On Nov. 10, Archbishop Donnellan officiated at a Eucharistic Liturgy celebrating the 125th anniversary of the founding of the I.H.M. Sisters. Priests from the Atlanta area parishes in which sisters of the Monroe, Michigan congregation work, joined them in the celebration held at St. Patrick’s Parish in Gwinnett Co. Supper was served after Mass in the parish’s log cabin, reminiscent of the site of the original foundation.

The Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was founded in 1845, by a young Redemptorist missionary, Rev. Louis Gillet, who vowed to “make” sisters if he could not find some. The community, dedicated to the work of Christian education, has grown from its tiny beginning with three sisters, to a “three-branched” congregation with motherhouses in Pennsylvania as well as Michigan.

In the Atlanta archdiocese, Sisters from the Monroe Congregation work in Holy Cross Parish, St. Patrick’s Parish, Blessed Sacrament Parish, St. Pius X High School, St. Thomas More School, and the Archdiocesan Office of Religious Education.

Sisters from the Immaculata, Penn. Motherhouses serve in Sts. Peter and Paul Parish, Decatur, St. Joseph’s Athens, and also in the Savannah Diocese.