150th Anniversary Liturgy - Video     Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes Kicking Off Year-long Celebration Today

St. Agnes Mark the 150th Anniversary

Celebration of CSA 150th Anniversary at St. John’s in Hays Kansas
On April 2, 2008, Sister Mary Ann Schippers invited our Via Christi Administrators, Renee Davison, our administrator, our Heads of the various Departments, our staff, our residents, our volunteers to celebrate 150 years of CSA living and ministering to the people of God.
Sister Alice Ann Pfeifer gave a short presentation of our three founders, Father Casper Rehrl, Mother Agnes Hazotte and Father Francis Haas, our CSA early beginnings and struggles and our ministry in education, nursing and everything that we do today. Sister Mary Ann Schippers gave the history of St. John's of Hays from the time St. John's Corporation purchased the Canterbury Villa to the merging with Via-Christi 2005 to our present time. She gave a special tribute to our volunteers who do so much to make life more pleasant for our volunteers. Everyone was served cookies, ice cream, and punch. Sisters Ronald Meis, Paul Ann Dinkel, Vivian Kleinsorge, Francis Rose Dinkel, Mary Catherine Grief made and helped with refreshments or attended as guests.

Sisters of Saint Agnes Mark 150th Anniversary.
This year, the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Agnes are celebrating  the sesquicentennial of their foundation in Wisconsin in 1858. For over 130 of those 150 years, the Sisters have ministered locally. MORE.

150 Years . . . Lasting Legacy  (from www.wnpj.org)
Long before women's lib, a group of feminine religious pioneers were blazing their own trail through frontier Wisconsin. They became known as the Sisters of St. Agnes, young women who left behind a legacy of hospitals, orphanages and a Catholic foundation for fledgling communities to build upon. MORE. (From the Fond du Lac Reporter)

On February 18, 2008, the Congregation of Sisters of Saint Agnes gave a reception in honor of their 150th anniversary to friends and supporters at 320 County Road K from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. 

Monday, January 21, sisters from Tucson, Bisbee, the Phoenix area and Capuchins attended the celebration in honor of St. Agnes Day and the opening of the CSA 150^th anniversary.The Capuchins who are now living in the house owned Cathedral Parish that our sisters had lived in at one time. Click here to read the homily.

150th Celebration in Managua

Managua was the site of the celebration of the 150th jubilee of the Sisters of St. Agnes. It was done in grand style. The celebration was held on the beautiful grounds of Cantera under two large tents seating nearly 400 people. The breezy day was sunny and pleasant. A trumpet called the assembly’s attention to the solemn proclamation that opened the year-long celebration of the 150th anniversary. The proclamation, composed by Sister Miriam Therese Putzer, was sung in Spanish by Sister Lael Niblick.

Sister Ruth Battaglia led the entrance procession to the altar carrying the Easter candle. The jubilarians, Sisters Imelda Salazar, Ines Lezama, Rose Kowalski, Petrona Herrera, Deydamia de Fatima Ruiz, and

Diane Bauknecht preceded Bishops Paul Schmitz, David Zywick, and guest priests in the procession. Sister Diane Bauknecht reflected on the Gospel story of the three kings. They began their journey, reassessed it along the way, sought direction and made changes if and when it was necessary. She then compared the journeys of the jubilarians and the community with that of the three kings.

After the Mass a reception dinner was served to the sisters and their guests by staff from Cantera. The jubilarians, and all of the sisters, were deeply touched by the presence of family members, CSA associates, co-workers, former co-workers, friends, priests, and religious from many communities.

Sisters of St. Agnes mark 150 years

From The Fond du Lac Reporter

 The public will be invited in May to an open house to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes.

The gathering is one of a number of events in 2008 to mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes.

The congregation was founded in Barton, Wis., on Aug. 12, 1858. The Rev. Caspar Rehrl, an Austrian missionary, established a sisterhood of young pioneer women under the patronage of St. Agnes of Rome to whom he had a special devotion. The Agnes Sisters, as they were first called, were founded to teach and catechize the children of the immigrant families Rehrl served in his missionary travels between Milwaukee and Green Bay.

At first, the group of young sisters suffered so many hardships and difficulties that for a few months in 1861 the community was reduced to one blind sister, according to a CSA press release.

The arrival of Mary Hazotte in 1863 gave the fledgling community new life and leadership when she, in 1864 at the age of 17, was elected general superior. Mother Agnes Hazotte directed the move from Barton to Fond du Lac in 1870 and served as the community's leader until her death in 1905.

In 1870, the Rev. Francis Haas, OFM Capuchin, became the spiritual director of the community and assisted in revising the original rule. These three founders paved the way for the growth and expansion of the community.

Today, the Sisters of St. Agnes serve in 16 states in the United States and in Latin America engaging in a variety of ministries that include education, healthcare, pastoral ministry, social service, the arts, spirituality and wellness. The elder members of the community continue to serve through their life of prayer and presence.

Members of the congregation have planned several special events in honor of their sesquicentennial: