In 1831, four Franciscan Tertiaries women in Dublin rented a small cottage and began an experiment in community living.

Soon, the original four - Mary Frances Clarke, Margaret Mann, Rose O’Toole, and Eliza Kelly - were joined by another, Catherine Byrne.

[1] Together, in March 1832, these five opened a school, Miss Clarke’s Seminary, for young girls on North Anne Street in Dublin.

Costello's agreement to make arrangements for their arrival in the US, the fellowship of women, except for O'Toole (who remained in Dublin long enough to settle a family estate) decided to leave their homeland to teach in Philadelphia.

Donaghoe drafted a rule for the small community and subsequently became father director, while Clarke was named mother superior.

The pioneer BVMs, by then nineteen in number, moved to Dubuque, Iowa,[2] and began to teach the children of settlers, lead miners, and farmers.

In 1867 Jesuit priest Arnold Damen invited the sisters to open a school at Holy Family in Chicago.

Over the next several decades, community leaders directed significant resources on improving the education of the sisters, who were responsible for teaching a large number of students.

With sisters serving in so many locations, the community developed into a well-networked educational system that spanned the country, from New York to California, and beyond.

Their mission and ministry expanded around the globe and beyond the traditional field of education to include health care, pastoral services, and social justice.

[5] Activities which followed included legislation approving a new government structure, the Totally Open Personal Application (TOPA), which gave sisters the freedom to apply for jobs of their choice, and an affiliate program, which consisted of an organized grouping of non-vowed men and women interested in participating in the BVM values.

A number of sisters participated in the annual demonstration at the School of the Americas/Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation each year.

Sisters of Charity are on the staff of NETWORK and the 8th Day Center for Justice, a coalition of Catholic religious congregations striving for social change.

[5] The congregation has also taken a corporate stance against the death penalty, has declared that the Mount Carmel campus in Dubuque is a nuclear-free zone, and supports national comprehensive immigration reform.