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Our story begins
In 1873, two Sisters of the Sisters of Providence from Kingston, Ontario, Canada came to Father Patrick J. Harkins, pastor of St. Jerome's Church in Holyoke, Massachusetts, asking permission to solicit funds for their work with the poor in Canada from his parishioners. Agreeing, he in turn asked their Community to establish a mission of Sisters for the hundreds of poor immigrants and mill workers living in Holyoke.

The Kingston Community responded by sending four of their number to Holyoke. The Sisters arrived in November 1873 and within a week started caring for their first orphan.

Within a very short time, they were ministering to so many needy and infirm that their "House of Providence" was filled to capacity. As a result, only the very sick and friendless could be admitted.

When a Sister was not tending to those in the House of Providence, she was visiting the sick poor in their homes, spending nights with the dying or preparing the dead for burial.

The original House of Providence
in South Hadley, MA.

LOOKING BACK: A Sister of Providence
ministering to one of her charges.

Two years after their arrival, Father Harkins asked the Sisters to teach in the parish's boys school. Though teaching was not a work for which their Community was founded, they agreed, and four more Sisters, two of them novices, arrived. The woman who was to become our foundress -- Sister Mary of Providence -- was among them.

These teaching Sisters lived at House of Providence with the earlier arrivals. Whenever they were free of school responsibilities they helped with the never-ending work with the orphans, the aged and the infirm. They relieved their counterparts for night duty, whether that duty be at House of Providence or elsewhere.

Nursing through the night, praying with the dying, comforting the grieving, burying the dead -- was their work, too.

A historic petition
Some 17 years after their arrival, the Bishop of the Springfield Diocese of which Holyoke is a part, petitioned Rome for permission to have a congregation of Providence Sisters based in Holyoke rather than Kingston. Once he received approval, the Sisters missioned in Holyoke were given the option of joining what was to become our Community -- the Sisters of Providence of Holyoke -- or returning to their original Community in Kingston.

Thirty of these pioneer women, including Sister Mary of Providence (Catherine Horan) felt a call from Providence to remain. The others heard a different Providence call and returned to Kingston.

The next years were as grueling and rewarding as those very beginning years. We opened numerous works of charity making sharp inroads into alleviating the social needs of western and central Massachusetts.

Our ministries included several hospitals and nursing schools, an orphanage, nursing homes, a residence for working girls and a home for unwed mothers. Others social services of ours aided the poor and needy.

Next we needed to physically rebuild many of our institutions since some were more than fifty years old, while others needed expansion or modernization. At the same time, we worked very hard obtaining the advanced education we needed for the leadership roles these modernized, sophisticated health and human service ministries were going to demand.

Some of today's Sisters of Providence gathering for prayer.

Extending the Mission
At one point, we became pioneers in much the same way as our Kingston Sisters when we journeyed to Murphy, North Carolina to open a small, rural hospital.

As the years unfolded we found ourselves in other ministries in North Carolina and to this day remain a healing presence at St. Joseph of the Pines in Southern Pines, as well as in a social service agency in Lumberton.

When the Second Vatican Council called for the renewal of religious communities, we took that call very seriously. We were ready to let go of the our traditional and more ordered way of life to attend to the changing needs of a contemporary society. Gradually we adapted our traditional ministries and embraced new works.

Responding to contemporary needs
As time went on issues of global concern, such as hunger, poverty, racism, discrimination, pollution, terrorism and the potential for nuclear holocaust caused us to deepen our focus on world-wide social issues. Today those issues and others are still paramount concerns for us. As one of our responses, we are committed to making all of our decisions based on their possible impact on women, earth and the poor. We have also taken a Corporate Stand for Peace, excerpts of which are posted on our facts page.

Now, as we walk these early years of the 21st Century, we remain steadfast in our mission to be the face of our Provident God as we bring hope and healing to a hurting world.

We are women rooted in the past and open to the future.

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