Our Sisters' Stories

In 1853, four Sisters from Holy Cross Monastery in Regensburg, Germany set sail for the United States to teach the children of German immigrants. Father Stephen Raffeiner of the Redemptorist Fathers in Manhattan offered shelter to Sisters Josepha, Augustine, Francesca, and Jacobina in the rectory basement of Most Holy Trinity Parish in Brooklyn, N.Y.

By the 1870s, the growing congregation moved to a farm on Long Island, and the Sisters became known as the Sisters of St. Dominic of Amityville. Their ministries met the changing needs of a growing population. In time, their work expanded throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. Each unique ministry is committed to serving the poor and marginalized.