Schrieck, Sister Louise Van der1813╨1886religiousBorn on November 14, 1813, in Bergen-op-Zoom, Netherlands, Josephine Van der Schrieck grew up there and from 1817 in Antwerp. She was educated in a private school and in the school of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Belgium. In 1837 she became a novice of the order, and in May 1839 she became Sister Louise. She was one of eight sisters who volunteered to emigrate to the United States to establish the order there. They set out in September 1840 and settled in Cincinnati in October, establishing the order╒s first permanent home outside Belgium. A boarding school, a school for the children of the poor, and a Sunday school were soon in operation. In 1845 Sister Louise became superior of the convent, and in 1848 she became superior-provincial for all establishments east of the Rocky Mountains. During her 38 years as superior-provincial the number of foundations under her authority grew from 2 to 27, and some 800 sisters staffed the order╒s own academies and nearly 50 parochial elementary schools in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and other cities. In 1867 she sent sisters to staff a school for African-American children in Cincinnati. Night classes for adults were also operated in several cities. Under her firm, traditionalist administration the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur flourished and provided invaluable service to the rapidly growing Catholic populations of eastern and midwestern cities. Sister Louise died in Cincinnati on December 3, 1886. åstyl ` ! ¬ 5¬ * 5¬ 5 !I t 5¬ u !I link `
