Prophetic
Witnesses Through the Years |
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| Our story is the story of a
forgotten rendezvous. Four women religious from Holy Cross Monastery, Regensburg,
Germany left unmet on a dock in New York City on August 26, 1853 sought
the help of Redemptorist Fathers in Manhattan. From there they were befriended
by Father Stephen Raffeiner a pastor from Brooklyn who had crossed the East
River to go to confession at the Redemptorist Church. Sisters Josepha, Augustine,
Francesca and Jacobina were given shelter in the rectory basement of Most
Holy Trinity Parish in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and – within a week
of their arrival – took charge of the parish school. Thus began an
era of Catholic education in the Dominican Tradition.
This small missionary band of Sisters would be joined by a few more from Germany. The remarkable growth of this branch of Dominicans in the United States began in earnest in 1857 with the first American postulant and spread to twelve Sister congregations ministering throughout the country and the world. By the 1870’s larger quarters were needed and farm property was purchased on Long Island in the village of Amityville. Thus, like many organizations borrowing its identity from the locale, we becameknown as “The Amityville Dominican Sisters.” |
