JOSEPH
515
JOSEPH
coloured, and deaf-mute schools, with an attendance
of 2121; and 10 hospitals, with an average of 8285
patients.
Savannah. — The Sisters of St. Joseph were estab- lished at Savannah in 1807, in charge of the boys' orphanage, and soon afterwards were constituted an independent diocesan congregation. In 1876 the orphanage was transferred to Washington, Georgia, and with it the mother-house of the congregation. The sisters now number about 65, in charge of an academy, 2 boarding-schools for small boys, and several parish schools, with a total attendance of over 500.
Springfield. — In September, ISSO, seven Sisters of St. Joseph were sent from Flushing, Long Island, to take cliarge of a parochial school at C'hicopee Falls, Massachusetts. They were followed, two years later, by seven sisters for Webster, and in 1883 by twelve more for the cathedral parish, Springfield. In 1885 the Springfield mission was constituted the mother- house of an independent diocesan congregation. The sisters are in constant demand for parochial schools and now (1910), with a membership of 300, conduct 19, with an attendance of about 9000. In 1S89 they took charge of the school at Windsor Locks in the Diocese of Hartford, from which, in 1908, they were recalled to the Springfield diocese. The curriculum of their boarding-school at Chicopee embraces a normal course. They also \asit the sick and take charge of Sunday-school classes. Since 1892 the sisters have devoted themselves particularly to the work of es- tablishing Catholic high schools, and high-school courses are connected with practically all the paro- chial schools under their supervision.
Wheeling. — In 1853 seven sisters from Carondelet, Missouri, opened a private orphanage and hospital in Wheeling, and in 1856 took possession of a building chartered by the Assembly of Virginia for a hospital. From 19 October, 1860, the community was inde- pendent of the St. Louis mother-house. During the Civil War the hospital was rented by the Government and the sisters enrolled in government service. After the war and the reorganization of the hospital on its present lines, the sisters extended their activities to various parts of the diocese; they now number over 100, in charge of 3 hospitals, 12 schools and academies, and 2 orphan asylums, with about 1700 children under their care.
Wichita.— In August, 1SS7, four Sisters of St. Jo- seph were commissioned to go from Concordia, Kan- sas, to open a parochial school at Abilene, Kansas, at that time in the Diocese of Leavenworth. The fol- lowing year the Right Rev. L. M. Fink, Bishop of Leavenworth, decided that those sisters should belong to his diocese exclusively, and in so doing they be- came the nucleus of a new diocesan commimity of the Sisters of St. Joseph, having their mother-house estab- lished at Abilene, under the title of Mount St. Joseph's Academy. The community increased in numbers and soon branched out, doing parochial school work throughout the diocese. In 1892 the name of the Dio- cese of Leavenworth was changed to Kansas City, Kansas, and for the time being the Sisters of St. Joseph were diocesan sisters of the Diocese of Kansas City. In 1896, when the redivision of the three Kansas dio- ceses, Concordia, Kansas City, and Wichita, was agi- tated. Bishop Fink of Kansas City, to keep the Sisters of St. Joseph of his diocese within the limit of his jurisdiction, had their mother-house transferred from Abilene to Parsons. But after the division was made, the following year, Abilene was in the Concordia dio- cese, and Parsons was in the Wichita diocese, and the mother-house of the Sisters of St. Joseph being in Parsons, the community belonged to the Wichita diocese, having mission-houses in both the Diocese of Concordia and the Diocese of Kansas City. Since that time the name of the Diocese of Kansas City has been
changed to its original name: Diocese of Leavenworth.
In 1907 a colony of these sisters opened a sanitarium
at Del Norte, Colorado, in the Diocese of Denver. At
the present time (1910), the sisters, who number 200,
have charge of 3 hospitals, all in the Diocese of Wich-
ita, and IS parochial schools, including one in the
Diocese of Leavenworth, one in the Diocese of Kan-
sas City, Missouri, and 3 in connexion with the
sanitarium at Del Norte, Colorado.
Canada. — Hamilton. — In 1852 five sisters from the I mother-house at Toronto established a foundation at Hamilton, where they at once opened an orphanage and began their work in the parochial schools of the city. During the cholera epidemic of 185-t the sisters cared for those afflicted. On the erection of the Dio- cese of Hamilton in 1856, the community became a separate diocesan congregation, and a few months later a novitiate was established at Hamilton. By the passiige of the Separate Schools Bill in 1856 the sisters were given control of the education of the Catholic children of the city. The congregation gradually ex- tended its activities to other parts of the diocese and now (1910) numbers 155 religious in cliarge of 2 hospitals, 2 houses of providence, and 12 schools, with an attendance of 2300.
London. — ^The community of Sisters of St. Joseph at London was founded in 1S6S by five sisters from the mother-house at Toronto, who opened an orphan asylum the following year. On 18 December, 1870, the congregation became independent, with a no- vitiate of its own, and on 15 February, 1871, the Sis- ters of St. Joseph of London, Ontario, were legally in- corporated. Several missions were opened in various parts of the diocese, and in 1888 a hospital was es- tablished at London, to which was attached a training school for nurses. The sisters now (1910) number 131, in charge of 10 mission houses, including 2 hospitals, 12 schools, an orphan asylum, and a house of refuge for the aged; they have about 2200 children under their care.
Peterborough. — In 1890 several sisters from the mother-house at Toronto established a house at Peter- borough, which became in turn the nucleus of a new congregation. The community now (1910) numbers 200 sisters, in 14 houses, in charge of an academy, 3 hospitals, 2 orphanages, a home for the aged, and 10 separate schools, in the Dioceses of Peterborough and Sault Ste-Marie. They have over 1000 children under their care.
Toronto. — ^The mother-house of the Sisters of St. Joseph at Toronto was established from Le Puy, France, in 1851. The congregation now comprises 266 members, in charge of 3 academies, 1 high school, and 22 separate schools, with a total attendance of 5025; 5 charitable institutions, with 900 inmates; and 1 hos- pital, with an annual average of 2900.
The Sisters of St. Joseph.
England. — In England the Sisters of St. Joseph de- vote themselves entirely to the work of teaching. The mother-house of the English congregation is at An- necy in Savoy, where the sisters possess the very cradle of the Visitation Order. They have seven houses in England and one in Scotland, under the provincial house and novitiate for England, which was founded in 1804, at Newport, Mon. The congregation now numbers 60, in charge of 10 elementary day- and boarding-schools, with an attendance of about 2000. In Scotland, at Blair's College, 15 sisters have charge of the household arrangements and work of the college.
In India the sisters have hospitals, homes, orphan- ages, etc., just as they have in France, and they also go out to nurse the sick in their own homes. In Brit- ish India there are about 70 sisters in 7 houses, the provincial house and novitiate being at Waltair, with which are connected a day-school, boarding-school.
