School Sisters of Notre Dame is a worldwide

religious institute In the Catholic Church, a religious institute is "a society in which members, according to proper law, pronounce public religious vows, vows, either perpetual or temporary which are to be renewed, however, when the period of time has elapsed, a ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

founded in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

in 1833 and devoted to

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

, secondary, and

post-secondary Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

education. Their life in mission centers on prayer, community life and ministry. They serve as teachers, lawyers, accountants, nurses, administrators, therapists, social workers, pastoral ministers, social justice advocates and more. The School Sisters of Notre Dame are known by the abbreviation "SSND" and are not to be confused with another teaching order, the

Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (Congregationis Sororum a Domina Nostra Namurcensi) is a Catholic Church, Catholic Religious institute (Catholic), institute of religious sisters, founded to teaching order, provide education to the poor. The i ...

(SNDdeN), which was founded in France.

Founding and growth

The School Sisters of Notre Dame developed from the Canonesses Regular of St. Augustine of the Congregation of Our Lady, founded by

Peter Fourier Peter Fourier (, ; 30 November 15659 December 1640) was a French canon regular who is honored as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Foregoing offers of high office, he served for many years as a pastor in the village of Mattaincourt in the ...

and

Alix Le Clerc Alix Le Clerc (2 February 1576 – 9 January 1622), known as Mother Alix, was the founder of the Canonesses of Saint-Augustin of the Notre-Dame Congregation (), a religious order founded to provide education to girls, especially those living in ...

in the

Duchy of Lorraine The Duchy of Lorraine was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire which existed from the 10th century until 1766 when it was annexed by the kingdom of France. It gave its name to the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France ...

in 1597 for the free education of poor girls. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, several convents of the congregation were established in Germany.Josephine, Sister Mary. "School Sisters of Notre Dame." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 2 March 2019

Karolina Gerhardinger Karolina Gerhardinger (20 June 1797 – 9 May 1879) (also known as Mother Maria Theresia of Jesus) was a German Roman Catholic religious sister who founded the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Gerhardinger served as an educator in Bavaria until the e ...

commenced her training as a lay teacher at the local monastery of the Canonesses Regular of Notre Dame in

Ratisbon Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state. With m ...

. She developed her skills as a teacher at the monastery until it—like all monastic communities—was closed in 1809 after the Napoleonic army had occupied Bavaria. By 1812 she had secured a teaching accreditation and began teaching at a girls school in Regensburg. In 1815 she asked

Bishop of Regensburg The Bishops of Regensburg (; or ) are bishops of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Regensburg in Bavaria, Germany.

Georg Michael Wittmann Georg Michael Wittmann (22 (23?) January 1760, near Pleistein, Oberpfalz, Bavaria – 8 March 1833, at Ratisbon) was a German prelate of the Catholic Church. Life Wittman studied first with the Jesuits, then with the Benedictines at Amberg ...

, for guidance on entering the religious life, although she was unable to pursue this religious calling at that time. However, she continued to teach at the school from 1816 until 1833. The congregation was founded in

in 1833, during a time of poverty and illiteracy under Bishop Wittmann of Ratisbon and Father Job of Vienna. While retaining the essential features of the rule and constitutions given by Peter Fourier, they widened the scope of the Sisters' educational work. Its founder Karolina Gerhardinger, known by the religious name of ''Mary Theresa of Jesus,'' formed a community with two other women in

Neunburg vorm Wald Neunburg vorm Wald is a municipality in the district of Schwandorf, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 21 km east of Schwandorf on the river Schwarzach, a tributary of the Naab. Mayor The mayor is Martin Birner (CSU). He was elected in 2014 ...

to teach the poor. In 1839 they removed to a suburb of Munich, and in 1843, into a former Poor Clare convent, built in 1284 and situated within the city limits. In 1847, Blessed Theresa and five companion sisters traveled to the United States to aid German immigrants, especially girls and women. That year the sisters staffed schools in three German parishes in Baltimore, Maryland: St. James, St. Michael, and St. Alphonsus, as well as opened the Institute of Notre Dame, a private school for German girls. Eventually, the congregation spread across the United States and into Canada, ultimately forming eight North American Provinces.

Governance

The original rule of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, approved by

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

in 1865, allowed Blessed Theresa and her successors, instead of local bishops, to govern the congregation. The main motherhouse was moved from Neunburg vorm Wald to Munich in 1843 and remained there until the 1950s. Today, the Generalate of the Congregation can be found in Rome, Italy.

Provinces

The global congregation is currently divided into provinces, each with their own provincial council and province-level governance. * Province of Africa * Atlantic-Midwest Province * Bavarian Province (absorbed two other provinces as sub-districts in February 2022) ** District of Austria-Italy ** District of Czechoslovakia * Central Pacific Province * Hungarian Province * Province of Latin America and the Caribbean * Polish Province * Slovenian Province

Works

Much of their work has been in schools, but the curriculum vitae of a group of jubilarians in 2014, from a province based in St. Louis, showed a wide variety of assignments: spiritual direction, retreats, adult basic education,

RCIA The Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (), or OCIA, known as the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) in many English-speaking countries, is a process developed by the Catholic Church for its catechumenate for prospective converts ...

programs, pastoral care among

Hispanics The term Hispanic () are people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an ethnic or meta-ethnic term. The term commonly appli ...

, in hospitals, and among the disadvantaged, language interpreting, outreach to native Americans and to migrants (also founding an Immigrant and Refugee Women's Program), and on mission to

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

, and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Empowering underserved women has been a special effort of theirs. Their involvement in migrant services is evidenced in their hosting at the US-Mexican border a conference for Shalom, an international network for justice, peace, and integrity of creation. In 2017 more than 3,000 School Sisters of Notre Dame were working in thirty-four countries in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

. Africa has come to produce the largest number of vocations.

Nun Study of Aging and Alzheimer's Disease

Since 1986, 678 members of the congregation in the United States have been participating in Nun Study of Aging and Alzheimer's Disease, a

longitudinal study A longitudinal study (or longitudinal survey, or panel study) is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables (e.g., people) over long periods of time (i.e., uses longitudinal data). It is often a type of observationa ...

of aging and

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

. Convent archives have been made available to investigators as a resource on the history of participants. The sisters participated in yearly intellectual and physical tests, including memory tests, basic living assessments (putting on a sweater, pouring a glass of water), mobility, and more. These sisters also agreed to donate their

brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

s to

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

upon their death. These sisters have played an integral role the progressive research of Alzheimer's Disease because of their uniquely similar backgrounds and living habits.

Education

Schools

Asia

Notre Dame School The Notre-Dame school or the Notre-Dame school of polyphony refers to the group of composers working at or near the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris from about 1160 to 1250, along with the music they produced. The only composers whose names ha ...

Bandipur Bandipur () is a hilltop settlement and a rural municipality in Tanahun District, Gandaki province of Nepal. Bandipur is primarily known for its preserved, old time cultural atmosphere. At the time of the 2011 Nepal census it had a population of ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

Europe

* Erzbischöfliche Liebfrauenschule,

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Lingfield College Lingfield College is a private day school situated in Lingfield in the English county of Surrey, for pupils aged six months to eighteen years old. It was originally a boarding school for girls and became fully co-educational in 1996. As of 2022 ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, UK *Theresia-Gerhardinger-Gymnasium am Anger ( de),

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Germany
Patrona Hungariae Katolikus Iskolaközpont

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, Hungary
Svetits Katolikus Óvoda, Általános Iskola, Gimnázium és Kollégium

Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

, Hungary
Karolina Óvoda, Általános Iskola, Gimnázium, Alapfokú Művészeti Iskola és Kollégium

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

, Hungary
Szent István Egyházi Általános Iskola és Kollégium

Makó Makó (, , Makowe, or , ) is a town in Csongrád County, in southeastern Hungary, from the Romanian border. It lies on the Maros River. Makó is home to 21,913 people and it has an area of , of which is arable land. Makó is the fourth-larges ...

, Hungary

North America

;Canada * Notre Dame Convent and School,

Leipzig, Saskatchewan Leipzig is a hamlet in Reford Rural Municipality No. 379, Saskatchewan, Canada. It previously held the status of a village until February 1, 1984. The hamlet is located 27 km south of the town of Wilkie on highway 657. It is named after t ...

(closed) *Mother House,

Waterdown, Ontario Waterdown is a community in the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton in the Canadian province of Ontario. Waterdown is approximately 60 km west of downtown Toronto and, as of 2021, has a population of approximately 24,400 residents. On Jan ...

, Notre Dame Academy and Convent (closed) ;United States (including territories) *

Academy of the Holy Angels The Academy of the Holy Angels is an all-female private middle school and college preparatory high school located in Demarest, in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in sixth through twelfth grade. The school is a ...

Demarest, New Jersey Demarest is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 4,981, an increase of 100 (+2.0%) from the 2010 United St ...

* Academia del Perpetuo Socorro,

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

Academia San Jorge Academia San Jorge ("Saint George Academy") is a private, Roman Catholic school in San Juan, Puerto Rico founded in 1925 by Rev. Msgr. José M. Rivera as a parochial school with 53 students from grades K–3. Shortly after, the school started cons ...

, Puerto Rico *

Colegio Católico Notre Dame Colegio Católico Notre Dame is a coeducational Roman Catholic school located in Caguas, Puerto Rico. Notre Dame is composed of a pre pre-kindergarten, pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school. Th ...

, Puerto Rico * Institute of Notre Dame,

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

(closed) *Notre Dame Catholic School, Spring Hill,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

* Notre Dame High School,

Talofofo Talo'fo'fo, formerly Talofofo, is a village located in the southern part of the United States territory of Guam, on the east coast. The village center is located in the hills above the coast, while the smaller coastal community below the cliff is ...

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

* Notre Dame Preparatory School,

Towson, Maryland Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 59,533 in the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorpo ...

* Saint Saviour High School,

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

*School Sisters of Notre Dame Educational Center, Woodhaven, Queens, N.Y. * Notre Dame High School (St. Louis) *

Rosati-Kain High School Rosati-Kain Academy (Formerly Rosati-Kain High School) is an all-girls Catholic high school in St. Louis, Missouri. Rosati-Kain is accredited as a college preparatory school by the North Central Association, the Missouri Department of Education, ...

(St. Louis) (cofounders) *

Notre Dame High School (Belmont, California) Notre Dame High School, Belmont is a Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Single-sex education, women's college preparatory high school located in the San Mateo County, California, San Mateo County suburb of Belmont, California. The school is opera ...

Notre Dame de Namur University Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) is a private Catholic university in Belmont, California, United States. It is the third oldest college in California and the first college in the state authorized to grant the baccalaureate degree to wome ...

Belmont, California Belmont is a city in San Mateo County in the U.S. state of California. It is in the San Francisco Bay Area, on the San Francisco Peninsula about halfway between San Francisco and San Jose. It was originally part of Rancho de las Pulgas, f ...

Tertiary institutions

Kyoto Notre Dame University , also known as KNDU, is a small private university for women in Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan. This is one of several Catholicism, Catholic universities in Japan. Notre Dame means “Our Lady” in French. Overview KNDU is located ...

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

Notre Dame of Maryland University Notre Dame of Maryland University is a private Catholic university in Baltimore, Maryland. NDMU offers certificate, undergraduate, and graduate programs for women and men. History The Roman Catholic academic/educational religious congregation ...

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

* Mount Mary University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA

Notable members

* Catherine Cesnik, American high school teacher whose 1969 murder was the subject of the documentary series ''

The Keepers ''The Keepers'' is a seven-episode American documentary series that explores the unsolved murder of nun Catherine Cesnik in 1969. Cesnik taught English and drama at Baltimore's all-girls Archbishop Keough High School, and her former students b ...

'' * Maria Antonina Kratochwil, Polish martyr during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

* Maria Stanisia, American painter *

Margaret Traxler Margaret Ellen Traxler, SSND, (March 11, 1924 – February 12, 2002) was a prominent American Religious Sister with the School Sisters of Notre Dame and a prominent women's rights activist. She was also a leader in developing institutions to help ...

, American

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

activist * Mary Theresa of Jesus Gerhardinger, founder

References

External links

‘We called her mastodon’: infamous New Orleans orphanage’s abusive history ran deeper than ever knownSchool Sisters of Notre DameSchool Sisters of Notre Dame - International
* {{Authority control 1833 establishments in Bavaria Catholic teaching orders Religious organizations established in 1833 School Sisters of Notre Dame