Who We Are Wednesday

Do you enjoy history? For this edition of Who We Are Wednesday we would like to share with you our founding story as told on our international website, gerhardinger.org. Here is a preview:

The congregation of the School Sisters of Notre Dame came to life when God’s call found an answer in the hearts of people strong in faith, farseeing in vision, and courageous in action. The congregation continues today in the mysterious interaction of divine call and human response.

 

Our charism flows from our spiritual heritage, especially the gifts of St. Augustine, who formed a community to be of one heart and one soul in God, seeing in the Trinity the basis, source and goal of all community. It is in this spirit of Augustine that the first rules are framed.

Blessed Alix Le Clerc and St. Peter Fourier gave a new direction to religious life, insisting  that the ministry of furthering the interests of education be integral to the community which they founded and named it the Congrégation Notre Dame - Canonesses of St. Augustine. Alix and her companions pronounced their first religious vows on Christmas Day 1597 at Mattaincourt in Lorraine.

 
Though its roots lie deep in the past, the congregation traces its actual beginning to October 24, 1833, when Caroline Gerhardinger and two other women began a common religious life in Neunburg vorm Wald, Bavaria. Their action was inspired by an apostolic spirituality destined to shape their own lives and profoundly affect those of many others.

You can read the full history here!