Sisters of Notre Dame of Coesfeld, Westphalia, Germany,1850
In 1850, the Abbé Elting, of Coesfeld, and the Bishop of Münster, Msgr. Müller solicited the help of the SND of Amersfoort to form two teachers of orphans in the religious life.
Three SND of Amersfoort arrived in Coesfeld. The German candidates were instructed according to the spirit and the Rule of the SND and made their vows in 1852. In view of the political and religious situation of the period, the new foundation developed rapidly. However, in 1855, the SND of Coesfeld separated from the sisters of Amersfoort because the Prussian government would not tolerate their dependence on a foreign authority. The sisters from Holland were recalled to Amersfoort. An autonomous congregation was formed with adaptations of the Rule in the context of the political and religious circumstances of the country.
Threatened twice in its existence-by the Kulturkampf (1871-1878) and by the national-socialist regime, the congregation recognized after each ordeal a vitality for a new vigor.
Their principle work is education. The SND of Coesfeld are also involved in clinics, take care of homes for the aged, with abandoned children; they work in special education for the handicapped.
