Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet

The Sisters of St Joseph of Carondelet (CSJ) trace their origins to the Sisters of St Joseph, a congregation with Jesuit-influenced spirituality established around 1650 in Le Puy-en-Velay, France. At the request of Bishop Joseph Rosati, Mother St John Fontbonne sent sisters from France who arrived in the United States on 17 January 1836, and the American congregation became an independent congregation of pontifical right on 16 May 1877, based at Carondelet, Missouri. Numbering roughly 1,200 vowed sisters organized into four provinces, Albany, Los Angeles, St Louis and St Paul, plus a Peru vice-province, the congregation has worked in education, healthcare, spiritual direction, social service and advocacy, historically including the instruction of deaf and mute children and nursing during the American Civil War, and it established institutions including Fontbonne University, St Catherine University and Mount Saint Mary's University.