South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 47, No. 8, Ed. 1, August 2012 Page: 45 of 56
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Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word
An apostolic of spirituality
Sister Kathleen McDonagh, IWBS
Contributor
"W’ mTm e have reflected upon the
% j Sisters of Adoration of the
T T Blessed Sacrament-a con-
templative order of sisters, and the Sis-
ters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed
Sacrament-a contemplative/apostolic
order, both founded in France.
We now come to consider the lives of the Sisters of
Charity of the Incarnate Word, an apostolic order founded
in Lyons, France, but with emphasis on a calling to work
among the people of Texas.
In 1862, Father Claude Marie Dubuis was named the
second bishop of the Diocese of Texas to replace Bishop
Jean Marie Odin who had been transferred to New Orleans.
Bishop Dubuis, a native of France, had been in Texas as a
missionary since 1846 so he was familiar with the many
needs of the Diocese of Texas. He saw a real need for re-
ligious women to care for the sick and the many orphaned
children in the diocese.
His efforts to get sisters from American communities
failed so he wrote to communities in France, hoping to
receive assistance of them. In his request for help in the
missions of Texas, Bishop Dubuis’ wrote, “Our Lord Jesus
Christ, suffering in the persons of a multitude of the sick
and infirm of every kind, seeks relief at your hands... He begs
you to accept the mission of corporal works of mercy by
sending sisters to take charge of our hospitals and orphan
asylums.”
He then journeyed to France and—after deep prayer—
approached Mother Angelique, superior of the cloistered
order of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament in
Lyons. Cloistered sisters went out only in case of great
necessity, so Bishop Dubuis and Mother Angelique prayed
and worked together to discover God’s will in regard to
founding a new order - one that would be founded to work
among the people even as the sisters maintained their own
prayer life.
Mother Angelique was moved by this request, and
accepted into her novitiate
three young French women
who had responded to the
call of Bishop Dubuis and
prayed for and worked at
the effort to found a new ap-
ostolic community As with
all religious communities,
they worked toward having a
deeply prayerful life but also
placed much emphasis on apostolic work. Since the Sisters
of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament helped their
foundation, this new community took the title of Sisters
of Charity of the Incarnate Word.
After a very short time of preparation, the first Sisters
of Charity of the Incarnate Word, left for Texas. In Lyons,
the founding community continued to receive succeeding
groups of volunteers for the Texas mission. The members
of these groups were carefully formed spiritually, especially
in knowing and loving the Person of Jesus under the title
of Incarnate Word.
Their thrust as a community, however, was to help the
People of God grow spiritually through active, apostolic
work. The first community of Sisters of Charity of the
Incarnate Word began their apostolic work in Galveston,
Texas. In March 1869, Bishop Dubuis chose from the
Galveston community three Sisters to go to San Antonio,
Texas to open the first Catholic hospital in that area.
The founding sisters of the hospital were Sister Sainte-
Madeleine Choller (whom the Bishop named as first supe-
rior of the new community), Sister Saint-Pierre Cinquin and
Sister Agnes Buisson. The following year, when three more
women entered the sisters’ community in San Antonio,
Bishop Dubuis declared the Galveston community and
the San Antonio community independent of each other.
Mother Sainte-Pierre Cinquin followed Mother St. Mad-
eleine as superior in San Antonio. She remained in office
until her death in 1891. Under her dynamic leadership, the
congregation flourished and spread far beyond the confines
of Texas. As the congregation grew in numbers so did the
services of the sisters who staffed various hospitals, schools,
orphanages and a home for the aged.
In 1905, the congregation sought and obtained prelimi-
AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2012 | SOUTH TEXAS CATHOLIC 45
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Cardenas, Alfredo E. South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 47, No. 8, Ed. 1, August 2012, newspaper, August 2012; Corpus Christi, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth855810/m1/45/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .