Our History

Serving Cleveland for 170 years

The Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine have a venerable history of service in Northeast Ohio and South Carolina. They served as the city's first public health nurses, beginning an enduring legacy of responsive ministry, creative stewardship and an ongoing quest for social justice.

Our story begins in 1851

...when the first Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine arrived in Cleveland, Ohio from France to serve as the city’s first public health nurses. As the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine congregation grew, the sisters developed innovative and compassionate responses to address emerging community needs. They established hospitals, schools and dozens of health and social service programs in Ohio and South Carolina.

The Sisters founded Cleveland’s first private hospital, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, in 1865 in Cleveland’s Central Neighborhood, where it still stands today.

In 1873, the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine open Saint Ann Hospital and Infant Home to care for mothers and children; the hospital operated in service of Cleveland's women and families for a century. In 1973, the Sisters used the proceeds of the sale of Cleveland’s Saint Ann Hospital to endow the Saint Ann Foundation, the first health care conversion foundation in the United States.

In 1996, hospital partnerships generated proceeds to endow The Sisters of Charity Foundations of Cleveland, Canton and South Carolina.

In 2006, the Saint Ann Foundation and the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland merged and blended their missions and funding priorities. That same year, the foundation charted a new course to honor our heritage by embarking on a journey to strategically direct our work and investments. Our strategies focused on issues of homelessness, health and education disparities, with a special attention to the Central Neighborhood of Cleveland, and supporting Catholic sisters whose ministries have historically addressed these issues and so many more.

About the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine

The Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine is a congregation of women religious who, since their founding in 1851, have carried forward a faith-based legacy of high-quality, compassionate care.

This document provides background information about the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine’s charism, mission and history, which includes more than 170 years of responsive ministry and a quest for social justice.

Milestones Timeline

A small number of Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine arrive in Cleveland, at the behest of Bishop Amadeus Rappe, the first bishop of Cleveland.

The Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine open the first private hospital in Cleveland’s Central Neighborhood, St. Vincent Charity Hospital. The hospital’s first patients included soldiers returning from the Civil War. The hospital, now named St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, still serves the community today.

The Sisters open Saint Ann Hospital and Infant Home to care for mothers and children.

After a century of serving women and children, the Sisters sell Saint Ann Hospital. The Sisters use the proceeds to establish the Saint Ann Foundation, the first health care conversion foundation in the United States.

The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland was endowed from the proceeds of a partnership involving St. Vincent Charity Medical Center. Two other foundations, in Canton, Ohio and South Carolina, were also established with proceeds from hospital partnerships in those areas.

The Saint Ann Foundation and the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland merge and blend their missions and funding priorities.

The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland takes the lead to establish the Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood, a collaborative initiative with residents, the school district, other funders and organizations and agencies working to ensure all children in the neighborhood start school ready, go to good schools and graduate from high school and go on to college or other post-secondary education and a career.

A quarter-century after its founding, the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland continues to evoke the innovative, collaborative spirit of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine in its work to end homelessness in Cuyahoga County, support Catholic sisters and their ministries, and strengthen health and education outcomes in Cleveland's Central neighborhood.

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