Saint Elizabeth Seton founded the Sisters of Charity in
Emmitsburg, Maryland, in 1809, at the corner of Prince and Mott Streets. The Sisters quickly took on the job of establishing Catholic orphanages in a city overrun with abandoned, orphaned or neglected children. Mother Seton had established one of the first Catholic elementary schools in Emmitsburg. With this background, the Sisters also began to establish or staff existing parish schools, particularly in poor and immigrant neighborhoods, and to set up hospitals. Some of the earliest, sustained social service institutions and health care facilities in New York City were started by the sisters. The motherhouse at Emmitsburg negotiated for affiliation with the Daughters of Charity in France. In consequence there developed a tendency to dispense with certain customs observed at Emmitsburg because these changes were required by the French superiors; for example, the sisters in charge of boys' asylums were everywhere to be withdrawn. The measure threatened at that period the very existence of the New York orphanage. The allegiance of the sisters to local Catholics in New York came in conflict with their obedience to their superiors in Emmitsburg, eventually leading to the establishment of a separate order recognized as the Sisters of Charity of New York (SCNY). In 1890 the
Sisters of Saint Martha of
Antigonish evolved from the Halifax congregation as an order initially devoted to housekeeping and nursing duties at
St. Francis Xavier University. In 1856, under Mother
Mary Xavier Mehegan, a local community was formed of the sisters then labouring in the Diocese of Newark. an orphanage for abandoned children but also a place for unmarried mothers to receive care themselves and offer their children for adoption. (New York immigrant communities were plagued by prostitution rings that preyed on young women, and out-of-wedlock pregnancies were a severe problem in these communities.) New York Foundling continues its work today and is noted for its work with babies and young children infected with HIV, and also with severely handicapped children. In 1855,
Archbishop John Hughes' sister,
Mary Angela Hughes became Superior of the Sisters in New York. It was during Mother Angela's tenure that the
Sisters of Charity of Newark branched off as a separate congregation. St. Vincent's Hospital became the centerpiece of an extensive health care system under the Sisters' care that included St. Vincent's Hospital in Westchester (a psychiatric hospital) as well as two hospitals on
Staten Island:
St. Vincent's Hospital (closed 2006) and
Bayley Seton Hospital, in addition to a network of nursing homes and other institutions. In 1862, the sisters nursed Civil War wounded in St. Joseph's Military Hospital, former site of Mt. St. Vincent in Central Park. The hospital closed in 1865. The Sisters were also the key congregation in the establishment of New York's
parochial school system, staffing more schools than any other single order of women. In addition to parish schools (which, in New York, typically carry children through grade 8), the sisters ran a number of high schools themselves or provided staff for high schools run by others, and they established the
College of Mount Saint Vincent, which also serves as their motherhouse. They also founded
St. Joseph by the Sea High School on Staten Island. Beginning as a summer retreat for orphans from the Foundling Hospital and as a place for the sisters to obtain degrees under the auspices of Mount St. Vincent, it was turned into an all-girls Catholic high school in 1963. Now co-ed, it is still staffed by a number of Sisters of Charity. In 1958, the Congregation opened the Convent of Mary the Queen in Yonkers as a residence for Senior Sisters. According to the
Riverdale Press, no one has sought to join the sisterhood in more than 20 years, and "the median age of the sisters is 82". As of 2023, there were 154 members of the congregation. ==Mission==