Learn the Story of our History and Heritage
 
Origins of the Dominican Order: Since the founding of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) in 1216, women and men have lived their lives with compassion, a burning desire to search for truth, and a vow to follow in the footsteps of St. Dominic, who set the world afire through preaching and reaching out to people in need. 

Mother Mary Ann and the Founding Sisters of Saint Dominic: Like St. Dominic, Mother Mary Ann Sammon was a woman with a love for God and God’s children. After immigrating to New York from Ireland, she entered a Dominican Convent in New York City in 1869. These sisters came to New York from Bavaria to open a school for the children of German immigrants. After witnessing many children on the streets, Mother Mary Ann, an orphan herself, recognized the need for a home for these children outside of New York City. Mother Mary Ann searched for a location for the home and found one in Blauveltville, New York. After purchasing a house there in 1878, Mother Mary Ann and the Sisters of Saint Dominic would continue to spread God’s love and compassion across Rockland County and beyond.

Expansion and Change: While the Sisters of Saint Dominic never forgot the founding mission of Mother Mary Ann, they responded to the sign of the times by coming out of cloister. As the new century began, requests for teachers arrived from Illinois, and the Sisters of Saint Dominic answered the call. It wasn’t long before schools in the New York, Rhode Island, Florida, and New Jersey, were staffed by our sisters. The Sisters of Saint Dominic have taught in elementary schools, high schools, and colleges; some have also ministered to cancer patients, taught the blind, as well as served as house mothers for orphans in what is now St. Dominic’s Family Services.