Notre Dame Sisters of Omaha, Nebraska

In the 1880’s and 1890’s nearly 100,000 Czechs left the central European regions of Bohemia and Moravia, Silesia and Slovakia, to emigrate to America. They left behind a beloved land that was divided politically and subject to repeated wars, and in which they had almost no hope of owning their own land.

Once in the new land, the Czech immigrants tended to settle in groups. They established Czech neighborhoods and towns that were almost self-sufficient, having Czech-language shops, banks, churches and schools.

In 1910 five Notre Dame Sisters came from Czechoslovakia under the direction of Mother Qualberta to operate an orphanage in Fenton, MO. The Hessoun Orphanage building is pictured on the right. At first the Sisters were very homesick, not knowing the language and being accustomed to a very different culture. But they persevered and were joined by more Sisters.

In 1911 a group of five Sisters arrived in Dodge, NE, to conduct a Catholic school. By 1917 thirteen Sisters were working in Iowa and 39 Sisters were working in Nebraska. That year Archbishop Jeremiah J. Harty, D.D., invited Mother Qualberta to establish a novitiate in Omaha, at the same time that Rev. Edward J. Flanagan requested that the Sisters work in his new "Boys Home".

In 1920 the Sisters purchased Seven Oaks Farm, which was deemed too small for the expanding Boys Home. At first the Sisters lived in the farmhouse (right) and Sisters who were home from missions sometimes had to take their blankets out to the barn to sleep.
Construction of the Motherhouse and school for girls began in 1925; the Motherhouse and Notre Dame Academy were dedicated August 15, 1926.

People from the Czech parishes in Omaha helped with work, money and advice. Other Czech settlers gave the Sisters produce from their gardens and even two small pigs, which they raised and butchered.
The Sisters taught Czech children in the parish schools, and many of the students at Notre Dame Academy were Czech. The Czech language was taught until recent years. Many of the Sisters are still involved in translating documents from the Czech and Slovak languages, and some belong to Czech heritage organizations.