- Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth
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The Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth are a Roman Catholic apostolic congregation of pontifical right, based in the Convent Station area of Morris Township, New Jersey. The stated purpose of the order is to show the love of Jesus Christ in serving those in need, especially the poor. The religious order was established in 1859 in Newark, New Jersey, following the example of Elizabeth Ann Seton's community that was founded during 1808 in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The first bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, James Roosevelt Bayley, a nephew of Elizabeth Ann Seton, called for the establishment of a new regious order for women in that diocese based upon her work. Two members of the New York Sisters of Charity, Mary Xavier Mehegan assisted by Mary Catherine Nevin, established the new order and chose to remain with the new congregation.
The Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth founded the Academy of Saint Elizabeth, the first secondary school for young women in the state, near Morristown in 1860 during the same year that they established their motherhouse at that location. Eventually, the nearby community became known as Convent Station because of a railway station built during the 1870s with funds provided by the order, to accommodate their needs. In 1899 the religious order also established the College of Saint Elizabeth on the same campus, becoming the first college for women in New Jersey and one of the first Catholic colleges in the United States to award degrees to women. The Saint Anne Villa is the retirement facility on the campus for members of the order. Later in 1935 the Sisters of Charity also sponsored a second academy, Marylawn of the Oranges, a college preparatory school for young women in the Essex County area.
The Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth congregation is one of the independent groups among a federation of Sisters of Charity that formed in 1947.
External links
Categories:- Morris County, New Jersey
- Roman Catholic teaching orders
- Sisters of Charity Federation
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