By 1886, the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity had been in the United States for twelve years and established six houses. They were initially invited to the United States by Father Heinrich Behrens (1815-1895), a German Jesuit working with immigrants and who needed teachers for the children in Buffalo, New York.
It is worth noting that by the late 1860’s, the oncoming German Kultur-kampf (1872-1878), ‘culture struggle’ between secular and religious authorities, was being felt by the Sisters in Germany. In 1869, the Sisters had been denied approval to open a new school near Capellen in the diocese of Münster, Germany, near the Dutch border, on the grounds that the religious whose motherhouse, located in a foreign country, were not allowed to teach in German schools. From 1835 until January 1900, the congregation was one province with its motherhouse, the Kreppel, located near the town of Heythuysen, in the Netherlands. (It is roughly 150 miles between Capellen to Heyuthsen.) In March of 1872, the Prussian School Supervision Act, Schulaufsichtsgesetz, removed clergy from education to eliminate any influence on curriculum. These restrictions on Catholic schools resulted in the closure of six convents in Germany, a surplus of German Sister teachers, and the opportunity for missionary work among German immigrants and colonists in countries such as Brazil and the United States. This allowed for the Sisters to answer Father Behrens call to Buffalo, New York by June of 1874. The German Sisters that chose to stay in their country shifted their ministry and institutions to the care of the sick.
When the U.S. branch of the Franciscan congregation, already with headquarters in Stella, Niagara, New York, sought to serve the nation better by establishing two provinces in the West in 1939, Denver was chosen as the site for the Midwest province. In the shadow of the Colorado Rockies, and yet embracing the Plains states of Nebraska and North and South Dakota, ministries and membership grew. From the original two Native American missions in St. Francis and Pine Ridge, South Dakota, work expanded to include hospitals, boarding and parochial schools and a motherhouse and provincial center. Vatican II happened, inspiring new ministries and expanded outreach. Now Sisters also engaged in adult education, ministries to delinquent and abandoned youth, emergency housing, a mission to Mexico, adult Biblical study, a house of prayer, and still more.
Bishop Martin Marty, O.S.B. of South Dakota, through the Jesuit Fathers, called for Sisters to do missionary work instructing children in reading and writing at an Indian Industrial School on the reservations out west on the northern plains. In March of 1886, accompanied by Father Emil Perrig, S.J., the future superior of the Mission, and Father Joseph Stephan, Director of Catholic Indian Missions, Sisters Kostka Schlaghecken, Rosaria Lampe, and Alcantara Fallon headed west. It took four days by train and one by carriage. They arrived on March 25th, 1886 and opened the mission under the title of St. Francis. The mission house had been erected by the generosity of Catherine Drexel of Philadelphia. The school opened on June 15th, under the protection of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
It was with this invitation that the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity came to work with the Ogalala Lakota Native American people of South Dakota. From the original two Native American missions in St. Francis and Pine Ridge, South Dakota, work eventually expanded to include hospitals, boarding and parochial schools as missions were established in Nebraska, North Dakota, and Colorado.
In May of 1938, Mother Lidwina Jacobs, Provincial Superior of the North American Province, purchased the Winslow Estate with 20 acres and a twelve-room house in north Denver, Colorado. In 1939, the North American Province of the Franciscan congregation became three provinces to better serve the nation. It was formally announced at that time that the Denver property would be the Midwest motherhouse and province named Sacred Heart.
In the shadow of the Colorado Rockies, and yet embracing the Plains states of Nebraska and North and South Dakota, ministries and diverse membership grew. Sisters ministered to the poor and marginalized in healthcare, education, and parish ministry.
The Sisters initiated, administered, and served in hospitals and schools for nursing as well as K-12 education from the end of the 1800’s through the end of the 1990’s. Of note, was St. Joseph’s Hospital in Minot, North Dakota which opened in 1901. By 1911, a school of nursing was established for the growing hospital. Due to need, in 1918, Mother Seraphim opened a new hospital, the year of the great flu pandemic. By 1926, Sisters were also teaching at St. Leo Parish School in Minot. In 1958, it was decided by the three U.S. Province Provincials to use St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing as the training center for all the Sisters from the three provinces who wanted to be nurses. For this reason, the school’s name was changed to St. Francis School of Nursing. The teaching staff was composed of Sister nurses from all three provinces. The School of Nursing received national accreditation in 1962 for its three-year program. The St. Francis School of Nursing became affiliated with the Minot State College nursing program. Following extensive planning, the 1969-1970 academic year was the beginning process of phasing-out the program at St. Francis School of Nursing. It was the first year that a freshman class was not admitted. However, that academic year a four-year baccalaureate nursing program began at Minot State College through the directorship of Sister Mabel Meng and with the support of the Sisters. The St. Francis School of Nursing closed in 1971 with its last class of graduates marking 60 years of training nurses for the community and Sister nurses for the U.S. provinces. St. Joseph’s Hospital was sold in 1998.
The Sisters have also had a strong presence of service in the hospitals and schools of Nebraska, particularly in O’Neill, Alliance, Scottsbluff, and Rushville. By the 1980’s, all schools within the province had been closed or transferred to the local dioceses.
Due to the management multiple corporate ministries, most notably hospitals, the Sisters set up Sacred Heart Corporation in 1981 under Sister Mary Carroll, the Provincial Minister at the time. With changes over time, this became Marycrest Health System in 1996 under Provincial Minister, Sister Gloria Shuffer. In 1997, the decision was made to divest the province of the remaining hospitals and nursing homes comprising the Marycrest Health System: St. Joseph Hospital in Minot, North Dakota; Kenmare Community Hospital in Kenmare, North Dakota; St. Anthony Hospital in O’Neill, Nebraska; Franciscan Health Community in St. Paul, Minnesota; and Our Lady of the Angels nursing home in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. No Sisters were working in these facilities and it was getting more difficult to meet the changing and required directives from state and official organizations. By 1998, all were sold and passed from the province’s care to other communities or non-profit organizations allowing the corporate office in Denver to close. Marycrest Health Systems formally closed by 2003, at the end of Sister Gloria Shuffer’s term as Provincial Minister.
The Marycrest convent was built on the Denver property in 1958. Thereafter, the property became commonly referred to as Marycrest. With Vatican II, Marycrest opened its doors to the poor and became a spiritual resource. The flood of 1965 left many people homeless and in need of shelter. Sister Muriel Witte, Provincial Minister at the time, opened a garden level dormitory in the Marycrest building as temporary shelter for those in need.
Queen of Peace Oratory was built in 1968 on the northern part of the property to serve the spiritual needs of the Sisters and lay people. Directors included Sisters Marion Rotherham and Elenius Pettinger.
In 1970, a food bank was started by Sister Rose Wentz in the Marycrest building to help feed those in need within the Denver community with donations from local supermarkets. In 1971, the dormitory became emergency housing for homeless families. This ministry grew to teaching children of the homeless with help from Sister Xavier Kirscht and providing meals to the families. The housing came to be known as the Magdalen Damen House in 1987 under the co-direction of Ms. Carol Lease and former Sister Julia Benjamin. By 1991, former Sister Donna Baiocco became Director and served until 1994 and again from 1997 to 2004. Mary Domenico served as Director from 1994 to 1997. Sister Elizabeth Fuhr assisted the program and then became Director for a year starting in 2004.
This spirit of hospitality on the property grew through the Marycrest Retreat and Conference Center from 1996 until September 2005. Marycrest also hosted the Catholic Charismatic Movement and Teens Encounter Christ (TEC). The food bank became the Marycrest Resource Center under direction of Elaine Feldhaus in 1997 and then Sister Mary Joy Peter from 1998 until 2006. It also provided clothing, information, referrals, job training, etc.
Marycrest Franciscan Ministries came into being in 2003 to manage other corporate ministries: Marycrest Franciscans Development, Inc., Franciscan Initiatives, The Damen Project with the Damen House and Marycrest Resource Center, as well as Marycrest Harmony and Serenity Residences. September 2005, the center and Damen House closed. By June 2006, the Damen Project ceased operations and formally dissolved by December 2008. Marycrest Franciscan Ministries continued until 2010, under Sister Karen Crouse’s term as Provincial Minister.
Today, where Marycrest High School (1958-1989) once stood, is Marycrest Assisted Living facility with Harmony and Serenity Residences, constructed 1998 and sister supported until 2014. Today it continues to address the needs of the elderly and handicapped.
Our hospitality ministry reached throughout the region and beyond when Sister Muriel Witte served as Provincial Minister from 1963 to 1975. A center for Native Americans in Alliance, Nebraska was established as well as a mission and clinic for the Otomi Indians in the Valley of the Mexquital and the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. Sister Muriel spent a year at the mission, later returned for visits, and raised funds until it was possible for the Otomi Indians to secure well water.
In 1986, Sister Muriel Witte moved to the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, first at Spring Creek and later St. Francis making herself available to help and be a presence with the people. She tutored students in the GED program and reading with the children in local schools. She also played the organ for the church. She loved the Lakota people with whom she worked and lived. After more than twenty years of service to the people of the Rosebud Reservation as a member of the pastoral staff of St. Francis mission, she retired to Alliance, Nebraska in 2006. Her leaving marked the end of 120 years of the presence of the Sisters at St. Francis Mission on the Rosebud Lakota Reservation.
The Sisters of Sacred Heart Province have had a long history of service at St. Francis Mission on the Rosebud Reservation and Holy Rosary Mission on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Many Sisters taught at Red Cloud High School. Sister Geraldine Clifford was a professor at Oglala Lakota College. Sisters served as cooks, seamstresses, caregivers, housekeepers, nurses, or pastoral ministers. Sisters also facilitated St. Francis Home for Children, at Rosebuds’ Icimani Ya Waste’ Center, and offered Native American Catechetics. Sister Genevieve Cuny was a board member, Sister Marie Therese Archambault was a facilitator, and other Sisters were participants in the Tekakwitha Conference. Sisters Monica Witte, Helen Borszich, Rose Wentz, Bernadette Clifford, Geraldine Clifford, Genevieve Cuny, and Marie Therese Archambault are a few who dedicated their lives to their service. For a summary of their related service, please CLICK HERE.
Sisters in Denver also served within the community and diocese. In 1964, endorsed by Muriel Witte, the Provincial Minister, the DeSmit Indian Center was organized to support the Native American population who found themselves in an urban culture opposite from their own. Also, that year, Sister Cecilia Linenbrink started an Adult Education Tutorial Program, The Learning Source, in the basement of St. Elizabeth’s School at 11th and Champa Streets in Denver in 1964 to serve the under-educated adults within the community to teach students who wanted to learn to read and write in English. The first students were primarily adults living in a housing project on the near west side of Denver and from Five Points.
By 1968, it incorporated as a private, non-profit organization under the Adult Learning Source (ALS). By 1976, a year after St. Elizabeth School was torn down, The Learning Source was operating in seven neighborhood centers. Sister Cecilia served as director for twenty-seven years, then on the board for many years. Sister Alicia Cuaron started the Bienestar Family Services, now Centro San Juan Diego, a program of the Archdiocese of Denver. Both programs were designed to work with immigrant populations, supply literacy training, ESL and GED education. Sister Macrina Scott founded the Catholic Biblical School of the Archdiocese of Denver in 1982 to serve the community scripture study.
Today, the Sisters of Sacred Heart serve as spiritual directors, counselors, nutritional therapists, early childhood educators, caregivers of elderly parents, immigration and education advocates, peace, and justice promoters, as well as ministries within province leadership and administration in Colorado, Nebraska, and Nevada. They continue to work as pastoral care ministers in local hospitals, retirement homes and parishes. Many Sisters volunteer within their community at churches, schools, and social justice organizations.
Sisters also work for social justice together with national and international groups seeking to provide housing, food, and clothing for the destitute and the homeless. Bridging Hope, a ministry that goes beyond the Sacred Heart community, culture and country, offers aid to indigent, ill, disadvantaged, and disabled women and children in Vietnam.
The senior Sisters in Alliance, Nebraska and Denver, Colorado continue to share our Franciscan spirit and minister to members of our province, as well as former students, their families, former patients, and co-workers through prayer and service.
After seventy-five years, the Marycrest Motherhouse in Denver, Colorado and most of the land surrounding it, was sold to in 2012 to Urban Ventures and Perry-Rose to develop into Aria Denver, who share the Sisters’ vision and values for the property. With urban renewal and a vision of a neighborhood where community and sustainability are the focus, the developers-initiated co-housing at the Motherhouse, low-income housing, a community garden, and they continue to develop the site with townhouses and apartments. To maintain a presence on the original property, Casa Chiara (House of Light) campus was built and where Sisters’ residences, a chapel, ministry offices, the Administrative Office and Archives are located.
Casa Chiara
Denver, Colorado
2009 – Present
Though the Sisters are fewer in number they continue to live the Gospel as Francis and Mother Magdalen taught: “…to proclaim good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) Nowadays there are many forms of prisons besides jails. Addiction and violence are also a kind of prison.
The Sisters of Sacred Heart Province embrace the diversity of our Sisters and the richness that each has brought to the province. Our Sisters have come from different parts of the world and within the region. We have Sisters that entered straight out of high school, transferred from other orders, or entered later in life, bringing with them previous career experiences and even having had families of their own. Each Sister’s calling has been a blessing to the community. Though this province no longer supports a formation program, the Sisters invite people to get to know the community and grow their relationship with God through the Franciscan spirit of Gospel living.
In 1983 our Associate Program was formed in response to the call issued by Vatican Council II for the laity to engage more fully in their baptismal commitment to Christ and his Church. The Sisters of St. Francis invited lay people who wanted to follow the call of the Church through sharing our Franciscan charism and mission. The Associate Program is not intended as an alternative to the vowed religious life within our Congregation, nor is it a substitute for the Franciscan Third Order Regular. Rather, it is a means of incorporating lay women and men more fully in the charism and mission of the Sisters of Sacred Heart Province. It is the Sisters’ hope that through this shared participation in our Franciscan mission we will, together, make the presence of Jesus more deeply experienced in our world through prayer, reflection, and action. Today there are approximately 90 lay people who are associates.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a bushel basket. They set it on a stand where it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, your light must shine before all people so that they may see goodness in your acts and give praise to God.” (Matt 5:14-16)