1931-1960

Responding to the request of the Dominican Friars to work with them in beginning a mission in Pakistan, 8 Sisters set out on a journey to a new climate, culture, language, and attire. Led by Sr. Purissima Reilly, they arrive in Karachi on October 12, 1958. By 1965, they will have built schools in various […]

The congregation responds to a request from Cardinal Spellman to build and staff a Catholic high school in Rockland County. Albertus Magnus High School begins its long history of providing excellence in secondary education as a premier college preparatory school.

The Sisters expand their educational ministry to Easton, Maryland with the opening of Sts. Peter and Paul School in 1955 and Sts. Peter and Paul High School in 1958.

The Sisters establish and build St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill to prepare the young Sisters for teaching. Today STAC offer programs to men and women in more than 60 disciplines.

The congregation celebrates its 75th Jubilee. At that time, the blessings given to the congregation is reflected in the celebration of eleven jubilarians—the youngest having spent 51 years as Dominican Sisters (Mother Benigna and Sister Mary Irene) and the senior Jubilarian (Sister Mary Ignatius) having completed her 65th year—a Dominican Sisters for all but 10

Villa St. Dominic in Glasco, NY, opens as a guest house for lay and religious women. It expands its ministry to offer a yearlong renewal program (Corazón) for women religious from 1983 to 2015. 

In 1946, Holy Rosary Convent (which had been closed as a childcare institution, is reopened as Thorpe Secretarial School to meet the obvious need of a commercial high school in that area. The name “Thorpe” was chosen to mark the centenary of the birth of the congregation’s founder, Mother Catherine Antoninus (Alice Mary Thorpe). The

Cardinal McCloskey Home and School opens in White Plains, NY, staffed by 25 Sisters from Sparkill. Over the years, it has evolved to become Cardinal McCloskey Community Services, a social service agency providing services to the children in our foster care programs, preschool education to children from low-income families, and helping developmentally disabled adults lead

The Sisters’ ministries expand to the state of Delaware with the opening of Siena Hall, a home for boys in Wilmington. This ministry continues until 1964.

A new St. Agnes Novitiate is built in Sparkill, alongside the new Rosary Villa which will serve as a home for Sisters in declining health or needing rest as they recuperate from illness or surgery.

Mother Benigna Kelly purchases land in Saugerties and Glasco, NY, to secure a suitable place for Sisters to have some time for rest and respite from their ministries during the summer. The Spaulding Estate (at the Saugerties end of the property) is named Villa St. Joseph.