Sisters of Notre Dame

History & origins

The roots of the Sisters of Notre Dame go back to a community founded in Coesfeld, Germany, in 1850. The Catholic Church directory in Korea records October 1, 1850, as the congregation’s foundation date. With education as an important apostolate, the congregation later widened the scope of its work, and its relationship with the Catholic Church in Korea began through a request for a religious community committed to education and service.

The congregation came to Korea at the request of Bishop Choi Jae-seon, then bishop of the Diocese of Busan. On July 7, 1967, three sisters from the Coesfeld province arrived in Korea, and Korean sisters who had received initial formation abroad also joined them as the new community took shape. The Catholic Times reports that the sisters’ early apostolates responded to practical needs of women and young people at the time, including a residence for female university students and education for women working as bus conductors.

In Bumin-dong, Busan, the sisters established Notre Dame Kindergarten in 1972, giving concrete form to their educational apostolate for young children. This was an early example of the congregation’s educational work taking root in Busan only a few years after its arrival in Korea. Formation of Korean members then developed more fully, and the fields of apostolate broadened to include education, collaboration in parish life, and social welfare, strengthening the foundation of the Korean community.

In 1992 the Korean region was established as a province. Both the congregation’s international materials and the Catholic Times identify this change as an important stage in the growth of the community in Korea. Within the sequence of the congregation’s 1850 foundation, its arrival in Korea in 1967, the educational apostolate in Bumin-dong from 1972, and the establishment of the province in 1992, the Busan community has historical significance as a place where one of the early educational missions of the congregation in Korea took local root and continues to be remembered.