2024-01-24-eEdition

PAGE 22 THE CATHOLIC WEEK JANUARY 24, 2025 Daughters of Charity: Through the Years 1841 First Daughters of Charity sent to Mobile to assume responsibility of Catholic Orphans' Asylum (St. Mary's Home). 1852 Begin ministering at Mobile City Hospital. 1855 Photo courtesy of Archdiocese of Mobile Archives Providence Infirmary of Mobile is placed under the direction of the Daughters of Charity. The original Providence Hospital on St. Anthony Street in Mobile is shown above. 1866 Daughters of Charity staff St. Vincent School for Girls. It later became co-ed and closed in 1963. Shown is Sr. Marillac Grabinski with first and second- graders. 1898 Four Daughters of Charity arrive in Birmingham to begin St. Vincent's Hospital St. Margaret's Hospital in Montgomery opens and is staffed by the Daughters of Charity. (Above) Sr. DamianWetzel tends to a patient. (Below) A group of sisters serving the hospital in 1952. 1902 “The diversity of the Daughters of Charity minis- tries in the Archdiocese speaks profoundly of their contribu- tions to the life of the Church in Alabama since 1841,” said Archdiocese of Mobile Liaison with Religious Sister Deborah Kennedy, RSM. “The Sisters leave behind a legacy of service that responded to the needs of the time, wher- ever that may take them.We will greatly miss their loving presence and outreach to all God’s people.” The first Daughters of Charity came to Mobile thanks to Bishop Michael Portier’s request.They assumed respon- sibility of what was known as the Catholic Orphans’ Asylum (more commonly known as St. Mary’s Home). The Daughters of Charity then ministered at Mobile City Hospital, Providence Infirmary and St. Vincent’s School in Mobile. But the Daughters of Char- ity’s ministry spans throughout Alabama.They served St. Mar- garet’s Hospital, Seton Haven, St. Bede the Venerable Parish and school and St. Jude High School in Montgomery. They also served in Auburn, Birmingham, Opelika, Selma and Lanett. However, the Daughters of Charity are likely most known for the ministry at Providence Hospital.The Daughters of Charity founded the original Providence Hospital in the 1850s and led the move to its current west Mobile location in 1987. The hospital was purchased by the University of South Alabama Health Care Author- ity last year and is no longer a Catholic hospital. Thank you to the hundreds of Daughters of Charity who have served throughout Ala- bama.The state is indebted to your ministry. —History courtesy of Daugh- ters of Charity Province of St. Louise, St. Louis, Mo. Service From page 1