Jewels from Jane, July 3

"In his pastoral letter of 1850 Archbishop Kenrick showed his deep appreciation of the excellent work [of the German St. Vincent Orphan Society:]

"Besides the two asylums already in existence, we have deemed it advisable to approve the erection of a German Male and Female Asylum, as well to comply with the wishes of that portion of our flock who use the German language, as to diminish the burdens on the existing Asylums, and to obviate the necessity of making additions to them, which otherwise would soon be necessary. A large and suitable lot has been secured for this purpose, on very favorable terms, and at a price far below its actual value; and we earnestly recommend the undertaking to your charitable consideration."

"...Five sisters of St. Joseph, from Carondelet, Angela [Hanner], Febronia [Boyer], Adelheid[e] [O'Brien], Stanislaus [Saul]and Ignatia [us] [Witmond] took charge of the new Orphan Home on July 3rd, 1851 [July 2, 1851]. Mother Angela served as Superior of the community.

"Archbishop Kenrick ordered that two collections be taken up annually for the German orphans in all the German Churches of the city. The first collection realized the sum of $369.05; from St. Joseph's Church $116.25; St. Mary's $87.50; Holy Trinity $74.00; Sts. Peter and Paul's, $64.80 and St. Vincent's $26.50.

"On July 25th, 1851, the first orphan girl, Anna Schwerdt, was received into the home; in the following week two boys, Andrew Schwartz and John Gehrig, were entered. Two months later the Home harbored 30 children...

"In its long career of seventy-five years the German St. Vincent Orphan Home experienced many sad vicissitudes, from fire, pestilence and other evils. The saddest was the recurrence in 1854 of the dreadful epidemic that in 1849, had led to the foundation of the Home, the cholera. Within the brief period of two weeks, one sister, Ignatia, and fourteen children fell victims to the awful scourge. On one sad day six little corpses lay in the house; and for fear of contagion, the sisters had to lay them away in the old disused cemetery within the enclosure, until proper burial could be held...

"On the 29th day of December 1888 the Daughters of the Blessed Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, or as they are now better known the Sisters of Christian Charity, succeeded the Sisters of St. Joseph in the administration of the German St. Vincent Orphan Home...Driven out of Germany by the so-called Kulturkampf the Sisters came to America in 1873 and took up their abode, first in New Orleans, and then at Wilkesbarre, PA, until several years ago, when the mother house was removed to Wilmette, Ill."

from History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis by Rev. John Rothensteiner c1928

Orphan girls who entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet from St. Vincent's Orphan Home:

Helena Dorothy St. Clair (Sister Apollonia)

Josephine Riehl (Sister Mary Bertha)

Marie Schlinkmann (Sister Mary Leocadia)

Augusta Ellermann (Sister Mary Calista)

Emilia Dierker (Sister Mary Clare)

Caroline Kunz (Sister Mary Simplicia)

Elizabeth Reis (Sister Mary Clotilda)

Theresa Stratmann (Sister Mary Dominica)

Odelia Hasenmueller (Sister Francis Nazaria)

Jewels from Jane, May 31

"The Sisters of St. Joseph had at their Mother House in Carondelet a Novitiate of their Order, an Academy with 130 pupils, an Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb and an Orphan Asylum containing twenty-eight orphans. Sister Celestine was in charge as Superior with seven professed Nuns. In St. Louis they conducted a day-school near St. Vincent's Church with three Sisters and two novices, and one hundred and twenty pupils.

"Another House of the Community in St. Louis had under its direction the diocesan Orphan Home for boys of whom there were one hundred and twenty. Sister Felicite [Boute] with five professed Sisters formed the community:

In 1849 the Sisters stationed at St. Vincent's Convent, having closed their school, "fearlessly gave themselves to the relief of the sick and dying neighbors."[during the cholera epidemic] Two of their number, Sisters Frances Nally and Justine Mulhall, were seized with the dread symptoms of cholera. Sister Justine was but eighteen years of age "a young woman of rare innocence, and extraordiary personal beauty," in the agony of dying had but one wish, that of renewing her vows on the morning of the Visitation [May 31]. Archbishop Kenrick remained at her bedside until after midnight that her dying wish might be fulfilled. On July 28th, 1849, the Archbishop wrote to his friend Mark Anthony Frenaye in Philadelphia:...Eleven religious women are among the victims, two of the Sisters of Charity, two of the Sisters of St. Joseph, one of the Visitation and six of the Sacred Heart.

"...There is another Sister of St. Joseph mentioned in the Catholic Directory of 1850, as having died of the cholera at St. Joseph's Orphanage, Sister M. Antionette Kincaid."

from History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis by Rev. John Rothensteiner c1928