The Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity celebrated their 150th anniversary of ministry in the United States at a gathering on Sunday, Oct. 27 at the Cavello Center of Columbus St. Charles Preparatory School.
The theme of the anniversary is “Crossing the Threshold – Then and Now!”, recognizing the first four sisters — Mother Aloysia Lenders and Sisters Veronica Conradi, Felicitas Dues and Leonarda Hannappel – who left their convent in Germany to sail to America, arriving in New York on June 5, 1874.
They came to the United States because of an invitation to teach in Buffalo, New York. Some of them arrived in Columbus just a few months later, on Feb. 2, 1875, at the request of Bishop Sylvester Rosecrans, to open the St. Vincent Orphanage on the city’s east side.
The orphanage became the Ohio nucleus from which the sisters expanded their ministries in the state: teaching in several elementary and secondary schools in the Diocese of Columbus, establishing St. Ann Infant Asylum (eventually becoming St. Ann’s Hospital); founding St. Aloysius Academy, a boarding school in New Lexington; and serving in a variety of capacities in local parishes and social service agencies.
Many sisters devoted their lives to these institutions and those they served. For example, Sister Callista and Sister Rose Hardy remained at Columbus Sacred Heart School for 47 and 46 years, respectively. St. Vincent Orphanage grew and adapted to meet the needs of the community, continuing today as St. Vincent Family Services.
Today, six members of the order live in the Diocese of Columbus. They are Sisters Regina Snyder, Christella Ritchey, Marilyn Sue Hopkins, Mary Caryl Perkinson, Theresa Schneider and Joanne Fogarty, OSF (Order of St. Francis). All are fully retired except for Sister Joanne, who continues to volunteer in many capacities at Hilliard St. Brendan the Navigator Church.
The order is popularly known as the Stella Niagara Franciscans because of the name of its motherhouse, which honors the Virgin Mary in her title as Star of the Sea and is above the banks of the Niagara River, where the sisters’ provincial headquarters have been since 1907.