150th ANNIVERSARY
of Life and Mission of Our Congregation
(1872-2022)
2022 -JUBILEE YEAR
The Jubilee Year opens in Verona, Italy, our birthplace, and will be celebrated in the 34 countries where we are present.
Within the framework of the Jubilee Year, we will celebrate the XXI General Chapter in October 2022.
VIDEOS OF OUR CELEBRATION
2022 -JUBILEE YEAR
Friends, old and new, prepared and celebrated with us. It was a beautiful and joyful celebration, legacy, pass the torch event, a taste of mission, life, diversity and lots of good food.
A Time to Remember…
The many deserts which we have crossed, the times of hunger, as well as the tenderness and care God has shown us.
Consecrated for Mission
Founded in 1872 in Verona, Italy, bySt. Daniel Comboni and rooted in the love of the Pierced Heart of the GoodShepherd, over 1,000 Comboni Sisters, from thirty-five different nationalities, are dedicated to global missions throughout Africa, Asia,Europe, and America.
Living in intercultural communities, we promote peace and justice values, foster gender equality, bring awareness on human trafficking, and ministry leadership training.
Our service reaches the poorest and most vulnerable, migrants, refugees, racially diverse, and indigenous populations. Our charism compels us“to go out” to peoples and places where the Gospel has not been proclaimed.
From the beginning, our history has been marked with the sign of the cross and martyrdom.
St. Daniel Comboni wanted us “Holy and Capable.” Thus, for over 50 years, the U.S. Province has contributed to building the leadership of the CMS Institute.
In every country where the Congregation serves, there are USA-graduated sisters. The presence of Comboni student Sisters witness the ecclesial reality of ethnic diversity in the U.S.
The professional education of Comboni Sisters, bridging among culturally diverse groups and strengthening intercultural competencies are our priorities in the U.S.
This Jubilee Year is a privileged occasion to thank God and each one of you for your continuous support, friendship and prayers.
Highlights of our Presence in the USA
• Eight Comboni Missionary Sisters arrived in New York in 1950 to serve in African American communities. In collaboration with the Redemptorist Missionaries, four sisters started the Richmond, VA community, working in St. Augustine Parish (Fulton), at St. Gerard in South Richmond, and Holy Rosary in Churchill.
• In Chastang, Alabama, four CMS taught at an African American boarding school for orphan boys and girls run by the Josephite Missionaries.
• A second group of eight sisters arrived in 1953 and in 1954. They opened a community in Mobile, AL and served in the Diocesan Mission Office and in Social Services among African American communities.
• In 1955, the CMS purchased the premises for the Provincial House in Richmond and opened the Holy Angels Nursery, one of the first integrated daycares in the region.
• In 1959, the first two sisters went to college, and after graduation in 1963, they were the first Principles and teachers at the Parish Elementary School at Our Lady of Lourdes, in Richmond.
In 1961, the Novitiate formation began in Lakeside, Avenue, then in 1982 it was transferred to Lansdale, PA.
In 1970, the CMS opened communities in Cincinnati, OH; Allentown, NJ; Chicago, Ill; Baltimore, MD, Coatesville, PA.
A Promise that Continues
Our presence in the United States (1950) sparked a period of expansion in the congregation and shifted the focus from Africa to other continents, realities, ministries, membership, nationalities, mission perspectives, etc. Later on, the Institute expanded toBrazil (1955), Ecuador (1956), Mexico (1972), and the rest of the American continent.
Present in the Diocese of Richmond, VA., since 1950, in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, MD., since 2001, and in the Archdiocese of San Antonio, TX., since 2020.
