175 Years in California: Step into Our History
Enjoy a look at celebrations of being woven together in God’s goodness over 175 years in California.
In 1851, Sisters Loyola and Marie Catherine journeyed from an Oregon mission to San Francisco with limited funds but profound faith, stepping in to address the critical educational gaps triggered by the California Gold Rush. Over the subsequent 175 years, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur continue their legacy of social justice leadership and community-focused education along the West Coast.
Our Province History: California
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From Oregon to San Francisco
Sisters Loyola and Marie Catherine travel from the Oregon mission to San Francisco to meet newly arrived Sisters from Belgium. Recognizing the urgent educational needs created by the Gold Rush, California’s Catholic population grew from 20 in 1848 to 20,000 by 1851. They remain in California despite arriving with little more than an abundance of faith. Read More
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Marysville
Sisters Mary Cornélia and Mary Catherine accompany the first group to Marysville, a booming mining center. Additional foundations follow in Santa Clara (1864), San Francisco (1866) and Alameda (1881).
The Guatemala Sisters and the California Mission
SNDdeN extend into the global South – Guatemala, and remain there for 16 years before moving north to California. These transplanted Sisters offer cultural adaptability, bilingual instruction, and the ability to serve among Indigenous and mixed-heritage communities.
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Degrees for Women
The Academy grows, the curriculum evolves, and in time is chartered as the College of Notre Dame — becoming the first institution in California authorized to grant baccalaureate degrees to women. It is celebrated as “the best school for young women in the West.”
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Sarasota and the Earthquake
The Sisters purchase a farmhouse and property in Saratoga, California, as a place for the exhausted teachers to rest. That year, an earthquake damaged many schools. In an effort to prevent the spread of fire, the College of Notre Dame, San Francisco, school and convent complex, including the newly constructed addition, is dynamited to create a fire break. Sister Mary Bernardine sends a telegram after the earthquake: “The Sisters, the children, all safe. God is good. Buildings can be rebuilt.” Please read Sister Laurentine’s first-hand account of the earthquake.
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Mission Dolores School for Boys
The school opens in San Francisco, with the Sisters teaching the lower grades. When the Christian Brothers leave in 1924, the Sisters take over to teach all of the grades.
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Relocation to Ralston Hall
As San José grows and the original campus becomes cramped, the Sisters purchase the Ralston Mansion in Belmont to accommodate their expanding community and schools.
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Campus Development
The Sisters build a new structure on Ralston Avenue to house the high school and elementary segments.
Villa Angelica
Lady Maria Antonia Field gifts Villa Angelica, a beautiful property in Carmel, to her friend and former teacher, Sister Angelica, as a retreat house for Sisters. During World War II, Villa Angelica becomes the temporary home to Junipero Serra Elementary School, a school for children of the nearby Army base, as a wartime measure.
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College of Notre Dame Graduates to 4 Years
College of Notre Dame in Belmont, Calif., becomes a four-year college, with 23 Sisters involved in teaching, administration or emeritus positions.
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Wartime Home
The Sisters meet President and Mrs. Eisenhower during the couple’s vacation in California.
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Mission in Hawaii
The mission in Hawaii, started by the Massachusetts Province in 1946, joins the California Province.
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Novitiate Enrollment Blooms
The novitiate in Saratoga, California, is overflowing with new entrants during the late 1950s and early 1960s. During this period, the Sisters establish or join the faculties of five additional high schools, 20 elementary schools and two Montessori schools across California, Oregon and Washington—many of them located in small but rapidly growing communities.
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Vatican II
Following Vatican II, life for the Sisters, including their habit, radically changes. The Sisters start to drive, receive permission to watch TV and swim, and are allowed to visit family.
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Sister CJ Cunningham and CND
Sister CJ Cunningham, SNDdeN serves as president of the College of Notre Dame (CND) for 24 years, a then-record in Northern California. She also bestows an honorary degree on early-Hollywood child star and longtime SNDdeN friend Shirley Temple Black, whose husband Charles serves on the CND board.
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Shooting Hoops
As Dean of Students at Notre Dame High School, San José, Sister Anne Locke, SNDdeN (formerly Sister Mary Terence) takes on the Harlem Globetrotters during a memorable school event.
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College of Notre Dame Goes Co-Ed
The College of Notre Dame undergraduate program becomes co-educational. Initially, male day students were expected to commute. When three out-of-town men showed up with their luggage, an on-the-spot decision was made to turn some offices into a men’s dorm. “We never regretted that decision!” laughed Sister Catharine Julie “CJ” Cunningham, SNDdeN, then CND President.
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Hunters Point
A community of Sisters begins living in Hunters Point, a neighborhood in San Francisco, as a ministry presence with the poor. They work closely with the Redemptorist Fathers in this vibrant faith community.
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Making God’s Goodness Known in the Great Land
Sisters Dolores Steiner and Julie Thorpe, SNDdeN serve the Yupik and Athabascan native people in Alaska.
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Hawaii Opens Catholic Montessori Preschool
Sister Christina Trudeau, SNDdeN converts a former convent into Mary, Star of the Sea Early Learning Center, establishing the very first Catholic Montessori preschool in Hawaii.
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Pajaro Valley Shelter
Sisters Susan Olson and Marie Veronica Wagner, SNDdeN open the Pajaro Valley Shelter for women and children in Watsonville. This shelter provides families with budgeting and parenting classes and job-seeking assistance to help them secure stable housing in Santa Cruz County.
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Responding to the AIDS Crisis
Sister Kay McMullen, SNDdeN begins ministering to AIDS patients in Monterey, a call to love that she answers for more than a decade.
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Casa de la Cultura Center
Casa de la Cultura Center in Watsonville is founded by Sister Rosa Dolores Rodriguez, SNDdeN, to meet the needs of migrant farm workers. She continues to serve as executive director.
I Have a Dream Program
Sister Georgianna Coonis, SNDdeN begins the “I Have a Dream” program with Stanford MBA students to help at-risk students in East Palo Alto.
Notre Dame - AmeriCorps
Sister Jeanette Braun, SNDdeN is the first director of Notre Dame – AmeriCorps in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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United Nations Representation
Sister Joan Burke, SNDdeN serves as the Congregation’s first representative at the United Nations.
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Belmont Province Center Opens
The Sisters welcome staff and residents at the new Belmont Province Center. Located at the historic Ralston Hall mansion, the site houses the novitiate and Province administration, while facilitating the expansion of Notre Dame High School and elementary education in California.
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Belmont Celebrates 100 Years in California
Nearly 400 Sisters and friends – including Associates, alumni, students, staff, former Sisters, supporters, and community and state leaders – gather at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) in Belmont, California, for the centennial celebration of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur’s arrival to the area.
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Province Leadership
Sister Kathryn Keenan, SNDdeN of Redwood City, California (second from right), and four Sisters from the East are named to the Province Leadership Team for a five-year term: Sisters Ginny Scally, Maria Delaney, Pat O’Brien and Roberta Rzeznick, SNDdeN.
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Perpetual Vows in Belmont
Sister Gillian Wallace, SNDdeN (center) makes her perpetual vows at the Belmont Province Center.
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