Maryland 1934-2009

In 1934, the Province of Waltham gave birth to a new province: Baltimore which became Maryland in 1959. This separation of the southern houses from Waltham attested to the apostolic vitality of Notre Dame:  the number of schools from New York to Washington, DC increased rapidly. The new Baltimore Province established its provincial house at Ilchester (MD). The early development of the province under the leadership of Sister Rosalia of the Blessed Sacrament was a feat of courage and zeal of sisters who labored during the Great Depression, the halting economic recovery of the New Deal, and the anxieties and privations of the war years. 

Basic understandings of governance and authority led to experiments in governance during the 1980’s. In 1989 and 1990, the  General Government Group gave permission for the establishment of two new provinces: Base Communities and Chesapeake. The Maryland Province continued to exist. 

In 1996, some of the Ilchester land was sold and the Province administrative offices moved to Villa Julie in Stevenson, Maryland. 

In 2005, the Maryland Leadership Team asked the Ohio Province to consider the possibility of a merger. Finally, In June 2009, both provinces approved an Organizational Plan for their two provinces to become one. “By this union we can become more.” (Julie Billiart). October 31, 2009 was the official date chosen for the merger because eight Sisters of Notre Dame from Belgium first landed in Cincinnati on October 31, 1840.