Tracing Global Lives:
Catholic Missionary Sisters and the Making of St. Louis
This exhibit explores the lived experiences of Catholic missionary sisters whose contributions to the city’s cultural heritage, political landscape, economics, and social welfare have shaped St. Louis into the complex site of cross-cultural interaction it is today.
Drawing on the SCAC archival collections, it offers new insight into the city’s role in global Catholic history.
A Global Catholic History
Join us in charting the dynamic movements and identities of the Catholic women religious who arrived in St. Louis in the 19th century. Inspired by a call to serve, these women crossed oceans and continents, leaving their homes to embark on missions that transcended geographical, cultural, and spiritual boundaries. Based on archival materials from the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Consolidated Archives, the St. Louis Visitation Archives, the Archdiocese of St. Louis Archives, the Archives of the Society of the Sacred Heart, and the Saint Louis University Archives, this exhibit examines missionaries’ day-to-day experiences and reveals the complexities of their motivations. By interrogating the meanings of “mission” and “missionary,” the exhibit moves beyond a singular focus on conversion to explore the diverse driving forces that fueled the sisters’ work, revealing their dedication to education and community building through mission-based initiatives.
Ultimately, this exhibit delves into the complexities of movement, purpose, and lasting impact left by these remarkable women, prompting a richer understanding of their contributions to St. Louis and the broader story of global Catholicism.
What factors drew these women to leave their homes and embark on missions to St. Louis?
How did their religious identities and spiritual beliefs shape their understanding of “mission” and their approaches to their work?
What do their own reflections reveal about how these women religious understood their work in St. Louis?
Why is this important?
Catholic sisters (also known as “women religious”) have shaped the contours of St. Louis’ cultural, economic, and political landscapes from the city’s origins in the mid-18th century to today. Their archives are rich repositories of documents, visual resources, and artifacts that demonstrate the centrality of women religious to the histories of migration, colonialism, mission, Indigeneity, enslavement, education, segregation and desegregation, healthcare, and social reform.
Despite St. Louis’s prominent Catholic heritage…
How did women’s religious orders, like the Sisters of Saint Joseph, the Sisters of the Visitation, and the Society of the Sacred Heart, strategically adapt and negotiate evolving theological and social expectations to assert their agency and establish a transformative presence in St. Louis?
These interactive maps show the global reach of missions into and out of St. Louis. Each “stop” features pop-out windows with images of archival materials, links to their location in the respective archive, and suggestions for other relevant archival materials.
The Institutions
The six Sisters of St. Joseph who arrived in St. Louis from Lyon in 1836 came on a mission to help educate deaf children.
Historians have called the mother superiors leading the first missionary groups in the US, the “first female CEOs” because they “administered institutions, personnel, and financial resources throughout the country.” In some cases, sisters literally laid the groundwork for education in the St. Louis area.
In 1989, four Visitation Sisters established the Visitation Monastery in North Minneapolis, marking a transformative moment in American monastic life. Departing from traditional cloistered settings, they embraced a mission to “live the monastic way in the inner city,” embodying a contemplative life amidst the challenges of urban poverty and violence.
Stories from the archives
Civil War on St. Louis’s doorstep, as recounted in the memoires of Sister Josephine Barber.
“Sisters, don’t be frightened: but there is no doubt the city will burn down tonight.”
The revolution of 1848 and expulsion of religious orders from Italy launched Maria Stanislas Tommasini’s missionary career. Follow her global journey from Italy, to New York, Cuba, Canada, Louisiana, and Mexico.
What does this small but rich selection of archival materials tell us about the global female missionary experience?