Indiana's Catholic Religious Communities

With expanding Irish, Swiss, French, and German immigrant populations, the state of Indiana evolved from individual explorers, trappers, hunters, and traders into family-focused communities of farmers and craftsmen. Emerging from the former Indiana Territory, the state's early population was in need of education, health care, and social services to assist young families, the poor, the infirm, and the elderly. These needs were frequently met by Catholic religious orders, including the Benedictines, Sisters of Providence, Franciscans, Daughters of Charity, and other established organizations of dedicated religious men and women.

Lifelong Catholic-educated authors Jim Hillman and John Murphy examine the secular social impact of the various religious orders woven into the fabric of Indiana's development: St. Meinrad Archabbey (St. Meinrad); Monastery Immaculate Conception (Ferdinand); Our Lady of Grace Monastery (Beech Grove); Sisters of Providence, St. Mary of the Woods (Terre Haute); Congregation of the Holy Cross, Notre Dame (South Bend); Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Immaculate (Bloomington); and numerous other religious settlements. Indiana's Catholic Religious Communities provides over 200 rare vintage photographic memories, most printed for the first time. These images capture the heart and soul of outreach and humanity that define these historical-and very contemporary-communities.