After having a presence and ministry in the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland for 112 years, the Sisters of the Precious Blood ended their service to the diocese.
The last sister to serve, Sister Mary Ann Mozser, C.PP.S. recently moved to the order’s retirement center in Dayton, Ohio.
The sisters began their ministry in Cleveland at Our Lady of Good Counsel School in the city’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood. The first four sisters arrived in 1908.
The parish, which was established in 1873 as a mission, was placed in the care of the Society of the Most Precious Blood in 1894. It was part of the diocesan reconfiguration in 2009-2010, merging with nearby Corpus Christi Parish and reopening on April 25, 2010 as Mary Queen of Peace Parish on the OLGC site. The name of the school also changed to Mary Queen of Peace. Father Doug Brown was named pastor in 2010.
At its peak enrollment in 1953, there were 1,273 students at Our Lady of Good Counsel School. More than 150 Precious Blood sisters served in ministry there over the years.
After ending their service to the school, the sisters were involved in other ministries in Cleveland and the surrounding area, including serving as professors at local college and universities, speech therapists, music teachers and tutors, domestic arts professionals and hospital directors.
The Precious Blood sisters trace their origins to 1834, when the community was established in Loewenberg Castle in Switzerland. In 1844, three sisters came to the United States, along with one priest, to minister to German immigrants in Ohio. Over the years, 10 foundations of sisters, brothers and priests were established in western Ohio and eastern Indiana. They opened schools, orphanages and cared for the sick.
In 1846, the sisters established their first motherhouse in Maria Stein, Ohio, which continues as a center of prayer, Eucharistic adoration and houses the Shrine of the Holy Relics. The motherhouse was moved to Dayton in 1923.
In addition to their service in Ohio, the sisters responded to an invitation to open a school at San Luis Rey Mission in California, responded to Pope Pius XII’s invitation to send members to serve as missionaries ministering to the Church in Latin America, serving in Chile and later Guatemala.
As the community grew, sisters spread across the country. Today, sisters are in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Chile and Guatemala.
The photos used with this story are from the Diocese of Cleveland archives and show sisters in the new gray habit adopted in 1961 during their service at Our Lady of Good Counsel School.