TheDominican Sisters of Blauvelt are areligious congregation within theDominican Order ofreligious sisters founded in 1890. They are based in the town ofBlauvelt, New York, a northern suburb ofNew York City. Their traditional service has been childcare, both through teaching and caring for orphans.
Mary Sammon was born andbaptized on September 17, 1843 inTerryglass,County Tipperary,Ireland. She was the seventh of eight children. In 1850, she and two of her older sistersemigrated to the United States with their uncle and settled on theLower East Side ofManhattan. At that period, it was a large center ofGerman immigration. Mary and her sisters supported themselves throughdomestic work, serving GermanCatholic families in the neighborhood.
In 1862,Mother Hyacinth Scheininger, O.P., was sent from Holy Cross Convent in theWilliamsburgh section ofBrooklyn in order to teach German girls in Lower Manhattan. It was there that Mary met thecloistered Dominican nuns, who had come fromRatisbon,Germany, to care for children of theGerman-speaking immigrants to America. She joined the nuns and received the Dominicanhabit in 1873, at which time she took the name Sister Mary Ann .
By that time, a separate convent on Second Street in Brooklyn had been established. It was in Brooklyn that she began to rescue orphaned children from the streets of New York City, especially immigrant children. Eventually, she was asked by theArchbishop of New York,Cardinal McCloskey, to establish a home for them. Sister Mary Ann and Mother Hyacinth were looking for property in Blauveltville, when they came across a "For Sale" sign in front of the Eustace property on Western Highway. They decided to stop and look at the house and property. As they entered the parlor, they were surprised to see an original Grellet painting of the founder of their Order,Saint Dominic, raising a dead child to life—a miracle which had occurred at Saint Sixtus in Rome in the 13th century. For the two nuns, this was a sign and Sister Mary Ann exclaimed, "Here we shall be."
In 1878, she and a few other nuns established Saint Joseph Convent in Blauveltville,Rockland County, New York. Nine immigrant orphans also went with the nuns, the beginning of what is now St. Dominic's Home.[1]
Sister Mary Ann was appointed theReligious superior of the house in 1880, and henceforth was called Mother Mary Ann. There was a great need for care for orphans, and the orphanage quickly expanded. Every available space was converted to rooms for the children and for the Sisters who cared for them. By 1884, the Sisters were caring for 389 children. Their status as cloistered nuns of the DominicanSecond Order, however, continually proved to be an impediment to their service, due to various requirements in their way of life in the daily routine which complicated their service in childcare. To resolve this and other issues, in October 1890, the community separated from themotherhouse in Brooklyn and was incorporated as theSisters of St. Dominic of Blauvelt, areligious congregation of theThird Order of St. Dominic.[2]
Today, more than 120 professed Sisters and associate members minister throughoutNew York,Rhode Island,New Jersey,Florida,California andOregon.[1] They are actively involved in education at all levels including colleges, high schools, grammar schools, and special education programs for the multi-handicapped.Dominican College (New York) inOrangeburg, New York was founded in 1952.[1]
Their ministries include social service programs for the developmentally disabled, services for children in foster care (including adoption services), programs for migrant children, shelters for homeless adults and children, housing services for persons with HIV/AIDS, programs for the mentally ill and chemically addicted, and health care services for the poor. They also minister in community outreach programs that provide advocacy, ESL, literacy, and job training. They are active in social justice activities, catechetical programs; retreat work, pastoral work in parishes and hospitals, and prayer ministry.