The Sisters of the Precious Blood were a Roman Catholic female religious order founded in Grisons, Switzerland in 1833.
Founded in the canton of Grisons, Switzerland, in 1833, by Maria Anna Brunner, and her son Rev. Francis de Sales Brunner. They were inspired to the undertaking by a visit to Rome, during which they were much impressed by the devotion to the Most Precious Blood as practised by the congregation of Gaspare del Bufalo. The rule was founded on that of St. Benedict and approved by the Bishop of Chur, the object of the community being the adoration of the Most Precious Blood and the education of youth, including the care of orphans and homeless or destitute girls.[1]
The sisters became affiliated with the Society of Priests of the Precious Blood, of which Father Brunner was a member, and on his being sent to America to establish his congregation there he enabled the sisters also to make a foundation, first at St. Alphonsus, near Norwalk, and permanently at New Riegel, Ohio.[1]
In 1886 Archbishop Elder found it advisable to revise the rule drawn up by Father Brunner in order to adapt it to altered conditions, and this revision, besides extending the time of adoration through the day as well as the night, increased the teaching force of the community, who were thus enabled to take charge of a larger number of parochial schools. In this year, also, the sisters were separated from the society of priests, with which it had hitherto been affiliated, and made a separate congregation with a superior general under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Cincinnati. The mother-house is at Maria Stein, Ohio. They conduct schools in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, and in the Dioceses of Cleveland, Ft. Wayne, Kansas City, Nashville, St. Joseph, and Tucson. The statistics for 1911 were: professed sisters, 592; novices, 48; postulants, 26; pupils, 6954.[1]
