The first eight Sisters came at the request of Bishop Augustin Verot, then Bishop of the Diocese of Savannah, and later, first bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine. He knew of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Le Puy, because they worked in his native town. He asked them to educate and evangelize the freed slaves.
The Sisters learned English and began by first teaching the children of those freed slaves and, in night school, the adults. The sisters supported themselves through the sales of handmade lace, private French lessons, music and art, and by boarding invalids. In 1874, they opened St. Joseph Academy and later similar academies in Jacksonville, Mandarin and other parts of the state. By the turn of the 20th Century the work the congregation and others had done throughout Florida enabled more than 50% of the African American population to be able to read.
Since that time, our service has expanded to various unique missions throughout the state, including elementary schools, high schools, colleges, hospitals, homes for children, nursing homes, homes for developmentally disabled adults and a home for unwed mothers.
