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Women's missionary experiences

 

This exhibit focuses on global transit: where did missions to St. Louis originate and where did St. Louis institutions send missionaries to?

 

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, 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.

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?

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.

Missionary Profiles

Sister St. Protais Deboille

Born in 1814, to a prosperous family of Genas, about nine miles Southeast of Lyon, she received the habit on October 5, 1835. She participated in the founding of Cahokia, Carondelet, the St. Louis school for Negro children, and Wheeling, West Virginia. She served in many other communities until her death among the Native Americans in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in 1892.
Sister St. Protais wrote a memoir at the request of Sister Monica Corrigan who was collecting documentation for a history of the sisters around 1890. Written in broken English, this incredible account describes the journey she took with 5 other sisters from Lyon to St. Louis.

The Voyage

"The Ursulines not like to see the Sisters with their habit as they had been in ship. They said that people would think that some Nuns had escape from the convent. Before they could go in City they had to put on a cape and mourning veil. They had to go on the Mississippi in same way. The Sisters do not like it very much because they had [worn] their habit all the time, only one night in stage they put night cap [on] and they came from the diligence [stage-coach] with it, walk on the streets of Paris to go to the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul. It was grand sight to look at them. The Sisters of St. Vincent laugh at them and make them quick to change. They were look like beggars."
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