Sisters of the Holy Family

It was a great dramatic moment in New Orleans in 1842 in the midst of slavery, social upheaval, squalor, and degradation that Venerable Mere Henriette Delille, this free woman of color of African descent, founded our Congregation, the Sisters of the Holy Family.  Like the courageous foundresses of the nineteenth century, Mere Henriette was compelled by the Holy Spirit to express in yet a new fashion, the central truth of human history that Jesus, Lord of History and Redeemer of humankind, continues His salvific walk through time calling to His side new and courageous disciples to proclaim His mission afresh for each generation. She inspired Juliette Gaudin, Josephine Charles, and other like-minded young women to unite with her to help serve those in need.

In our works of evangelization, education, and social services, we stand in solidarity and communion with the poor of Christ.  In its traditional and new forms, our mission of service to the human person obliges us to respect the dignity of each and to confront the evils of injustice, racism, and economic oppression with courage and hope.   Our beloved foundress, Mere Henriette Delille, left her legacy in one simple line that embodies Jesus’ hope for us.  “I believe in God, I hope in God, I love. I want to live and die for God.”  As her daughters we, Sisters of the Holy Family, strive to imitate Mere Henriette’s spirituality.  Her prayer was both contemplative, “I believe, I love,” and apostolic, “I want to live and die” for God.  In the spirit of our saintly foundress, we seek the will of God through daily prayer and model our lives on the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

We dedicate ourselves to the ministry of education permeated by the Gospel spirit of freedom, justice, and charity. Through our witness and teaching, we strive to inspire in all a true longing for holiness, a deep desire for conversion, a commitment to personal renewal, and a solidarity with the most needy of society. We have owned and  operated St. Mary's Academy (SMA) since 1867. Over the years we have educated both girls and boys, but we are now only serving girls at SMA. Most of our graduates have gone on to serve in various capacities in our own city and abroad as judges, lawyers, professors, architects, computer scientists, and other noteworthy fields. We also own and operate St. John Berchmans Early Childhood Development Center (SJBECDC) which serves children from ages 2 -4 years old.

We also proclaim and embody the Gospel message through our pastoral and youth ministry, health care, housing, social service, and care of the aged.  We remain attentive to the words of Jesus:  “I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me” (Mt. 25:35-36). The Sisters of the Holy Family also founded the first Catholic Nursing Home in the USA, Lafon Nursing Facility.

Together with our saintly foundress and her companions, we proclaim by our persons and our ministries, the sacredness and the uniqueness of each person, while seeking to respond with creativity and vision to new situations and different needs. Presently we have joined forces with Together New Orleans (TNO) to serve the needs of persons living in the New Orleans area as a Lighthouse. During storms or prolonged power outages we can now serve as a place of reprieve where neighbors can come to cool off (It gets extremely hot in NOLA during the hurricane season), eat a meal and/or charge cell phones or needed medical equipment. We have dwindled in numbers, but we still perform the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. We view the Lighthouse as a means of continuing our ministries in spite of our diminishment. We are also working to create a community solar farm which will provide electricity at a 20% discount to those who subscribe. Our hope is that groundbreaking will begin in January 2026 for this new venture.

We ask not only that you pray for our continued efforts in helping those in need, but we would appreciate your donation to care for our Sisters as they continue to age, support new members of the congregation, and to help us contiune our ministries. As you pray and support us, we in turn will pray for you. We ask God to bless you through our patron saints whom we honor: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.