In 1889, Father Henry Deichmann, pastor of Sts. Aegidius and Mary Church in the new town of Aberdeen in the Washington Territory contacted the Dominican Convent of Holy Rosary on Second Street in New York. While he desired that the local Catholic children have a Catholic education, the most pressing need in his parish came not from the German settlers but from the loggers whose frequent and serious injuries underscored the need for a local hospital. Seven Sisters from New York, again responding to the invitation to work for the coming of the reign of God, arrived in Aberdeen on September 1, 1890. They moved into three simple frame houses built on pilings over the tide flats. These three buildings became St. Rose Convent, St. Rose Academy, and St. Joseph Hospital.  Eventually from these humble beginnings came the Province of St. Rose of the New York Congregation.

The Sisters adapted to new and often demanding conditions. They often undertook arduous begging tours to lumber camps deep in the forested hills to raise money for their ministries. From the beginning, the Sisters identified with the poor, spending long hours teaching and nursing as well as feeding the homeless, the out of work, and the downtrodden who knocked on their Convent door. The work was hard, the hours long, the food meager, and tuberculosis claimed the lives of several of their number.

Beyond serving the needs of the children and the ill, the Sisters sought to enrich lives by cultivating a love of beauty. They made music, art, and drama part of the Catholic experience and enriched the liturgies with choral and instrumental accompaniment.  Go back to top

A New Independent Congregation

In 1923, our Province of St. Rose was separated from the Newburgh, New York Congregation and became the independent Congregation of Holy Cross.  St. Dominic Convent  in Everett Washington was established as the Motherhouse of the new congregation.  Sister Guilelma Stafford, OP, who years before had been the first postulant from the Northwest, was named the first Prioress General.  Financial difficulties were such that some thought the new community would not last a year.  They were proven wrong, however.

In that same year of 1923 the St. Joseph Province of the Newburgh Congregation, centered in Michigan, also became independent.  They came to be known popularly as the Adrian Dominicans, and they would come to be important in the future of the Edmonds Dominicans.  The two provinces shared some superiors and members before their independence.

In 1956  the Motherhouse was moved to its present location at Rosary Heights in Edmonds, Washington.   Thus, what was known in popular language as the "Everett Dominicans"  became the "Edmonds Dominicans".

In subsequent years, the Congregation of Holy Cross continued to upgrade and expand its hospitals and schools, including the staffing of schools not only in Washington but also in California, Oregon and Montana. The community energetically developed its ministries, while individuals within the community were also recognized for their extraordinary talent. Both Sister Frances Miller's Mass and Sister Mary Joseph Towey's Marian Hymn won critical acclaim as musical compositions. The best known of the community's artists and authors was Sister Mary Jean Dorcy, a prolific, nationally acclaimed writer and an unsurpassed creator of artistic silhouettes.    

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Call to Change

Inspired by the Church's call to renewal in the Second Vatican Council, the Sisters re-examined their charism. Their task was to return to the original vision of Dominic, and to draw on the Dominican charism to respond to the needs of the present time. In their Constitutions and Statutes, the Sisters affirmed that "freedom and flexibility are characteristics of Dominican apostolic ministry … this congregation is devoted to the pursuit and proclamation of truth wherever it is found. It is this goal that has given the congregation a dynamic openness to changing times and emerging needs, particularly in the areas of peace and justice." Our ministry to preach the word and to work for justice stretched beyond the classrooms and the hospital rooms. As times and conditions changed, the community relinquished the role of administering and staffing hospitals. Many Sisters adopted new ministries as ways to proclaim the justice and compassion of God, especially to women and children. Also we sought to serve the poor with missionaries to Mexico and Haiti and ministering to Hispanic immigrants and Native Americans.  Go back to top

Current Ministries

Today we minister not only as teachers, nurses and administrators, but also as hospital and prison chaplains, social workers and psychologists, community organizers, pastoral ministers, lawyers and lobbyists, musicians and artists, spiritual and retreat directors, missionaries, advocates for the poor, the homeless, the immigrants, and preachers of the gospel message. Although we minister primarily in the Northwest, there are Sisters in California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Haiti and China. In the recent past, Sisters have also ministered in Alaska, Kentucky, Montana, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Mexico.  Go back to top

Into the Future

The branches of the tree from Ratisbon have experienced the cycle of springtimes of hope and growth and winters of hardship and diminishment through the centuries. In 1995 our mother Congregation, the Dominican Sisters of Newburgh, N.Y. disolved to become part of a new entity along with two other Dominican Congregations. They are now the Dominican Sisters of Hope.  

To continue the mission of Dominic into the future in the Northwest, where we have ministered for 112 years, the Dominican Sisters of Edmonds, Washington voted on December 7, 2002 to merge with their sister Congregation the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Michigan.  The Ratisbon tree is modified, but it continues to serve in the spirit of our courageous foremothers.

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