Los Angeles

Request and Response

In 1854, Thaddeus Amat, C.M. became the Bishop of Monterey, a diocese comprising of the geographical area of California from Monterey to San Diego.  In May of 1855, Bishop Amat requested that the Daughters of Charity from Emmitsburg, Maryland come and minister to the people of his new Diocese. His request was granted. On September 8th of 1855, Sisters Scholastica Logsdon, Ann Gillen, and Corsina McKay were named to minister to the people of this diocese.  Sister Corsina was already in San Francisco as she was among the original Sisters missioned to California in 1852.  Bishop Amat recruited three young women in Spain who became Daughters of Charity and they were also named for the Diocese of Monterey.  They were Sisters Angelita Mombrado, Clara Cisneros, and Francesca Fernandez.

Journey and Arrival

These five Sisters left Emmitsburg, Maryland on October 18, 1855, en route to New York.  Accompanied by Bishop Amat, they left New York on October 20th aboard the steamer Empire City and sailed to Panama.  Reaching the Atlantic side of Panama at Aspinwall, they crossed the Isthmus to the Pacific side in rail cars entirely in one day.  There they boarded the John L. Stephens steamer and sailed the Pacific Ocean, arriving in San Francisco on November 14th, 25 days after leaving New York.

The Sisters stayed several weeks with the Daughters of Charity in San Francisco. The six Sisters then sailed south aboard the Sea Bird and arrived in the harbor of San Pedro on the 6th of January 1856.  From there they traveled in a wagon to the small settlement of El Pueblo de la Senora la Reina de Los Angeles, a distance of some twenty miles.  The Sisters stayed for a few days in the home of Ignacio de Valle until their new home was purchased and ready for them to occupy.  They and two orphans moved in and opened the orphanage and school, the first in the pueblo.  Later, they opened a hospital, another first in the pueblo.

Painting on metal shows the Sisters lead the children from the Our Lady of the Angels church on the
plaza back to the Orphan Asylum on Alameda Street at Macy, 1857.

Early Years

The orphanage and school became known as the Institucion Caritativa when the Sisters moved into the Wilson House located on Alameda and Macy Streets.  This was the center of the Mexican pueblo populated with Spanish-speaking Catholics.  The Infirmary began when Father Raho brought a sick and dying man to the Sisters and asked them to care for him.  The Sisters had no room as they were caring for many orphans, but they did have a gardener’s shed.  So, they moved the garden tools out and moved the man into the shed.  Soon other sick people were receiving care on the doorsteps of the Institucion Caritativa.

Sister Scholastica Logsdon was the first Sister Servant (Sister-in-charge) in Los Angeles.  She was forty-one years old when she arrived in Los Angeles. Sister Scholastica wrote many letters to Father Francis Burlando, CM, her Superior in Emmitsburg, to inform him about the affairs of their mission in the pueblo.   She wrote to him over a thirteen-year period, forty-eight of her letters have survived and covered the period of time from their arrival in 1856 until 1869.  These letters give us a glimpse into the daily lives of the Sisters and their work in the pueblo during those early years.  This is a wonderfully rich story filled with the love of God and neighbor, many adventures, terrible struggles, and compassionate service.

Pioneer Sisters

Los Angeles Orphan Asylum circa 1890

Los Angeles Orphan Asylum circa 1890

Sister Scholastica was the administrator and religious superior of the orphanage, school, and hospital from the beginning until 1884. From 1861 to 1870, she was also responsible for the training and preparation of the young women from California who wanted to become Daughters of Charity. She remained in Los Angeles at the orphanage until her death in 1902, forty-six years after she arrived in the City of the Angels.

Sister Ann continued her work at the hospital until she left Los Angeles twenty-five years after her arrival in 1856. She was sent to the East where she died in 1902.

Sister Corsina was one of the original Sisters who came to California in 1852 and established the orphanage and school in San Francisco. Then in 1855, she was the original Sister who established the school in San Raphael, but left there the following year. In 1856, she was one of the original Sisters who established the orphanage and school in Los Angeles.  After six years in Los Angeles, Sister Corsina was missioned to Santa Cruz (as Sister Servant) to establish the school and orphanage there in 1862.  After nearly twenty years in California, she was missioned back to Emmitsburg where she died in 1888.

Los Angeles Orphan Asylum Boyle Heights 1950.

Los Angeles Orphan Asylum Boyle Heights 1950.
(Used with permission from USC Digital Library. Los Angeles Examiner Photographs Collection.)

Sisters Angelita, Clara, and Francesa were the three young women whom Bishop Amat recruited in Spain and who traveled with him to California.   Sister Francesca left the Community within six months of her arrival in Los Angeles.  Sister Clara was one of the original Sisters who established the orphanage and school in San Juan Bautista in 1862.  She left the Community in 1868.  Sister Angelita was one of the original Sisters who established the school and orphanage in Santa Barbara in 1858.  In 1870, she returned to Los Angeles where she served for another thirty-two years.  In 1902, she was missioned to El Paso, Texas where she died twenty-one years later at the age of eighty-eight. She wrote a memoir in her later years that gave many details of her life in California.

Over the years, the original establishments in Los Angeles were housed at different locations and known by different names.

The combined orphanage and school was housed at three different sites:

  • Alameda and Macy Streets (in two different structures) in central Los Angeles – 1852
  • Boyle Avenue in Boyle Heights – 1891
  • Graves Avenue in Rosemead (continues on this site) – 1953

And was known by three different names:

  • Institucion Caritativa – 1856
  • Los Angeles Orphan Asylum – 1991
  • Maryvale (continues as a social agency today) – 1953

The original hospital was housed at six different sites:

  • Alameda and Macy Streets (shed)
  • Upper Main (Aguilar Adobe)
  • Alameda and Macy Streets
  • Ann (Named after Sister Ann Gillen) and Naud Streets
  • Sunset Boulevard and Beaudry Avenue
  • Third and Alvarado Streets

The hospital was known by four different names:

  • Institucion Caritativa
  • Sisters’ Hospital
  • Los Angeles Infirmary
  • Vincent’s Hospital and St. Vincent’s Medical Center (closed 2020)

Over the years, other schools and hospitals came under the leadership of the Daughters of Charity in the Los Angeles area. Two parish schools were opened in the 1950s:  Our Lady of Talpa School in East Los Angeles in 1951 and Marian School (Miraculous Medal School) in Montebello in 1954. In the 1990s, two parochial schools in Los Angeles came under the sponsorship of the Daughters of Charity, Mother of Sorrows School in South Central Los Angeles in 1998 and St. Vincent’s School in Los Angeles in 1999. These schools continue to the present.

In the 1980s, two hospitals in Los Angeles came under the sponsorship of the Daughters of Charity.  St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood became a Daughter of Charity hospital in 1981 and continues to the present sponsored by Prime Healthcare Services.  Our Lady Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles became a Daughter of Charity hospital in 1981 and the Sisters withdrew in 1985.  The Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center in Hawthorn became a Daughter of Charity hospital in 1996 and the Sisters withdrew in 2004.