itself in order "to be found
increasingly faithful to the gospel of Christ." The Sisters of
Charity, like all religious communities, revitalized themselves by
returning to the sources of all Christian life and to the original
inspiration of its founders, making necessary adjustments in their
living and service, adapting to the conditions of the times. Vatican
II Takes Root Through
frequent prayer and countless meetings, the painful but often times
illuminating struggles of the community brought forth changes in
internal governmental structure and policy, lifestyle, and spirituality
initiated to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ to others. Much of
the discussion and experimentation ultimately found expression in the
new Constitutions of the Community, approved in 1985, which have been
revised and updated in the last twenty years to reflect a deepening
understanding of mission and ministry. Faithful to Vatican II directives
to renew and up-date in the mid-60s, the Sisters began intensive
continuing education in pastoral and sacramental theology, spiritual
renewal, psychology, ethics, canon law, leadership training, and
communication skills. Efforts
to carry out the principles of collaboration and subsidiarity were seen
in various structural changes in the selection and election of Community
leaders, in committees and commissions, open forums, assemblies,
chapters, community weekends and newsletters designed to solicit the
views and ideas of the Sisters to work toward consensus on major issues.
While some of these structures and experiences were designed for the
internal renewal of the Community, others, such as a process developed
in 1985 to take a corporate stance on public issues and the statement on
ministry to people with AIDS, issued in 1988, and the stance for Peace
in 1990 helped open the Community to new needs. Renewal
of Community Life To
"encourage and promote the continued integration of prayer life,
community living, and ministry,” Sisters also began experimenting with
various ways to live a healthier, more integrated community life. Some
Sisters moved away from large residences directly connected with their
place of ministry and lived with smaller community groupings in ordinary
homes or were part of intercommunity living. Others remained in the
convents connected with their apostolic service, but all worked to
develop and enhance a community life that "provides an environment
of faith, simplicity of life, and responsible stewardship, thus
witnessing to the integration of Gospel values in life and
ministry." Recognizing
the mutuality between the Sisters and lay people who share the CSA
charism (gift) of charity,
an Associate program was initiated in 1985. Open to lay women and men,
married and single, Associates participate in a variety of ways in the
life and charism of CSA. The Sisters and Associates believe that by
uniting with others in prayer and ministry, they share more deeply in
the Kingdom of God. Today, over 50 active Associates are celebrating the
20th anniversary. Redirecting
Ministries "Nourished
by a long tradition of meeting the needs of the Diocese of Cleveland,
" the Sisters in their philosophy re-committed themselves to works
of health, education, and social service, but "sought to direct
their energies to those existing and emerging needs which are most
critical." For
example, changing social patterns no longer required a large home for
unwed mothers; thus, in 1973, De Paul Home was donated to the Bishop of
Cleveland to be used for continuation of social services, though today,
although the property has been sold, the services exist, under the
auspices of Catholic Charities, in other forms. The
declining birth rate and consequent financial difficulties which
resulted in the sale of Saint Ann Hospital in 1973 provided a unique way
of preserving the original purposes of the founding Sisters while
meeting new needs. Saint Ann Foundation, a public foundation, was
created from the sale. All income generated from the original $8.2
million principal and from
new donations and bequests is used for grants to support programs that
improve the quality of life, particularly in the northeastern Ohio area.
As St. Ann Foundation celebrated its 25th anniversary, a
major funded project was on kinship care, focused on invited proposals
to assist grandparents in caring for children. To date, over 30 million
dollars in grants have been given to over 1000 projects.
A Collaboration in Ministry initiative, involving religious
communities seeking to strengthen their ministries into the future, was
launched in 2002. Seeking
to maintain secondary education for girls on Cleveland's West side yet
aware of limited Sister personnel, the Community in 1975 arranged a
transfer of the operation and administration of Saint Augustine Academy
to the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, who leased the buildings
until 2005. In 1987, the
Academy convent was leased to the same community for use as an early
childhood learning center, which still continues. The CSA presence
remains through the ownership of the property and on-going planning for
the best utilization of the facilities, which today houses Lakewood
Catholic Academy, an elementary school formed by the merger of three
Lakewood Catholic schools and
Centering Space, a CSA ministry offering “prayer, listening, and
direction” for all who come. The
shift of students out of Catholic schools together with the recognition
that children were not the only ones in need of religious instruction
caused Sisters in the 1970s to begin to work full time in parish school
of religion programs and total parish religious education. In some
places Sisters collaborate in a team-ministry approach to parish needs.
Sisters are involved in parish ministry and religious education in
several parishes in the Diocese of Cleveland. Support of education
continues through donations to various secondary schools and to the
Catholic Educational Endowment. New
Services Abound In
being faithful to the charism of charity exemplified by the founders,
the Sisters of Charity have sought to balance Community commitments with
individual Sisters' talents and concerns. Thus, Sisters today find new
ways of serving the sick including
pastoral care, social service, wellness programs, AIDS ministry
as well as other administrative and staff positions in health care.
Sisters who directly serve the Community as administrators and co-ordinators
of programs for the retired and infirm complement those who work in
other ministries. Although
the Community does not have a concentrated number of Sisters at any one
area or place as in the past nor do Sisters serve any longer at
institutions such as St. Thomas Hospital or Parmadale, CSA is
represented at leadership levels and in service roles in many of the
same geographic areas. Beginning
in 1976, when the Chapter approved a motion to support in prayer and to
investigate the possibility of a CSA going to the diocesan mission in El
Salvador, the Sisters expanded their vision to embrace global issues.
Experiencing Third World conditions, supporting refugee families,
writing letters to government officials about life issues, sending
medical supplies and financial aid to disaster areas, and establishing
CSA properties as peace sites, education about ecological concerns,
supporting the abolition of the death penalty,
have been a few of the activities of the Sisters. Locally,
following the Hough riots in the Cleveland inner city in the 1960s,
sisters worked in housing and other social services projects there,
which continue under dedicated lay people.
A CSA Sister, who served on the diocesan mission team in El
Salvador, returned to start a Catholic Worker house in the Akron area
which today has added additional homes and support services. Within
the Community, a Gift and Donation Committee was established in 1976,
with funds now budgeted annually. The Sisters are able to request monies
for various small projects that improve the quality of life or support
evangelization efforts. These funds have financed in whole or part
everything from a teenager's drug rehabilitation costs to food and
supplies for victims of natural disasters. In addition, the generosity
of many benefactors to the Sisters has enabled monies to be expended for
services at Catholic Charities' institutions, special ministry needs of
the Sisters, and social justice issues related to health, education, and
social services. Too, Community funds have been invested in projects
such as the Cleveland Housing Network, with the interest going toward
low income housing. In
some cases, the re‑commitment of Christian service to people
called for by Vatican II demanded an evaluation and redirection of
institutions. Thus, increasingly aware of the religious, moral, legal
and financial responsibilities and complexities in sponsoring
institutions, especially health care facilities, the Community began in
1969 to include lay men and
women on the Boards of Trustees, to hire lay people to fill
administrative positions when qualified Sisters were not available, and
to develop a formal Sponsorship Statement that included a focus on the
importance of Pastoral Care. With changes in nursing education, Timken
Mercy Medical Center, now Mercy Medical Center, merged its diploma
school of nursing with Walsh College in 1981, and St. Vincent Charity
Hospital merged its nursing program with Ursuline College in 1985, thus
strengthening Catholic nursing at the bachelor degree level. Both
hospitals continue to provide clinical experiences for the nursing
students. Health
System Created The
most significant development in the health care facilities was the
establishment in 1982 of CSA Health and Human Services, a system created
to strengthen each of the CSA‑sponsored facilities and to ensure
that the charism and philosophy of the Sisters are implemented and
enhanced in the institutions and programs within the system. Further,
the mission of CSA Health and Human Services is to "promote
stronger collaboration, cooperation, and sharing of resources among the
sponsored hospitals and organizations as well as encourage the
development of new programs and services in response to unmet health and
human services needs." In
an effort to carry out this mission in the challenging and rapidly
changing world of heath care, the CSA Health System
in 1995 established three 50-50 partnerships
with Columbia/HCA Health Care Corporation, an investor-owned
heath system. Though this partnership, which fully participated in the
Catholic mission of the CSA hospitals, has now been dissolved and a new
corporation with University Hospitals has been established in Ohio, the
funds from the sale enabled three charitable foundations in Cleveland,
Canton, and South Carolina with total assets of over 200 million to be
established. These three foundations along with the St. Ann Foundation,
which this year will become part of the Sisters of Charity Foundation of
Cleveland, focus on the poor and underserved in the various geographic
areas, although each foundation has its unique local perspective on
addressing these needs. Low-income housing, early childhood education, healthy
learners, and a fatherhood initiative have all been major funded
projects of the foundations, which seek to make long-term change in the
communities they serve.
The CSA Health System-University Hospital non-profit corporation
continues to sponsor St. Vincent Charity Hospital and St. Luke’s
Medical Center and St. John West Shore Hospital, in Cleveland and Mercy
Medical Center in Canton. Providence
Hospital and Providence Northeast in Columbia, South Carolina, are now
part of the CSA Health System. In addition to the Foundations, the CSA
Health System also has developed special ministry corporations in each
geographic area to provide services and programs for the underserved. Multi-Purpose
Motherhouse In
the on-going evaluation which marked all the Community's ministries, the
Sisters examined their own resources and beginning in 1971, Mount
Augustine, the Motherhouse, opened its facilities and grounds for
religious cultural, and educational activities and increased the Sister
staff to serve these individuals and groups. The facilities, programs,
and 400-acre grounds - part of several natural resources conservation
plans - have been especially conducive to prayer. A House of Prayer
functioned there in the 1970s, and a Hermitage dedicated to prayer for
justice and world peace was erected in 1982, marking the 25th
anniversary of Mt. Augustine. In
recent years, personal, psychological and physical pre‑retirement
and retirement planning, a financial needs analysis, studies on the use
of CSA properties within the Community, and intercongregational
discussions at the diocesan level have all contributed to the decision
to re-direct the purpose of Mt. Augustine. When
the 140th anniversary of the Community was celebrated, construction
began for Regina Health Center, a 7.5 million dollar innovative health
care and assisted-living facility for retired religious.
The renovation of the existing Motherhouse building provided an
81-bed skilled and intermediate care nursing unit and a 73-bed assisted
living unit with a full range of geriatric services for retired female
and male religious. Additional nursing beds and other services have been
added recently. A
unique aspect of this project is the collaboration with other religious
communities and diocesan officials in the assessment and planning for
this intercommunity residence. As the diocesan newspaper editorial
stated, "The Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine have once again
demonstrated the foresight, careful planning and compassion which have
made them a model of health care ministry." The
center of the spiritual life of both the Sisters and the residents of
Regina Health center is the Holy Family chapel.
In 2005, a major renovation of the chapel was completed, which
not only incorporated
changes to accommodate liturgical changes of the last fifty years, but
also improved the lighting, sound system, and seating for the residents,
many of whom are wheel-chair bound. The
Mission Continues Although
the number of sisters may be smaller, their vitality and initiative for
establishing new services, continues the long tradition of meeting
emerging needs. For
example, the Open House in Cleveland, for persons with AIDS and their
families, now merged into other programs; the Interfaith Wellness Center
in Irvine, Kentucky for health needs in Appalachia; the Catholic Worker
House in Akron, particularly for Spanish-speaking immigrants; Joseph’s
Home, a short term residence for homeless men in the Cleveland inner
city who have been released from the hospital and Centering Space, for
spiritual reflection have all begun by the sisters and their
collaborators in the last two decades. Aware
of the unique contribution of dedicated lay women and men who minister
with the Sisters, the Caritas Award, was established
as part of the 150 anniversary celebration of the Community to
honor an “individual who embodies and exemplifies the CSA charism to
an outstanding degree” and is given
every four years. For
the Sisters of Charity, the past fifty-five years have been times of
constant evaluation and overwhelming efforts to be faithful to the Lord
in the midst of change. As numbers of Sisters decline and ages increase,
as institutions once firmly planted close or shift direction, and as
responsibilities for community life and ministry often overwhelm, the
Sisters have tried to see this period of frequent darkness as a special
gift. This grace strengthens them to be true sharers in Christ's
ministry which to all earthly eyes seemed to be a failure of what had
held so much promise. In spite of the difficulties and struggles,
responsible and creative stewardship of Community resources, increased
collaboration with others in ministry, and an expanded world vision have
been the hallmarks of these past decades. The Sisters of Charity,
extending their gift of charity, continue to consciously plan for the
future, setting goals with compassion toward the needs of people and a
mature faith in the providence of the Lord. One-hundred-and-fifty
five years of the history of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine
record founders' names, significant firsts, completed buildings; one-
hundred-and-fifty five years of service reveal loving women firmly
committed, freely giving, who have attempted to extend the work of
Christ on earth. Underlying both the history and the service have been
the physical hardships of the beginning, the material sacrifices of the
growth, and the spiritual struggles of the maturity of the Community.
Yet, the call of the Father, which is reflected in Christ, and nourished
by the Spirit, continues to find a response in the Sisters of Charity
who out of the traditions of the past, find meaning for the present, and
hope for the future. Sr.
Mary Denis Maher, CSA, PhD Revised 2006
|
||
|
Contact us at: Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine Mt. Augustine 5232 Broadview Road Richfield, OH 44286 Email : sisters@srsofcharity.org Last updated June 2006
|
||
