The Order of Preachers sharing the Gospel for over 800 years.
Mission Statement
The Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine de’ Ricci are a community of vowed women religious rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ and in the spirit of St. Dominic and our founder, Lucy Eaton Smith. Our lives of contemplation, study and community strengthen us to give prophetic witness by preaching the word of God to all, with a special concern for the spiritual growth of women.
A Piece of History
Lucy Eaton Smith, Mother Catherine de’ Ricci in religious life, was the daughter of a prominent family in New York City and moved in upper social circles. She converted to Catholicism at age of twenty after being attracted initially to the church by the music of the high mass she heard while walking by St. Vincent de Paul’s one morning.
Lucy’s first introduction to Dominicanism was at a retreat preached by a French Dominican in her parish. Later, she would leave home after hearing God’s call to leave all and go to Europe. She left under the guise of visiting relatives. In Berlin, she met a Dominican priest who became her spiritual director. She studied the Dominican life and was professed as a Dominican Tertiary in Santa Sabina. She visited many monastaries and was attracted by the varied expressions of Dominican life, but did not find that which her soul craved.
Her soul’s desire was recognized in the ministry of spiritual retreats for women given by the sisters of Our Lady of the Cenacle. So much so, that she desired to enter this group but struggled with a Dominican heart. Her spiritual director advised against it and told her that America needed such a tranquilizing work. After deciding to bring the ministry to America, her life became a preparation for founding a congregation, including a year with the Ladies of the Cenacle.
Lucy returned to NY and sought permission for the beginning of the institute. She went first to the Dominican Provincial seeking support, but her work did not appeal to him and he gave no encouragement. Undaunted, she applied to the Cardinal-Archbishop who denied her request on the grounds of financial safety because such an institute could not draw salaries such as those with teachers. Lucy decided to wait and pray, sure a door would open if the work was of God’s design.
Four years later, a door opened. While attending a church in Glens Falls, NY, she proposed her plan for retreats to the pastor after noticing an unoccupied house on the property. His acceptance came with a request that her sisters teach at the parish school until they had the means to begin her ministry. She agreed and the rest is history. Lucy made her first vows in Glens Falls in 1880 and took the name of Sr. Maria Catherine de’ Ricci. After two years, the sisters were able to withdraw from teaching and begin retreat work.
In 1886, Mother de’ Ricci returned to Europe for health reasons and to meet with the master general to seek aggregation with the Order, which was promised and officially received in 1889. At that time, the sisters added to the thrust of all Dominican life: contemplation and action, the spirit that would permeate
Our Ministries Today
Our living history reveals the ebb and flow of life and mission as we followed Mother de’ Ricci’s prophecy that we must find God’s will and our work in the circumstances of the hour. Today Dominican prayer, study, community and ministry still provide the source and support to discover new ways of following her lead. Our charism is expressed in the ministries of parish service, retreat ministry, artistry, campus ministry, diocesan service, spiritual direction, liturgy and music, counseling, and other works of compassion and care. Standing on the shoulders of those Sisters who went before,we prepare a legacy for those who will come after us, believing with our foundress that some capable hands will cultivate and develop that which is not ours but God’s.
Our Legacy to the Church
Since our 1880 founding and opening of the first retreat house for women in the United States, our call to the spiritual needs of women has been expressed in the three basic ministries of retreat, residence and religious education with many variations on these themes. Retreat houses, were established in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, New Mexico, Miami, and Virginia. Six residence houses were established in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Catechetical Centers sprang up in New Jersey and Michigan. When expulsion from Cuba ended a 30 year teaching ministry, the sisters were invited to administer the Miami diocese’s Catholic Spanish Center to
care for refugees from Cuba and other Latin counties.
Lucy Eaton Smith
