Nineteen SistersofSt. Josephof Carondelet standing in front of a St. Joseph's Hospital entrance. The Sisters opened the hospital in 1853 in the log cabin Chapel ofSt. Paul on Bench Street. This photo is taken at the hospital's third and current site. The hospital joined the HealthEast System in 1987.
Ten SistersofSt. Josephof Carondelet served as nurses during the Spanish American War. This photo, which includes hospitalized soldiers, was taken at a military hospital in Matanzas, Cuba.
SisterSt. John Fournier led the first four SistersofSt. Josephof Carondelet to St. Paul in November 1851. They traveled up the Mississippi River on the Steamboat St. Paul from St. Louis, Missouri. About one week after their arrival the Sisters opened St. Joseph's Academy, a boarding and day school. In July 1853, the SistersofSt. Joseph opened St. Joseph's Hospital, Minnesota's first hospital.
Young women were recruited from Ireland and Canada in the late 1800s and early 1900s to join the SistersofSt. Josephof Carondelet. (Some considered this increase in membership an unnatural growth.) By the turn of the century there were 428 SistersofSt. Joseph in the St. Paul Province to help administer and staff the schools and hospitals in the care of the community. Pictured here, according to note attached to photograph, back row (left to right): Sisters Matthew, Cuthberta, Peter, Blanda. Middle row (left to right) Sisters Oswina, Odelia, Jarleth, Illirius, Salome, Candida, Placidia, Pius. Front row (left to right) Sisters Honorata, Michael, Celsus, Lucy, St. Kevin, Victor, Erma.
Students and one SisterofSt. Josephof Carondelet standing outside St. Mary's Academy. The Sisters opened the Graceville school in 1885. It was destroyed by fire in 1898. Indian children from the nearby Sisseton agency and children of white settlers attended the school. A new school was built in 1900 and a high school was added in 1915. Both the elementary and secondary schools were closed by 1969.
St. Mary's Grade School students with a SisterofSt. Josephof Carondelet in front of an unusual fountain in lowertown St. Paul. The SistersofSt. Joseph staffed the school from 1869-1970.
Two girls standing in front of the Mahoney residence, the first site ofSt. Joseph's Academy, where three SistersofSt. Josephof Carondelet cared for orphans and taught classes in art and music. Six months after their arrival, the Sisters developed an academic curriculum and taught classes in a vacant public school.
Fifteen women, all in nurses' uniforms, sit/stand around Sister Thecla Reid, who established the School of Nursing at St. Mary's Hospital. Three women were in the first graduating class in 1903. The school of nursing opened about 1900.
Sister Hyacinth Werden, an excellent educator was the first principal at Derham Hall. In January 1905, 70 boarding students from St. Joseph's Academy, St. Paul, moved out to a developing area in the southwestern part of the city, where the new school was located. This was the official opening of the College ofSt. Catherine. In addition to the high school boarding students there were "young ladies of uncertain age who were grouped together as 'specials.' "
Sister Madeleine Lyons, who served in various positions at four hospitals, was an excellent example of the contributions of the SistersofSt. Josephof Carondelet in the health care industry. A the time of her death, one newspaper reported, "Her death symbolized the passing of a true spirit of the service of sisterhood in nursing.Young girls entering the period of hospital training looked to her for guidance and saw the image of sacrifice and loving care they wished to emulate."
Two nurses and two doctors demonstrate the use of a pulmotor on a patient at St. Joseph's Hospital. The hospital was established by the SistersofSt. Josephof Carondelet during a cholera epidemic in 1853.