Daughters Of Charity Install New Provincial And Council

On July 1, at Our Lady of the Snows Shrine in Belleville, Ill., Daughter of Charity Sister Catherine Mary (Katie) Norris was installed as the new Provincial of the Daughters’ Province of St. Louise. Sister Catherine Mary served as a Councillor for the Daughters’ former East Central Province, which is  headquartered in Evansville. 

Sister Marie Raw, D.C., the General Councillor for the Daughters’ English-Speaking Provinces, came from the Daughters’ Motherhouse in Paris to install Sister Catherine Mary along with six Councillors: Sister Nancy Murphy, Sister Julie Cutter, Sister Mary Beth Kubera, Sister Janet Keim, Sister Mary Frances Barnes and Sister Teresa George, who also serves as the Province Treasurer.

     The Province of St. Louise is based in St. Louis, Mo., with campuses in Albany, N.Y., Emmitsburg, Md., and Evansville, Ind.  Seventy-five Daughters of Charity live and serve in Evansville, where they minister in health care, art, agriculture, governance, parish ministry, social services, education and prayer.

     The Daughters of Charity, who trace their origins to St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac, were established in Paris in 1633.  They were the first community of Sisters who were not cloistered.  Their community was unlike any other.  St. Vincent instructed them to have "as a convent, the houses of the sick; as a cell, a rented room; as a chapel, the parish church; as a cloister, the streets of the city and the halls of the hospitals; as enclosure, obedience; as grating, the fear of God; and as a veil, holy modesty."  This was radical in the 1600s. Things are no different today.  The Sisters, through their vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and their extra vow of service to the poor, continue to follow these rules and go where they are most needed. In the United States, the Daughters trace their roots to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, in Emmitsburg, in 1809.  Worldwide, there are nearly 16,700 Daughters of Charity; the Province of St. Louise includes 430 Daughters who serve in 18 U.S. States, the District of Columbia and in many foreign missions throughout the world.