During Catholic Schools Week this January, DSHA celebrated four Masses in honor of the Sisters of the Divine Savior (SDS). The same week, DSHA President Katie Konieczny, DSHA ’92, unveiled a display featuring the 14 sisters in front of a virtual, SDS audience. The display is located outside of the Mother of Our Savior Chapel on the second floor of DSHA, permanently displayed for students, alumnae, visitors, and community members for years to come.

 

“It is a wonderful tribute,” said S. Grace Mary Croft, SDS, DS ’56, the sponsorship coordinator on the DSHA Board of Directors. “Whether the sisters were on the faculty of the school or not, it shows our deep interest and involvement in the school, and our dedication to cheering it along.”

 

 

In the 1850s, Therese von Wullenweber (now Blessed Mary of the Apostles), the daughter of a German aristocrat, longed and searched for a religious missionary apostolate to join. In 1882, she met Father Francis Jordan (the now Blessed Francis Mary of the Cross Jordan), founder of the Salvatorians. In 1888, the two worked together to organize a group of women religious called the Sisters of the Divine Savior to join the Salvatorian family. The Salvatorians were — and have since been — devoted to the proclamation and teaching, by all ways and means, the goodness and kindness of Jesus the Savior to every corner of the world.

 

In 1895, Milwaukee Archbishop Francis Xavier Katzer met Father Francis Jordan in Italy. He asked if the Sisters of the Divine Savior would provide nursing care to poor immigrants in Milwaukee. Within four years, 18 sisters were serving in the city, and in 1897, they started working in schools.

 

In 1900, a motherhouse was created for the sisters in Milwaukee. In 1926, Mother Hedwig, the superior of the Salvatorian sisters’ North American Province at the time, desired to create a high school at the motherhouse for young women who wished to join the order. On September 27, 1926, 20 students began studies at Divine Savior High School.

 

The DSHA community is honored to work alongside of the SDS North American Provincial Leaders, the Salvatorian sisters who serve on the DSHA Board of Directors, the SDS Sponsorship Coordinator, and the SDS liaison for the annual Salvatorian Sisters Service Award. Today nearly 1,000 Sisters of the Divine Savior are present in 28 countries on five continents, concentrating on and involved in healthcare, education, and social services.

• S. Jeanette Clarke, SDS, DS ’59 | Nursing
• S. Grace Mary Croft, SDS, DS ’56 | Education
• S. Karlyn Cauley, SDS, DS ’61 | Art
• S. Maryann Engelhardt, SDS, DS ’52 | Nursing
• S. Marie Ensslin, SDS, DS ’52 | Education
• S. Jane Eschweiler, SDS, DS ’65 | Religious Vocations
• S. Mary Lee Grady, SDS, DS ’58 | Education
• S. Virginia Honish, SDS, DS ’55 | Education
• S. Francine Kosednar, SDS, DS ’56 | Medicine/ Occupational Therapy
• S. Sheila Novak, SDS, DS ’58 | Anti-Trafficking
• S. Susan Staff, SDS, DS ’56 | Religious Vocations
• S. Carol Thresher, SDS, DS ’59 | Religious Vocations and Education
• S. Betty Vetter, SDS, DS ’61 | Nursing
• S. Carol Jean Zais, SDS, DS ’62 | Education

To read more about these wonderful women, click here.