Oblate Sisters of Providence facts for kids
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| Abbreviation | OSP |
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| Formation | 2 July 1829 |
| Founder | Mother Mary Lange |
| Founded at | Baltimore |
| Type | Catholic religious order |
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Superior General
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Sister Rita Michelle Proctor, OSP |
| Affiliations | Catholic Church |
The Oblate Sisters of Providence (OSP) are a group of Catholic women who dedicate their lives to God. They were started by Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange and Father James Nicholas Joubert in 1829. This happened in Baltimore, Maryland. Their main goal was to provide education for girls of African descent.
This group was the first lasting community of Black Catholic sisters in the United States. The Oblate Sisters were free women of color. They worked to give Baltimore's African-American community education. They also trained teachers from within their own group.
Contents
History of the Oblate Sisters
How the Sisters Began
James Nicholas Joubert was born in France. He worked in Saint-Domingue (which is now Haiti). During a time of violence, he had to leave and came to the United States. He arrived in Baltimore and studied to become a priest.
After becoming a priest, Father Joubert was put in charge of the Black French-speaking Catholics. Many of them were also from Saint-Domingue. He noticed the children had trouble reading and learning their religious lessons. So, he decided to open a school to teach these children in French.
He met two women of color who ran a small private school. They hoped to give their lives to God. Father Joubert told them about his plans for a school for girls of African descent. They offered to help him. Joubert then suggested they form a religious group while running the school. The school, St. Frances Academy, opened in 1828.
With the approval of James Whitfield, the Archbishop of Baltimore, the women began their training to become sisters. On July 2, 1829, the first four sisters made their promises. They were Mary Elizabeth Lange from Santiago, Cuba; Mary Rosine Boegues and Magdelaine Frances Balas from Saint Domingue (Haiti); and Theresa Maxis Duchemin from Baltimore.
Mary Lange was chosen as the leader, and Father Joubert became their director. Pope Gregory XVI officially approved the group in 1831. They were called the Oblate Sisters of Providence. The sisters opened more Catholic schools for African-American girls in the city. They also taught adult women in evening classes. They even opened a home for widows. The school also started teaching in English, not just French.
During a serious illness outbreak in 1832, the sisters cared for people who were very sick. They also provided a home for children who had lost their parents. They sheltered elderly people too. The sisters did laundry, ironing, and mending to help care for the children in their home. The group welcomed women who had been enslaved before. Eight of the forty women who joined the order between 1828 and 1860 had once been enslaved.
Growing and Expanding Their Work
In 1871, the sisters moved from their first main house on Richmond Street. The city needed that land. They found a new spot on the edge of the city and built a new main house on Chase Street. The sisters kept running an orphanage and a school there.
In 1900, the Oblates started their first mission outside the country in Havana, Cuba. The sisters opened seven missions in Cuba. But they had to leave in 1961 because of changes in the government there.
In 1903, they opened a convent and school on Old Providence Island in the Caribbean. The conditions were very tough, so that mission closed after about a year.
By 1910, the sisters ran schools and orphanages in Baltimore, Washington state, Leavenworth, Kansas, and St. Louis and Normandy, Missouri. Over time, the group started schools in eighteen different states. Some missions lasted only a few years, while others continued and changed as communities needed them.
The Sisters Today
By the 1950s, more than 300 Oblate Sisters of Providence were teaching and caring for African-American children. The Oblates also had missions in the Dominican Republic. They opened missions in Costa Rica in 1964, where they still work today.
The main house stayed on Chase Street in Baltimore until a new one was built in 1961. This new main house, called Our Lady of Mount Providence, is at 701 Gun Road in southwest Baltimore County. It is still their main home today. Some projects were based at this main house. This included Mt. Providence Junior College, which operated from 1963 to 1966.
In 1972, the sisters started a Child Development Center and a Reading and Math Center at the main house. The sisters still run St. Frances Academy on Chase Street in Baltimore.
In 2005, Camille Cosby, who went to a school run by the Oblates in Washington, gave money to St. Frances Academy. This money helps pay for 16 students' tuition each year.
The Cosbys gave another donation in 2012 to help St. Frances Academy build a community center in East Baltimore.
Their Special Calling
The Oblate Sisters of Providence have a special gift from God. This gift helps them to trust completely in God's care. It allows them to bring joy, healing, and love to people suffering from poverty, unfair treatment, and injustice. They do this even when they face difficulties and pain themselves.
In the early 2000s, the group had about eighty members. The Oblate Sisters continue their work in Baltimore, Maryland; Miami, Florida; Buffalo, New York; and Alajuela and Siquirres, Costa Rica.
The Motherhouse
The main house, called the motherhouse, holds the offices for the group. It also has a health care unit and a place for new sisters to train (there is also a training place in Costa Rica). The Mother Lange Guild, which supports the process for Mother Lange to become a saint, is also there. The Oblate Sisters of Providence Archives and Special Collections Library is located here too.
Offices for other groups that work with the sisters are also at the Motherhouse. These include the National Oblate Sisters of Providence Alumni Association and the Cojourners of the Oblate Sisters of Providence.
See also
