In 1833, Blessed Theresa of Jesus Gerhardinger founded the order of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in response to the urgent needs of her day. Learn more.

RESPONDING TO THE NEEDS OF AN IMMIGRANT CHURCH
Mother Theresa Gerhardinger brought five School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) from Bavaria to America in 1847 to educate German immigrant children. Her vicar, Mother Caroline Friess, arrived in St. Louis in 1858 to begin the first SSND mission in this archdiocese at St. Joseph School on Biddle Street (learn more). She opened 52 missions in the region that eventually became the St. Louis Province. Before her death in 1892, Mother Caroline requested that a third SSND province in North America be established with its motherhouse in St. Louis, Missouri.

RESPONDING TO THE CALL OF A MISSIONARY CHURCH
In March 1895, Mother Bonaventure
Wagner and six sisters moved into a house on the Grand View estate overlooking the Mississippi River, just south of St. Louis. Renamed Sancta Maria in Ripa (St. Mary on the Bank), the new motherhouse soon became a center for the spiritual and educational formation of new members. Sisters were sent from the motherhouse to missions in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky and Alabama, Nebraska, Arkansas and Texas.

RESPONDING TO THE NEEDS OF AN EXPANDING CHURCH
The School Sisters of Notre Dame of St. Louis helped build a vital parochial school system, established secondary schools and colleges, and staffed orphanages and schools for children with special needs. Following World War II, sisters continued to answer the call to develop a world vision and a sense of global responsibility, as they opened missions in Japan and Honduras.

RESPONDING TO THE CALL OF A GLOBAL CHURCH
After Vatican II, our sisters began to focus on the potential for growth and empowerment of persons. Diverse ministries developed in education, as well as in health care, pastoral ministry, spiritual development and social services. Reaching as far as Africa and Asia, ministerial services continued to expand in response to global need.

Today, our sisters serve in 20 of 50 states in the U.S. and in the countries of Ghana, Honduras, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Nepal, Nigeria and Puerto Rico.