Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word
Encyclopedia
The Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word is the name of two Roman Catholic religious order
s based in the state of Texas.
of women begun in 1866, at the request of French-born Claude Marie Dubuis
, the second Catholic
bishop
of the Diocese of Galveston, which then included the entire state of Texas. Bishop Dubuis made this foundational call to his native France in 1866, asking for sisters to join him in assisting the ill:
Three sisters came from France
to Galveston, Texas
, and started Charity Hospital (the first Catholic hospital
in Texas
) in Galveston (which would later become St. Mary's Infirmary & St. Mary's Hospital
). The sisters were Sister Mary Blandine, Sister Mary Joseph and Sister Mary Ange.
Later, as a result of the yellow fever
epidemic
that struck Galveston, the St. Mary's Orphanage was started, first in the hospital, and was later moved just outside town (away from the epidemic). This epidemic also struck two of the sisters: Mother Mary Blandine would die of yellow fever on August 18, 1867; Sister Mary Ange also contracted yellow fever but recovered and returned to France.
Sister Mary Joseph would become Mother Joseph and would continue the work in Galveston. In the early part of the 20th century, with the rapid growth of the City of Houston, the Order's headquarters were relocated from the Island city to Houston.
Today the Sisters have missions in Ireland
, Guatemala
, El Salvador
, Kenya
and the United States
.
They are involved in ministries in health care (as part of CHRISTUS Health
and Catholic Healthcare West
), education, and social justice. They are also involved in fighting illiteracy and AIDS.
, is the largest group of women religious in Texas.
The order was founded in San Antonio in 1869, as a sister house of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Galveston, Texas. In 1866 three young French women responded to the call of Claude Marie Dubuis
, Bishop of the Diocese of Galveston, to come to Texas to care for the sick and the orphans. After a very short period of preparation in the cloistered monastery of the Order of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament in Lyons, they left for Galveston to open a hospital and found a new apostolic institute, the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. Additional groups of Sisters followed. In 1869, Bishop Dubuis chose three from the Galveston community, Sister St. Madeleine Chollet, Sister St. Pierre Cinquin, and Sister Agnes Buisson to begin a new house in San Antonio and open the first hospital in the area. He names Mother St. Madeleine superior of the new community. Three years later, he appoints Mother St. Pierre Cinquin as her successor, and she remains in office until her death almost twenty years later.
Sisters Madeleine Chollet, Pierre Cinquin and Agnes Buisson came to help the people of San Antonio who were being ravaged by a severe cholera epidemic. It was just after the Civil War and San Antonio had a population of 12,000; however, there were no public hospitals. When the three Sisters arrived, they founded the Order, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. They also founded San Antonio's first public hospital, known today as CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital.
In 1881, the Sisters founded the Incarnate Word Academy, known today as the University of the Incarnate Word
.
(and indeed, a part of Texas
history). This hurricane was so destructive that it remains, more than a century later, not just the most destructive hurricane ever to hit the United States
, but the most destructive natural disaster ever to befall the United States
. More than 6,000 people died - one-sixth the population of Galveston, Texas
.
The orphanage housed at that time 93 children (ages 2 to 13) and 10 sisters. The hurricane arrived quietly on September 7, 1900. The full force of the Galvestion Hurricane of 1900 would not be felt until the next day, September 8.
The story of the hurricane and of what happened at the orphanage remains a central story of the hurricane itself. On September 8, 1900, the hurricane eventually began to erode away the sand dunes that surrounded St. Mary's Orphanage. The sisters in charge decided to move the children into the girl's dormitory
, as it was newer and stronger (and thus potentially safer) than the boy's dormitory.
The sisters led the children in singing (in English) the old French
hymn
, Queen of the Waves
. Eventually, the boy's dormitory failed and collapsed into the sea. When the waters started to fill the first floor of the girl's dormitory, the sisters moved the children to the second floor, and again led in singing Queen of the Waves.
The sisters put clothes line
around their waists and connected themselves to six to eight children each in an attempt to save the children. Three of the children (older teens) were left loose.
Finally, the girl's dormitory collapsed. All ten sisters and ninety children perished (ironically drowned by being tangled in wreckage by the clothes line); only the three teenaged boys survived: William Murney, Frank Madera and Albert Campbell.
As a result of this tragedy, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word across the world sing Queen of the Waves
every year, on September 8, and remember the sisters and the children that died in Galveston that fateful day.
On September 8, 1994, a Texas
historical marker
was placed at 69th Street and Seawall Boulevard, marking the site of the former orphanage.
The Sisters of Charity created an audio CD titled Queen of the Waves: Centennial Remembrance of The Great Storm of 1900, and MP3
audio files are available from the official 1900 Storm Remembrance Site. This CD tells the story of the Saint Mary's Orphanage during the 1900 Storm and includes the song Queen of the Waves
.
Roman Catholic religious order
Catholic religious orders are, historically, a category of Catholic religious institutes.Subcategories are canons regular ; monastics ; mendicants Catholic religious orders are, historically, a category of Catholic religious institutes.Subcategories are canons regular (canons and canonesses regular...
s based in the state of Texas.
Houston Order
The Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Houston, Texas, is a Roman Catholic religious orderRoman Catholic religious order
Catholic religious orders are, historically, a category of Catholic religious institutes.Subcategories are canons regular ; monastics ; mendicants Catholic religious orders are, historically, a category of Catholic religious institutes.Subcategories are canons regular (canons and canonesses regular...
of women begun in 1866, at the request of French-born Claude Marie Dubuis
Claude Marie Dubuis
Claude Marie Dubuis was a French-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Galveston from 1862 to 1892....
, the second Catholic
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of the Diocese of Galveston, which then included the entire state of Texas. Bishop Dubuis made this foundational call to his native France in 1866, asking for sisters to join him in assisting the ill:
Our Lord Jesus Christ, suffering in the persons of a multitude of sick and infirm of every kind, seeks relief at your hands.
Three sisters came from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to Galveston, Texas
Galveston, Texas
Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
, and started Charity Hospital (the first Catholic hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
) in Galveston (which would later become St. Mary's Infirmary & St. Mary's Hospital
St. Mary's Hospital, Galveston
St. Mary's Hospital was a Catholic hospital founded in 1866 by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in Galveston, Texas, USA; it was the first private hospital in Texas. The hospital was closed and sold in 1996 to the neighboring University of Texas Medical Branch.-See also:*CHRISTUS...
). The sisters were Sister Mary Blandine, Sister Mary Joseph and Sister Mary Ange.
Later, as a result of the yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
that struck Galveston, the St. Mary's Orphanage was started, first in the hospital, and was later moved just outside town (away from the epidemic). This epidemic also struck two of the sisters: Mother Mary Blandine would die of yellow fever on August 18, 1867; Sister Mary Ange also contracted yellow fever but recovered and returned to France.
Sister Mary Joseph would become Mother Joseph and would continue the work in Galveston. In the early part of the 20th century, with the rapid growth of the City of Houston, the Order's headquarters were relocated from the Island city to Houston.
Today the Sisters have missions in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
They are involved in ministries in health care (as part of CHRISTUS Health
CHRISTUS Health
CHRISTUS Health is a Texas based Catholic, non-profit health care company. The company includes more than 40 hospitals and other health care facilities in Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas, Utah, Oklahoma, Missouri, Georgia, and Mexico...
and Catholic Healthcare West
Catholic Healthcare West
Catholic Healthcare West is a California-based not-for-profit public benefit corporation that operates hospitals in California, Arizona, and Nevada. As such, it is exempt from federal and state income taxes...
), education, and social justice. They are also involved in fighting illiteracy and AIDS.
San Antonio Order
The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word order based in San Antonio, TexasSan Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
, is the largest group of women religious in Texas.
The order was founded in San Antonio in 1869, as a sister house of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Galveston, Texas. In 1866 three young French women responded to the call of Claude Marie Dubuis
Claude Marie Dubuis
Claude Marie Dubuis was a French-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Galveston from 1862 to 1892....
, Bishop of the Diocese of Galveston, to come to Texas to care for the sick and the orphans. After a very short period of preparation in the cloistered monastery of the Order of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament in Lyons, they left for Galveston to open a hospital and found a new apostolic institute, the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. Additional groups of Sisters followed. In 1869, Bishop Dubuis chose three from the Galveston community, Sister St. Madeleine Chollet, Sister St. Pierre Cinquin, and Sister Agnes Buisson to begin a new house in San Antonio and open the first hospital in the area. He names Mother St. Madeleine superior of the new community. Three years later, he appoints Mother St. Pierre Cinquin as her successor, and she remains in office until her death almost twenty years later.
Sisters Madeleine Chollet, Pierre Cinquin and Agnes Buisson came to help the people of San Antonio who were being ravaged by a severe cholera epidemic. It was just after the Civil War and San Antonio had a population of 12,000; however, there were no public hospitals. When the three Sisters arrived, they founded the Order, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. They also founded San Antonio's first public hospital, known today as CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital.
In 1881, the Sisters founded the Incarnate Word Academy, known today as the University of the Incarnate Word
University of the Incarnate Word
The University of the Incarnate Word is a private Catholic university located within the cities of San Antonio and Alamo Heights in Texas, United States....
.
Saint Mary's Orphanage and The Galveston Hurricane
The story of the Saint Mary's Orphan Asylum run by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word became an integral part of the story of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900Galveston Hurricane of 1900
The Hurricane of 1900 made landfall on the city of Galveston in the U.S. state of Texas, on September 8, 1900.It had estimated winds of at landfall, making it a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale...
(and indeed, a part of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
history). This hurricane was so destructive that it remains, more than a century later, not just the most destructive hurricane ever to hit the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, but the most destructive natural disaster ever to befall the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. More than 6,000 people died - one-sixth the population of Galveston, Texas
Galveston, Texas
Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
.
The orphanage housed at that time 93 children (ages 2 to 13) and 10 sisters. The hurricane arrived quietly on September 7, 1900. The full force of the Galvestion Hurricane of 1900 would not be felt until the next day, September 8.
The story of the hurricane and of what happened at the orphanage remains a central story of the hurricane itself. On September 8, 1900, the hurricane eventually began to erode away the sand dunes that surrounded St. Mary's Orphanage. The sisters in charge decided to move the children into the girl's dormitory
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
, as it was newer and stronger (and thus potentially safer) than the boy's dormitory.
The sisters led the children in singing (in English) the old French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
, Queen of the Waves
Queen of the Waves
Queen of the Waves is a French hymn sung by French fishermen seeking protection from storms.In the United States, it became well-known as a result of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. The nuns of the St. Mary's Orphan Asylum had the orphans sing this song in order to calm them...
. Eventually, the boy's dormitory failed and collapsed into the sea. When the waters started to fill the first floor of the girl's dormitory, the sisters moved the children to the second floor, and again led in singing Queen of the Waves.
The sisters put clothes line
Clothes line
A clothes line or washing line is any type of rope, cord, or twine that has been stretched between two points , outside or indoors, above the level of the ground. Clothing that has recently been washed is hung along the line to dry, using clothes pegs or clothes pins...
around their waists and connected themselves to six to eight children each in an attempt to save the children. Three of the children (older teens) were left loose.
Finally, the girl's dormitory collapsed. All ten sisters and ninety children perished (ironically drowned by being tangled in wreckage by the clothes line); only the three teenaged boys survived: William Murney, Frank Madera and Albert Campbell.
As a result of this tragedy, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word across the world sing Queen of the Waves
Queen of the Waves
Queen of the Waves is a French hymn sung by French fishermen seeking protection from storms.In the United States, it became well-known as a result of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. The nuns of the St. Mary's Orphan Asylum had the orphans sing this song in order to calm them...
every year, on September 8, and remember the sisters and the children that died in Galveston that fateful day.
On September 8, 1994, a Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
historical marker
Historical marker
A historical marker or historic marker is an indicator such as a plaque or sign to commemorate an event or person of historic interest and to associate that point of interest with a specific locale one can visit.-Description:...
was placed at 69th Street and Seawall Boulevard, marking the site of the former orphanage.
The Sisters of Charity created an audio CD titled Queen of the Waves: Centennial Remembrance of The Great Storm of 1900, and MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
audio files are available from the official 1900 Storm Remembrance Site. This CD tells the story of the Saint Mary's Orphanage during the 1900 Storm and includes the song Queen of the Waves
Queen of the Waves
Queen of the Waves is a French hymn sung by French fishermen seeking protection from storms.In the United States, it became well-known as a result of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. The nuns of the St. Mary's Orphan Asylum had the orphans sing this song in order to calm them...
.
Resources
- Serving with Gladness: The origin and history of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Houston, Texas by Mary Loyola Hegarty (ASIN B0006BRX2Q)
External links
- Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas
- Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Houston, Texas
- Story of the Orphanage told by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word
- Queen of the Waves: Centennial Remembrance of The Great Storm of 1900