Daughters of Charity Provincial Archives

09/10/2026

Last week, a former Visitatrix went to God. Sister Mary John Lindner, who lived to age 102, died as the oldest Daughter of Charity in the United States. However, most notably, she was the last living of the five Lindner sisters who became a Daughter of Charity. All hailing from the city of Cumberland, Maryland, each of the Sisters entered the Community and ministered in the Southeast Province, which included their hometown – with the exception of Sister Mary John, who instead, entered the Community in the St. Louis Province and served as its Provincial Councillor from 1981 to 1990 and as Visitatrix from 1996 to 2005 at the Marillac Provincialate in St. Louis, Missouri.

Pictured are the Lindner Sisters (from left to right): Sister Mary John, Sister Clare, Sister Mary Florence, Sister Madeleine, and Sister Regina along with their father, John Lindner, at the family homestead in Cumberland in 1969.

09/07/2026

In addition to Labor Day, it is the Feast day of Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, a man who certainly put in some labor in his lifetime! Ozanam founded the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, an international service organization of laypeople who wish to participate in the good works that the Church demands.

If you are interested in looking for your local Saint Vincent de Paul Society, either for assistance or to serve, you can find your state on the map on this page to locate your regional conference: https://ssvpusa.org/about-us/leadership/

09/03/2026

This seems like a fitting photo leading into this holiday weekend, as Sister Lucia Sheehy wields the ice cream scoop for the 1979 “Labor Day Ice Cream Social & Box Lunch” held at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis. Sister Lucia served for 11 years at St. Vincent as a patient visitor, and duties like this, we would say, certainly qualified her for that important ministry!

08/28/2026

Elizabeth Ann Seton was born on August 28, 1774.
Three centuries and two years later, we continue to celebrate the birth of our founding Mother in the U.S. and the country’s first American-born Saint...Happy Birthday, Elizabeth Ann!

08/27/2026

Play is a vital part of childhood development, whether indoors or outdoors. These two photos show the rooftop playground and the indoor playroom at DePaul Day Settlement House and Day Nursery in Chicago. The outdoor photo is from “sometime” in the 1920s, while the indoor photo is specifically dated October 3, 1924. At DePaul, care was provided for children who were left at home while parents were overseas or working in the factories during World War I. The DePaul Day Settlement House and Day Nursery merged and evolved alongside other Chicago ministries of the Daughters of Charity. It continues its mission today, known as Marillac Saint Vincent (whose playground is now on the ground level instead of the roof).

08/20/2026

It’s Back to School Time! Sister Ellen Griffin’s first quarter-century of ministry was marked by short missions in several different schools, always teaching 2nd graders. As Father Carl Schulte said in her funeral homily, “Mobility in service does not come easily, especially when the teacher begins to see the success of her labors,” reflecting on one of the difficulties of the mobile life of a Daughter of Charity. Sister Ellen eventually served in longer missions, 11 years at St. Joseph School in Petersburg, Virginia, and 11 at St. Christine School in Youngstown, Ohio, where she taught first grade. This photo comes from the latter portion of her time at St. Joseph in the mid-to-late 1960s.

08/13/2026

Although Daughters of Charity value humility and are modest by nature, promoting their legacy through education is very much integral to their vocation. Here, two sisters from Sisters of Charity Hospital in Buffalo, Sisters Lydia Spain and Blanche Marcy, exhibit some of the works of the community and the ministry that animates them. As a sidenote, some of the dolls in this photograph are now likely in the Archives (circa 1953-1958).

08/11/2026

New blog post up!

Sister Mildred Dunker was one of the first Sisters to join the Daughters of Charity after the formal establishment of the St. Louis Province in 1910.  She had a rare distinction for a Daughter…

08/06/2026

This perplexing photo was taken on October 8, 1979, in the midst of the legendary “Move of the Stone House.” The building where Mother Seton had founded her community was scheduled to no longer be on the Sisters’ property, having sold their original campus in Emmitsburg to the federal government to become the permanent home of the National Fire Academy. Thus began the highly technical process of lifting the Stone House off its foundation and moving it a few hundred yards away. Here, Sisters Avita O’Toole, Mary Ann Bozel, Vincent Brown, and Gertrude Brown admire the work in progress on their way to the dedication of the Fire Academy’s campus.

08/04/2026

A final blog post from our summer intern, Addison Pickett! We thank her for all of her work and hope to see her again soon!

This is a guest post by Addison Pickett, our intern for the summer and a member of the Mount St. Mary’s University Class of 2028! Mother Euphemia Blenkinsop was born Catherine Blenkinsop in D…