Divine Redeemer, Sisters of the
DIVINE REDEEMER, SISTERS OF THE
(SDR, Official Catholic Directory #1020), a congregation with papal approbation founded in Niederbronn, Alsace, in 1849 by Elisabeth eppinger (Mother Alphonsa) to nurse the sick in their homes and to care for the poor. The community eventually spread through France, Germany, and Austria. By 1863 it was established in Hungary, and from that foundation the United States province of the Sisters of the Divine Redeemer later emerged. The community broadened its apostolate to include the education of youth and the care of orphans, the aged, and the infirm in charitable institutions. The congregation came to the United States in 1912 when four sisters from Sopron, Hungary, responded to the invitation of the Reverend Colman Kovats to work among the Hungarians of the Monongahela Valley in Pennsylvania. In the United States 170 sisters were engaged in teaching, healthcare, nursing, parish ministries and catechetical instruction. The general motherhouse is in Rome, Italy; the provincial headquarters, in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania.
Bibliography: w. freischlag, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 7:951–52.
[m. a. varga/eds.]