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Early Beginnings
In 1835, St. Vincent Pallotti
started the Union of the Catholic Apostolate, bringing
together priests, men and women, religious and lay people;
united as a faith community for the common purpose of
living and spreading the Good News. In 1838, the
Sisters of the Cathoic Apostolate (Pallottine Sisters)
were founded as part of the Union. The missionary
branch, the Pallottine Missionary Sisters, was established
in Germany in 1888.
Inspired by Pallotti’s motto, “The Love of
Christ Impels Us,” the Pallottine Missionary Sisters
came to America in 1912. |
Sr. Columbia receives the first habit as a Pallottine Sister in Rome, Italy. |
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Escaping the First Disaster – The “Titanic”
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 Four
sisters left from Bremerhaven, Germany, bound for the
United States. They booked passage on “Titanic.”
Fortunately for them, one of the sister’s travel
documents were not in order, so they were forced to
delay their trip. The ill-fated “Titanic”
sailed into history without them.
The sisters took another ship, the “Bremen.”
On their third day at sea, they reached the spot where
“Titanic” had struck an iceberg and disappeared
beneath the waves. Surely God was watching over them
and their mission.
The Second Escape from Disaster
As if one brush with disaster
wasn’t enough, another soon unfolded. Upon their
arrival in America, the sisters were scheduled to travel
by train to Stella Niagara, New York, where they were
to study English under the Sisters of St. Francis. Before
boarding the train, they received a last-minute telegram
from the Mother Superior of the Franciscans, asking
them to delay their journey until she could join them.
They did. The train they had been scheduled to take
left without them. Before it reached Stella Niagara
it wrecked, killing and injuring many of those on board.
Again, the sisters were spared.
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Our First Mission
On August 12, 1912, the sisters left
Stella, Niagara for Richwood, West Virginia, where they
opened, first, a school and then, in 1913, a hospital.
Some of the first sisters
in Richwood, West Virginia, 1913. |
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2008
Pallottine Missionary Sisters
For more information | (314) 837-7100 |  |
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