On November 11, 1962, Typhoon Karen devastated the island of Guam. Eleven people were killed, and 95% of homes were destroyed, leaving 45,000 people, mostly Guamanians, homeless. Fifty-three School Sisters of Notre Dame, eight postulants, and ten aspirants living in four locations on the island lived through the storm and recorded their experiences in letters, chronicle entries, oral histories, and...Read more

Thanks to Irene Simmons for sharing these photos from the collection of her mother, Louise Klein Bialobrzeski. The first photo shows Louise’s aunt, Sister Ceslawa Kielpinski (second from left), sewing in the convent yard with a group of fellow sisters. The second shows her working in the garden as a novice, perhaps at St. Adelbert’s in Milwaukee where she ministered...Read more

The SSND North American Archives is a treasure trove of documents, photographs, books, audio-visual materials, and other items that date back to the establishment of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in North America. One of the many cherished articles is the monstrance created for the 50th jubilee of Mother Caroline Friess, who led the expansion of SSND into North...Read more

As we celebrate Catholic School Week, we remember the work that Sister Caroleen Hensgen did to break new ground for women in the world of Catholic education. In 1967, this SSND was appointed to serve as the superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Dallas-Fort Worth, making her the first woman to hold that position in the United States....Read more

The School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) ministered in Liberia for two decades, beginning in October 1970. There they devoted their whole hearts to learning the culture and needs of their neighbors. The sisters undertook curriculum planning, teacher training, and teaching, eventually opening a secondary school. In August 1990, the sisters who were ministering in Liberia at the time were...Read more

Several years ago, the archives received a call from a man looking for information about a sister. His father stuttered as a child and was often teased by classmates. His first-grade teacher at St. Martin of Tours School in St. Louis told him to see her after school, because she thought she could help. Sister would have the child do...Read more

By: Michele Levandoski Dorothy Lillian Hensgen was born on November 18, 1914, in St. Louis, Missouri, the oldest of Jules and Louise Hensgen’s three children. According to her autobiography, “three times before the age of four, she lay at death’s door.” The third instance occurred in 1918 at the height of the influenza pandemic when Dorothy and her father contracted...Read more

By Tim Cary, Archivist The series of articles over the past year acknowledging the 175th anniversary of the School Sisters of Notre Dame arrival in North America has sought to explore interesting SSND “firsts.” A discussion of such firsts would be incomplete without Mother Ambrosia Roecklein, who accomplished many firsts. She was the first North American sister to be elected...Read more

By Grace Avila, Assistant Archivist The School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) were established in Bavaria in 1833 by Mother Theresa Gerhardinger to provide children with a good education regardless of their background or social status. Mother Caroline Friess brought these same ideals to North America in 1847. Therefore, it was only natural for SSND to work with the Archdiocese...Read more

By Tim Cary, Archivist On September 1, 1948, in Strasburg and Mantador, North Dakota, an interesting side note in the history of the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) began. A new school year was about to begin, and the teachers at the schools in those towns (Sisters Celine Koktan, Lucida Kunz, Thomas Caven, Isabel Kathrein, Josepha Forster, Kathleen Rother,...Read more