St Agnes Home history

The Congregation of Sisters of St Agnes was founded in Barton, Wisconsin, on August 12, 1858.

At first the group suffered such untold hardship that, for a few months in 1861, it was reduced to one blind sister.

In 1870, Father Francis Haas, OFM Capuchin, became the spiritual director of the community and assisted in revising the original rule.

In 1929, Miss Elizabeth Moehring, a good friend of our St Joseph’s Home in St Charles, Missouri, left her entire estate to our congregation for the purpose of establishing a convent and a Home for elderly people, which she wanted to be called St Agnes Home.

The original three-story main building of St Agnes Home was dedicated on June 16, 1935, by the Most Reverend Christian Winklemann, Auxiliary Bishop of St Louis.

Catherine Fruin Colnon in 1937.

In addition, every practical modern convenience was incorporated into the building, including a large solarium and wood burning fireplaces on each floor.In March 1941 a new convent was added to St Agnes Home.

The blending of the new and the old has been so successful that it is hard to tell from observation alone that the entire structure was not completed at one time.On October 18, 1952, the cornerstone of the new Chapel and that of the Fruin Colnon Wing were laid and blessed by Most Rev.

Dedication ceremonies for the new Chapel and Wing took place on January 21, 1954.

There were no major renovations or additions to St Agnes Home for the next twenty years, until 1976, when the original Memorial Wing was extended, providing for an Infirmary Activities/Dining Room on the first floor and enlarging the existing Social Hall in the basement.

Ordinary Sisters, published in 2007, is the story of one congregation of women religious and of the women who made such communities possible.

Published in 2019, it highlights the work of the sisters throughout the consistent political conflicts, the changes that came from the Second Vatican Council, and the difficulties of blending the cultures of Nicaragua, Miskito, the US, and CSA.

In 2020, CSA celebrated 150 years of being part of the Fond du Lac community.