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The congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word was founded by Claude Marie Dubuis, bishop of Texas, in 1869. Bishop Dubuis had come to Texas as a missionary two years after his ordination in France in 1844 and became bishop in 1862.
Facing alarming poverty and disease throughout his diocese, he appealed to several congregations in France for help for the Catholic Church in Texas. When the congregations were unable to respond, he wrote in 1866 to Mother Angelique Hiver, superioress of the Order of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament in Lyons, France: "Our Lord Jesus Christ, suffering in the persons of a multitude of the sick and infirm of every kind, seeks relief at your hands." His words have since become a guiding motto of the congregation.
In his letter, he appealed for volunteers to care for victims of cholera and yellow fever at a hospital under construction in Galveston. Three sisters came immediately from Lyons, as members of a new congregation--the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. They were joined by two other groups of sisters over the next three years.
In the wake of two devastating cholera epidemics in San Antonio, in 1869 the bishop sent Sisters Madeleine Chollet, St. Pierre Cinquin, and Mary Agnes Buisson from Galveston to open a hospital in San Antonio. Sisters Chollet and Cinquin are considered cofounders, along with Bishop Dubuis, of the San Antonio congregation. They served, respectively, as the congregation's first two superiors.
When the sisters arrived in San Antonio in March, the building that was to be their hospital and convent had burned to the ground. With the help of donations from the people of the city, it was rebuilt and opened in October.
Under Mother Pierre's administration, the congregation began an orphanage in 1872 for the many children whose parents had died or abandoned them. Mother Pierre was also instrumental in establishing several parochial schools in San Antonio and one in Eagle Pass.
Today, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, continue the mission they began with the hospital and schools in San Antonio. Their ministries extend beyond Texas to California, Washington, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Arizona, Louisiana, Mexico, and Peru. They include Incarnate Word Academy, St. Louis; Incarnate Word High School, San Antonio; Sisters Care, a ministry to the frail elderly in San Antonio; Visitation House, a transitional living facility for women in San Antonio; Christus Health, Dallas; El Puente (CCVI Hispanic ministry outreach), Jefferson City, MO; and the Incarnate Word Foundation, St. Louis. The foundation extends the mission in a new way. Through financial and other support, it empowers communities to reach a higher level of physical and spiritual health.
Source: Sr. Margaret Patrice Slattery, CCVI, Promises to Keep: A History of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, 1995.
"Be generous with God and God will be generous with you."
"We better always think of the poor and needy before ourselves."
"In all of our actions, the glory should be for God, the service for others, and the trouble for ourselves."
"What can we fear when we know the hand of God holds us and leads us in the path to paradise?"
"Let us have courage and use our time well while we can work. Rest imposes itself upon us sooner than we would like."
"The Incarnate Word offers you the occasion to heal in His name."
To actualize the saving and healing love of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, by promoting human dignity.
Please visit the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word Web Site at www.ccvisanantonio.org.
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