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We are a community of women religious of with many gifts and talents. We come from many countries and cultures. We are united in the call to live the mission of Jesus and are committed to live that call in community. By working and often living together, we strengthen and build the larger community around us. By seeing God in all people, we can work together to heal the world.


Sr. Dorothy (Dot) Ettling believed strongly in the powerful force that consecrated religious life offers to the world. She dedicated herself to creating a new vision for religious life in a time of great change that began in the 1960s. Dot served on the general leadership team and was elected General Superior in 1984, serving in that capacity until 1990. She helped many congregations, as well as her own, negotiate the often difficult process of renewal and growth.

Sr. Dorothy and Sr. Neomi Hayes co-founded Women’s Global Connection. Through the many trips Dot led to Africa and Peru, the ministry grew into a network of personal relationships meant to develop women’s leadership in local communities through education, research, and cross-cultural dialogue.

Sr. Dorothy was a University of Incarnate Word faculty member for many years. It was here that she initiated her last project, the Center for Civic Leadership, dedicated to forming socially just leaders. In all her ministries, Dot was able to gather people into communities working for growth and transformation.

Sister Eleanor Cohan led the Congregation from 1972 to 1978 during a time of great change. A compassionate and gentle person, she served at a time when many needed care and concern to help navigate the changing realities of post-Vatican II religious life. She understood the Sisters, trusted them, and gave them the necessary freedom to respond to the challenges of change.

Under the direction of Sister Eleanor, the congregation participated in the Institute for the Internal Resources of Renewal program from 1973 to 1978. The program was successful in creating new attitudes toward the many facets of religious life. The team in 1978 included Sisters Guadalupe Eugenia Ruiz, Francisca Javier Hernandez, Dorothy Ettling, Mary Magdalen Cross, Doloretta Reynosa, Catalina Martínez, Marian Jordan, and Christine Lennon.

The Vatican II Council, held in Rome from 1962 to 1965, called men and women religious to “look at the signs of the times” and “renew” their way of living. “We did a lot of praying and talking, but we learned to communicate honestly and truthfully with one another” (Sr. Eleanor Cohan).

For many years, Sr. María del Sagrado Corazón Coindreau (1900–1982) lovingly guided Mexican women through the steps of becoming Incarnate Word Sisters. She not only ensured that they received the education they needed to fulfill their apostolic missions, but she made certain they realized the depth of their spirituality.

Novices in the chapel at Casa San Ángel.

Associates are laymen and women who hear a call to live the mission of the Incarnate Word Congregation while continuing their lives as single or married men and women. They belong to Associate Communities, in which they support each other in meeting the daily challenges of growth in the living of Incarnational Spirituality. U.S. Associates Gathering, 2016.

A community of Associates in Mexico renewing their commitment (2007).

Incarnate Word Missionaries make long- or short-term commitments to serve in mission areas where our Sisters serve. These laymen and women are sponsored by the Congregation and work together with the Sisters and the Church. Missionaries have served in the United States, Mexico, Peru, Tanzania, and Zambia.

Sisters and committed and concerned laity have always worked together on boards and committees.

From the very beginning, Sisters have worked closely with lay professionals, beginning with doctors with whom they worked side-by-side at the Santa Rosa Infirmary when it was established in 1869.

In October 2013, Sisters, Associates, Missionaries and Co-Ministers gathered in San Antonio. Pictured here with Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller is Steve Fuller, director of the Village senior living community. Also in the photograph are Ernie Sadau, CEO of CHRISTUS Health, and Linda McClung, of CHRISTUS Health.

Dr. Randy Berzon-Mikolas served Incarnate Word Academy for 18 years as Assistant Principal, Principal, and finally President. She has imbued and instilled in others the charism of the Congregation, “to make the love of God as shown in the Incarnation, real and tangible in the world today.”

Volunteers help clear weeds on the Headwaters of the San Antonio River.

Lay volunteers at Instituto Nacional de Cardiología in Mexico City.

Lay faculty member in the classroom in a school in Mexico.

From the beginning, Sisters have had close connections with members of the clergy.
Msgr. Thomas French served as Chaplain for the Congregation from 1952 to his death in 2012. He taught theology to the novices and at Incarnate Word College and University. Many Sisters testify to his dedication and service and particularly his gentle and generous ministry to the sick and terminally ill.
Msgr. Thomas French served as Chaplain for the Congregation from 1952 to his death in 2012. He taught theology to the novices and at Incarnate Word College and University. Many Sisters testify to his dedication and service and particularly his gentle and generous ministry to the sick and terminally ill.

A provincial leader in Mexico during the 1950s, Sr. María Felícitas Villegas (1912–1992) embodied the response of the Incarnate Word sisters to understanding the signs of the times following the Vatican II council. When the call came for Incarnate Word sisters to serve the poor in Chimbote, Peru, Sr. María Felícitas Villegas was among the first sisters to travel to Peru. She set up La Posta, a small hospital to aid the very poor. She also became an administrator for the Police Hospital in Lima, Peru.

Like many Incarnate Word Sisters of her generation, Sr. María Felícitas Villegas reinvented herself. She transitioned from being the leader in the congregation to serving as a mission team member, working as a hospital administrator and nurse. Here she is pictured with the community of women and children with whom she lived and served.

The first three sisters came to San Antonio from Galveston as a small community of committed, faith-filled women, determined to help the people they were called to serve. Pictured are Mother St. Pierre Cinquin (left) and Mother Madeleine Chollet. The third Sister that formed the original community was Sr. Agnes Boissen. Sadly, there are no known photographs of Sr. Agnes.

By the turn of the century, young women entering the Congregation came from the United States, Germany, Ireland, France, Canada, and Mexico, creating a “league of nations” in the Congregation. Pictured: Group of young women entering the convent, en route to San Antonio from Windthorst, Texas.

Until the mid-20th century, Catholic Sisters wore distinctive clothing. This photograph from the congregation shows women wearing black veils, who are professed sisters. Novices, who are not fully invested, wear white veils. Young women in collared dresses are postulants still receiving instruction.
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