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Address 3110 Nicolet Dr, Green Bay, WI 54311, USA Hours Closed now Wednesday8:30AM–4:30PMThursday8:30AM–4:30PMFriday8:30AM–4:30PMSaturdayClosedSundayClosedMonday8:30AM–4:30PMTuesday8:30AM–4:30PMSuggest an edit Similar St Francis Xavier Cathedral, Holy Cross Church, Holy Cross School, HSHS St Vincent Hospital, Children's Center Profiles | ||
The Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross are a diocesan community of religious women who live according to the Rule of St. Francis of Assisi in Northeastern Wisconsin. In essence, the Sisters practice "simplicity, hospitality and prayer that is centered on the Cross of Jesus Christ, the sacred Word of Scripture and the Holy Eucharist."
History
This Catholic community of women was founded in 1868 by Father Edward Daems (1826 - 1879) who came to northeastern Wisconsin to minister to the local Belgian immigrants. Seeing the need for teachers, Father Daems asked two local women -- Pauline LaPlante ( - 1926) and Christine Rousseau ( - 1900) -- to come home from their formation with the Dominican Order in Racine, Wisconsin, (about 150 miles south), to teach and provide medical care to the Belgian residents. Sister LaPlante and Sister Rousseau accepted Father Daems' request. With the help of Sister Pius Doyle and Mary Van Lanen, a neighboring farm girl, the four women became the religious community's founding members.
In 1881, the women were officially recognized as a diocesan community by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin, which, too, marked 1868 as an important year in its history. It was in 1868 when the Diocese of Green Bay was created from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
With the motherhouse located in rural Green Bay, the Sisters spent their early years primarily teaching the area schoolchildren and farming much of their land in Brown County. As membership grew, the Sisters accepted more teaching requests from parish priests and expanded their religious instruction to the Chapel in Robinsonville in 1902. The Chapel -- now known as the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, is well known to this day by the local population because this is where the Virgin Mary is reported to have appeared to Sister Adele Brice and instructed Adele to teach the children their Catholic faith.