Our History

The ADJC congregation was founded on August 15, 1851, when Katharina Kasper and four other women professed monastic vows before Bishop Peter Joseph Blum.

Each foundation of a branch by Maria Katharina was preceded by a call.

She founded the first branch in Bad Camberg in 1854 on the initiative of Moritz Lieber, an important politician for Catholicism in Nassau.

As early as 1859, she was called to found a branch in the Netherlands. In 1868 she followed a call from North America and sent the first eight sisters to the diocese of Fort Wayne, in the state of Indiana. During the Kulturkampf, the congregation spread to England, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Even after Catherine’s death on February 2, 1898, her community continued to grow. In 1963, the first branch of the ADJC was opened in India.

Today, about 600 sisters of the community work in these countries and also in Brazil, Mexico, Kenya and Nigeria.

Again and again, the ADJC have been called to areas of need around the world. Emergency missions of the ADJC in crisis areas were in

• Vietnam
• Nicaragua
• Cambodia
• Romania
• and in Kosovo.

We are increasingly committed to our missions and gladly accept donations for this purpose.