Sisters of St. Joseph Have Storied History

The Sisters of St. Joseph’s ties with the Diocese of Baton Rouge began long before the official establishment of the diocese, when four sisters arrived in Baton Rouge in 1868 aboard a steamboat from Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. 

Upon arrival, they took over an orphanage that cared for girls left without parents by the Civil War. Within two weeks, they opened St. Joseph’s day school in a small, four-room house on what today is known as Seventh Street. When the school grew, the sisters accepted boarders in addition to day students and changed the name from St. Joseph’s Day School to St. Joseph’s Academy for Young Ladies.

From that beginning the diocese now has St. Joseph’s Academy, located on Broussard Street. SJA, which is a national Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, is known for fostering faith development in the Catholic tradition, academic excellence and personal growth and has produced generations of women leaders. 

The sisters have been present at other Catholic schools in the diocese,  such as St. George School and Sacred Heart of Jesus School, both in Baton Rouge and Catholic of Pointe Coupee in New Roads, and have provided support for other diocesan schools as well.

Beyond the academic settings, the sisters minister and teach through example by living their spirituality “among the people.” The sisters “move always towards profound love of God and love of neighbor without distinction.”   

This comes from their roots, which started around a kitchen table Oct. 15, 1650 in Le Puy, France by the Father Jean Pierre Médaille SJ. 

 “Our founder had a very, we would say contemporary, idea of the service. He said, ‘Divide up the city and see what the needs are and meet the needs,’ ” said Sister Adelaide Williamson CSJ. “We were founded, not so much ‘to do this or that,’ but to meet the needs of people, which was rather unusual for that time.”

The notion of serving “dear neighbor,” a term given by Father Médaille, comes naturally to the sisters, according to Sister Joan Laplace CSJ. 

“I think that it flows from our persons,” said Sister Joan. “I don’t care whether we are very introverted or very extroverted or anywhere in between. I think the Sisters of St. Joseph care about other people and if they can do anything to help them they want to do that.”

And “being among the people” includes being educators, spiritual directors and workers for social justice. The order, for example, was among the first in the diocese to educate Black children and embraced the idea of integration in its schools.

When Vatican II concluded in 1965, Bishop Robert E. Tracy, the first bishop of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, turned to the sisters to help educate people about the changes brought about by the council. This posed some challenges, particularly for the parents of students.

“(There were difficulties) because sometimes the parents weren’t well informed about Vatican II,” said Sister Joan. “They didn’t agree with some of the things we were doing.”

Integration posed challenges. Sister Joan talked about the arrival of the first four Black students at SJA. There was “a lot of work behind the scenes” but the young women graduated and went on to become successful.

Such efforts are keeping with the sisters’ mission of working alongside and dialoguing with the laity, teaching them to be leaders and workers for peace, justice and service.

“The lay people in the parishes always worked with us, and we work with them,” said Sister Lucy Silvio CSJ.

Sister Kathleen Babin CSJ pointed out that charism means “a gift from God,” and for the Sisters of St. Joseph, it means promoting harmony and equality.

“We promote unity and reconciliation. That’s the charism that’s the call of the sisters,” said Sister Kathleen.

Because the historical backdrop of the Sisters of St. Joseph was the French Revolution, they understand having a “bigger vision” for society requires boldness, humility and looking toward the needs of others.

Sisters Kathleen, Lucy, Joan and Adelaide noted that particularly in today’s society, the ability to “sit around the kitchen table” and work toward the good of all is needed.

Providing the spark of hope that the sisters’ charism will continue is SJA, which recently introduced a Daily Examen during seventh period. Likewise, the CSJ Lay Associates, who pray together and study the history and spirituality of the sisters, help keep that vision alive among the laity.

“There is so much disunity in the world today, there’s so much conflict and there’s so much lack of love,” said Sister Lucy. “I think people are (overall) good but my hope is that as we move into the future our charism, which is ‘That all may be one’ somehow may be a way of moving ahead with more unity and more acceptance, less conflict.”