St. Mary of the Visitation Parish was founded in 1849 in Marytown, Wisconsin. The Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes began teaching at the school and playing the church organ in 1865. The sisters served there until 1895 and again from 1910 to 1988. In 1969, the school merged with three other area schools to form Consolidated Parochial Elementary School, now known as Holyland Catholic School.
St. Peter's Church was established in 1866, and in 1868, parishioners built a school staffed by the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes, as well as a convent for the sisters. The sisters taught at St. Peter's until 1969. In 2000, the church became part of the Holy Family Catholic Community.
The hospice movement in the United States was in its infancy when Sister Anne Jude Van Lanen began exploring the feasibility of starting a program in Fond du Lac in 1977. It was approved by the State of Wisconsin in 1980 and hospice staff and volunteers began making home visits to individuals throughout the region. Inpatient care would become available in 1982 when St. Agnes Hospital provided five beds for hospice care, and in 2000, Hospice Home of Hope opened to provide 20 rooms for individuals seeking end of life care.
In 1898, Mother Agnes Hazotte of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes purchased Cold Springs Farm and renamed it St. Joseph Springs. The farm helped supply fresh meat and dairy to the convent and St. Agnes Hospital. Several acres were set aside for what would become St. Joseph Springs Cemetery, the final resting place for most sisters. In 2000, the last sisters moved off the property in preparation for construction of the current CSA motherhouse.
In 2002, the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes opened their current motherhouse on land that had previously been operated as St. Joseph Springs Farm. Care was taken in designing the structure to honor and accommodate the natural features that surround it such as the spring-fed streams that run through the property. The motherhouse is comprised of administrative offices, meeting rooms, a chapel, and residences for 36 sisters.
Nazareth Heights was built as an infirmary for retired members of the Congregation of Sisters St. Agnes in 1965. The facility sat on a bluff along the Niagara Escarpment overlooking Lake Winnebago. In 1998, residents moved to the new facilities of St. Francis Home and Nazareth Court and Center near St. Agnes Hospital. A year later, the building was re-purposed as the temporary motherhouse for the congregation as they built their current motherhouse nearby on Route K.
In 1901, local businessman John Boyle built a sanitarium east of Fond du Lac for people recuperating from tuberculosis and other chronic illnesses. He donated it to the Sisters of St. Agnes to operate but it struggled to attract clients. In 1909, the congregation proposed opening a boarding school for girls at the site and the two sanitarium buildings were converted into dorms and classrooms and renamed Boyle Hall and St. Agnes Hall. The school, now co-educational K-12, is called St. Mary's Springs Academy.
St. Mary's Springs Academy was established by the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes in 1909 as a boarding and day school for girls. Classes were held in the former St. Mary's Springs Sanitarium buildings, which were renamed Boyle Hall and St. Agnes Hall. The school began accepting male students in the 1930s and stopped accepting boarders in the 1950s. In 2008, the Fond du Lac Area Catholic Education System (FACES) merged with St. Mary's Springs to create a consolidated PreK-12 system at SMSA.
In 1936, the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes opened Marian College in their motherhouse in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. The college provided an education to the congregation's candidates and sisters as well as instruction for lay teachers seeking state certification. In 1965, the congregation moved the college to the newly constructed buildings at National Avenue and Division Street. The college became co-educational in 1970, and in 2008, was renamed Marian University.
St. Agnes Hospital School of Nursing opened in 1910 to train sister nurses for work at St. Agnes Hospital and St. Anthony's Hospital in Hays, Kansas, both of which were operated by the the Sisters of St. Agnes. The school began enrolling lay students in 1917 to help fill the shortage of nurses resulting from World War I. A new School of Nursing building containing dorm rooms and classrooms was constructed in 1931. In the 1960s, the school merged into Marian College's nursing program. The building was repurposed for use as a college dorm and then as the CSA motherhouse when the convent at 390 E. Division Street was demolished.
St. Agnes Hospital, originally called St. Agnes Sanitarium, was founded in 1896 by the Sisters of St. Agnes at the request of community leaders. The sisters staffed and administered the hospital, which underwent several major expansions between 1913 and 2006. In 2018, the Sisters of St. Agnes transferred sponsorship of the hospital to SSM Health.
The Samaritan Free Health Clinic is a collaborative effort of St. Agnes Hospital, Waupun Memorial Hospital, the Salvation Army, the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes, and other local civic and governmental agencies to bring medical, dental, and vision care to adults who are not eligible for Medical Assistance and are not able to purchase insurance.
The Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes first moved to Fond du Lac in August 1870. They settled on 12 lots of land along East Division Street which they had purchased for $6300. The congregation used the existing house on the property as their first motherhouse. The house has been moved twice and is now a private residence.
Mother Agnes Hazotte moved the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes from Barton, Wisconsin to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on August 1, 1870. The congregation settled on twelve lots of property on the south side of Division Street which had been purchased by Mother Agnes. In 1877, ground was broken on the first wing of a new motherhouse which would dominate that part of Division Street for nearly 100 years.
St. Francis Home, a skilled nursing facility, was built by the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes in 1977 to replace the Henry Boyle Catholic Home for the Aged. St. Clare Terrace is an independent residential facility first established in 1984, and St. Francis Terrace is an assisted living facility built in 1998. The interconnected complex provides a continuum of care for older Fond du Lac residents.
Nazareth Court and Nazareth Center were built in 1998 to provide residential and assisted living options for members of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes. The interconnected facility was built adjacent to St. Agnes Hospital and St. Francis Home, a skilled care residence, but is still located close enough to Fond du Lac's city center to allow sisters opportunities for volunteer work and recreation.
Beacon House is a treatment center for women recovering from alcohol and/or drug dependency. The organization was founded as Friends of Women in Recovery in 1992, and the house opened in June 1993. Beacon House was unique when it was founded because it allowed mothers to have their children with them while they went through the recovery process.
Bethany House of Hospitality first opened on March 27, 1989, and provided temporary shelter for between 12 and 15 people per night. Administered by an ecumenical board of advisors, the house received support and contributions from people of all faiths. In 2007, Bethany House merged with Friends Aware of Violent Relationships to form Solutions Center.
St. Joseph's Church is considered the mother church of Fond du Lac. Originally founded as St. Louis Parish at Second and Marr Streets in 1847, the growing parish eventually split into several churches along ethnic lines. A new St. Louis congregation was established by French speakers in 1862, and the mother parish was renamed St. Joseph's. The church was destroyed by fire in 1908 and a new structure was completed in 1910. St. Joseph's School opened in 1928 and was operated by the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes.
ASTOP was founded in 1992 to assist survivors of sexual assault and educate the community on the resources available to treat and prevent abuse. Founders Valerie Graczyk and Susan Griffiths of St. Agnes Hospital were later joined by Sister Rhea Emmer of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes to create an organization that provides 24-hour crisis support, professional counseling services, and prevention education.
The Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes had been teaching music students for many years in Fond du Lac before they established St. Cecilia's Academy of Music at St. Mary's convent in 1901. It is unknown how long the academy operated, but the sisters used the convent until 1955. The building is currently used for apartments.
St. Mary's School was established by German immigrants in 1857, eight years before the parish was founded. The first St. Mary's Church was built at Merrill Avenue and Marquette Street in 1866. The Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes began teaching at the school in 1879. In 1974, St. Mary's School merged with St. Joseph's School and the school was renovated into an apartment building. The church underwent a major renovation in 2016 and is part of the Holy Family Catholic Community.
Blandine House is a residential treatment center for recovering alcoholics named after Sister Blandine Eisele, CSA, who was instrumental in founding alcohol treatment programs in Wisconsin hospitals during the 1940s and 1950s. The Ben Sadoff Foundation provided much of the funding for Blandine House, which opened in 1970 and is operated under the auspices of the Episcopal Church.
In 1902, local businessman Henry Boyle funded the construction of a retirement home for needy elderly residents of Fond du Lac. He turned it over to the Sisters of St. Agnes to operate, which they did until 2000. In 1976, congregation built St. Francis Home to accommodate Fond du Lac's growing elderly population and converted Boyle Home into a residence for retired sisters called Boyle Apostolic Center.
St. Patrick's Parish was established in 1855, but a church wasn't completed until 1867. The Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes taught classes in the church in 1871, but it wasn't until 1938 when a proper school was built with a large matching donation from Henry and Julia Boyle. In 1970, the school merged with St. Louis and classes were held at St. Patrick's until 1995. The church was designated as a local landmark in 1990 and Masses were held there until 2007.
St. Louis Parish was established in 1868, although the church was not completed until 1871. The Sisters of St. Agnes taught at several iterations of St. Louis School beginning in 1879. The school merged with St. Patrick's School in 1970. In 2006, the church was sold and in March 2007, a fire destroyed the building.
Sacred Heart Parish was established on the west side of Fond du Lac in 1957 to accommodate the growing Catholic population after World War II. The Sisters of St. Agnes staffed the school, which opened in 1959. The church shared space with the school until 1979, when a church building was completed. Sacred Heart became part of the Holy Family Catholic Community in 2000.
Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish was established in North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in 1902. A year later a small frame church was built. A bigger brick church was constructed in 1915, and a school added in 1928. The Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes taught at Presentation from 1929 to 1990. The parish became part of the Holy Family Catholic Community in 2000.
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We show gratitude for the past and hope for the future by recognizing the institutions and mission sites in and around Fond du Lac where CSA has and continues to provide joyful service to the Church. For more information on CSA and its history go to: https://www.csasisters.org/about-us/history.cfm
