Each month, we have considered some older orders, like Franciscans and Dominicans, and our very own Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy, who are approaching the bicentennial of their establishment by Bishop John England, and on to some groups that are not only new to our diocese but new among the number of international groups of women religious.

This month, we will consider three groups found in our diocese that represent the centuries-old and the very, very recent.

DW

The Daughters of Wisdom (DW) claim St. Louis de Montfort and Blessed Marie Louise Trichet as co-founders. St. Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort is well known as the author of the spiritual classic The True Devotion to Mary and other works on Mary and the rosary. In recent times, St. John Paul II is often cited as one whose life was deeply influenced by de Montfort’s spirituality and devotion to Mary.

Both de Montfort and Trichet were born in France in the 17th century. De Montfort founded a company of clerics, the Company of Mary, and developed a holy rule for the Daughters of Wisdom. The latter were founded in the early 18th century with a special devotion to teaching and care for the poor. Like so many early groups, they rapidly expanded their reach to several continents.

Here in our diocese, the Daughters of Wisdom, from their official delegation based in Connecticut, sent Sister Joan Kobe to minister in Walhalla and Seneca, where a priest whose name just happened to be Kobe (her brother) was serving. Her years of service reached from Maine to California before her arrival here, and her record of ministry included teaching, administration and pastoral ministry. She educated herself in Spanish so that she could serve the rapidly growing Hispanic population. While she has more recently stepped back from official parish ministries, Sister Joan offers a variety of volunteer services, including one called “Baby Read” in Walhalla.

The Daughters of Wisdom in the United States express their charism in terms of a mission “to seek and contemplate divine wisdom in a world that hungers for meaning, justice and compassion” and “to bring the message of Jesus, incarnate wisdom, to people experiencing injustice, violence, poverty and oppression, especially women and children.”

SOM

he Hospitaler Sisters of Mercy (SOM) sent a small group of sisters here from New Jersey some 15 years ago to participate in a vocation discernment weekend for women. Shortly after that, the group was invited by Bishop Emeritus Robert E. Guglielmone to send sisters who were trained in nursing, care of the elderly and other health care ministries. Their initial assignment saw them serving in the Carter May Home in Charleston, which provided personal care services to elderly lay people and a number of retired diocesan priests. Most recently, they have been invited to begin the new St. Clare’s Home — modeled on the one which is flourishing in Greenville County — in the Charleston area.

The Hospitalers were founded in the early 19th century in Italy, and among their traditions is the addition of a fourth vow — along with poverty, chastity and obedience — a vow of hospitality. The SOM sisters offer direct service and care to those in need and understand that they are called to evangelize while doing so. From their Italian beginnings, the Hospitalers rapidly heard the call to engage in works of mercy in numerous global locations. To this day, they serve in 14 countries. Here in the U.S., they have expanded service beyond the borders of New Jersey and South Carolina to take on retreat ministry in Louisiana and to shelter children who have been victims of human trafficking in an establishment called Metanoia Manor.

As they adapt their ministries to new needs, they proclaim, “We completely consecrate our lives to the love and glory of God … and [are] animated by the spirit of charity.” Sisters as a whole rely heavily on donations to support and sustain their outreach to the very poor. One of the slogans which the SOMs use to describe their commitment to a simple lifestyle as they pursue their active, apostolic vowed life is: “We make a living by what we get, but a life by what we give.”

DJBP

The Catholic Extension Society, which focuses on “home missions” — that is, missions to America — has continued to consider South Carolina a home-mission territory. This is due to the still relatively small percentage of Catholics residing here but also because of the presence of expansive areas where a poorer population, many of whom are migrants and others of whom have settled here, are engaged in agricultural work and service industries.

A grant from Catholic Extension led to the placement of sisters of the Disciples of Jesus the Good Shepherd (Discípulas de Jesús Buen Pastor, DJBP) in the Beaufort Deanery and other areas in the southern U.S. Founded in Mexico in the early 1990s, this young community has served our diocese in Bluffton, Beaufort, Walterboro and Hardeeville, beginning with the grant several years ago and continuing after the grant expired.

The Disciples of Jesus the Good Shepherd sum up their charism as a call “to love, serve and evangelize according to the example of Jesus the Good Shepherd.” At present, sisters of the DJBP community serve in Hispanic ministry at St. Anthony Mission, Hardeeville, and St. Peter Church, Beaufort. From their base in Mexico, the sisters have, over three decades of their history, developed a “Family of the Good Shepherd” that includes lay collaborators in ministry.

As readers have seen over the six months of this series on religious sisters serving our diocese, the orders and congregations of religious women vary in founding spirit, history, ministries, numbers of sisters and their length of service here. What all have in common is their origin in the call to the sequela Christi, the following of Christ, via specific religious communities. They share the impulse of the Holy Spirit, which inspired their founders, and led members to ongoing renewal as needs call them to new places and projects.

All these sisters are women of prayer and commitment to the people of God. It has led them down surprising paths — ones that have been dusty roads, neighborhood streets, interstates, sometimes the sidewalks around a local convent or monastery — and with warmth and a willingness to sacrifice for Jesus and his Church.