Last week, the Saint Joseph Academy community gathered in the Academy Center for a prayer service to honor Founders’ Day, held annually close to the founding date of October 15.
During the prayer service, students provided testimonials of their service to the dear neighbor without distinction. Students included Kate Mocho ’25, Audrey Tytko ’25, Maya Ciurcel ’26, Ella Antonetti ’27, Grace Schmidt ’27, Violet Hils ’26 and Adela Munishi ’25. The moving testimonials showed how the charism of the Sisters of the Congregation of St. Joseph is alive and continuing to thrive through the young women of the Academy.
The Congregation of St. Joseph traces its founding to 1650 in the small village of LePuy, France. At the time, the French countryside had been ravaged by war, sickness, poverty and social divisions. Six women came together along with their spiritual mentor, Fr. Jean-Pierre Medaille, S.J., to begin a new religious order of women who would be active in meeting the needs of the people around them (at the time, most women’s religious communities were confined to convents and thus isolated from the outside world). Uniting their profound love of God and their love for their neighbors in need, the first Sisters and their Associates were pioneers in the history of religious life through their cultivation of an apostolic ministry of women.
To our sponsors, the Sisters of the Congregation of St. Joseph, the entire Saint Joseph Academy community is thankful for your continued support, spiritual guidance and prayers.