Jewels from Jane, Dec. 8

"On December 8, 1854, the first foundation of the Congregation of Saint Joseph in New York State was made at Canandaigua, sometimes called 'Sleeping Beauty.' In response to an appeal made by the Right Reverend John Timon, Bishop of the newly erected See of Buffalo, a band of four Sisters--Mother Agnes Spencer, Sister Frances Joseph Ivory, Sister Petronella Roscoe and Sister Theodosia Hageman--had been sent from Carondelet to make this new establishment. Early in January, 1855, the Sisters opened an academy and free school and took charge of the orphans. A novitiate was established and postulants were received into the community. The ceremony of profession took place in Saint Mary's Church until 1858.

"In 1857, Bishop Timon asked the community to open an institution for deaf-mutes in Buffalo, N.Y. Three Sisters who had studied, in France, the most recent methods for this work, were sent from Carondelet. In 1865, the Sisters addressed a petition to the New York Legislature, asking that the Le Couteulx Institute might be included among those to which the State annually made appropriation for the education of the deaf and dumb. A bill to that effect was passed on April 28, 1875. The foundation in Buffalo was under the care of the motherhouse in Canandaigua until 1861 when the administration was transferred to Buffalo, N.Y.

"In 1864, a band of Sisters opened an orphanage in Rochester, N.Y., primarily to care for those children who had lost their fathers in the Civil War. In 1868 the Buffalo diocese was divided. The new Diocese of Rochester was erected under its first bishop, Right Reverend Bernard J. McQuaid, and the affiliation of the Sisters with Buffalo was dissolved. The new bishop selected the community as the teaching congregation of his diocese and established their motherhouse at Rochester."

From Mother Saint John Fontbonne: A Biography translation adapted from the original French edition by a Sister of Saint Joseph Brentwood, New York

Picture of Mother Agnes Spencer attached

Jane Behlmann, csj
Province Archivist
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet
6400 Minnesota Avenue
St. Louis, Missouri 63111-2899
Phone: 314-678-0320
FAX: 314-481-2366
email: jbehlmann@csjsl.org

Jewels from Jane, May 2

On May 2, 1860, after three days of retreat, sisters representing all the houses in the dioceses of St. Louis, Toronto (Canada), Wheeling, Natchez, Albany and Saint Paul met at Carondelet to form a Congregation. These were all the communities of St. Joseph that had been founded directly or indirectly from Carondelet. There were no delegates from Buffalo, Philadelphia or Brooklyn; the bishops of those dioceses wanted their sisters to remain autonomous. The sisters who attended the meeting approved the basic structure of a new congregation. Bishop Kenrick presented a plan that recommended the erection of three provinces, with centers in St. Louis, Canada, and the eastern part of the United States, with provisions for forming new provinces according to need. The plan included details about the governance of the provinces, the role of the Superior General, the organization of novitiates and elections of General and Provincial Superiors. During the meeting, the delegates from Toronto decided to accede to the desire of their bishop and remain under diocesan jurisdiction.

In the end, the plan was adapted to propose three provinces: St. Louis, St. Paul and Troy (New York). By accepting the plan, the sisters committed themselves to support the process of seeking ecclesial approval to form a new Congregation. As their first official act, the sisters elected Mother St. John Facemaz as Superior General and then commissioned her to represent them in negotiations with Rome.

From “Comunidad para el Mundo: The History of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and the Vice Province of Peru”