The Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women, have served health, education and social service needs in the Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio, since 1851. Foundation The first Bishop of Cleveland, the Rt. Rev. Louis Amadeus Rappe, planned to establish a hospital in the city under the supervision of Catholic Sisters. He sought candidates unsuccessfully in France for a time while on a tour of his native country in 1849-50. Finally he was directed to Mother Bernardine Cabaret, the Mother Superior of St. Louis Hospital, run by the Hospitaller canonesses regular, who followed the Rule of St. Augustine, in Boulogne-sur-Mer. There Rappe set forth his invitation for some members of the community to come to America and establish a hospital in his diocese. Mother Bernardine immediately volunteered to go herself. Securing the commitment of Sister Françoise Guillement to accompany her, she put her proposal for the mission to the community. Though the Sisters were reluctant to lose her talents, they voted unanimously to authorize the mission to America. Bishop Rappe, eagerly awaiting the Sisters' arrival, had written in the spring, "Come, my daughters, I have now prepared a place for you. On it is good spring water and good fresh air." Mother Bernardine then persuaded two of the postulants, Louise Brulois and Cornelie Muselet, to join in this missionary venture. The small group left France on September 24, 1851, with little more than chapel furnishings and boxes of linens for their home and nursing needs. During the voyage, they studied the basics of English to prepare for their new home. When the group arrived in Cleveland on the following October 10, they found that the bishop had indeed procured a house for them, but that it was still occupied. Fortunately for them, a community of Ursuline nuns had also come to Cleveland from Boulogne the previous year to open a school. They provided the newcomers hospitality until their own house could be occupied. After two weeks, the bishop persuaded the canonesses to accept hospitality in private homes so that they could be more available for visiting the sick in their own homes, while the postulants were given training in the consecrated life by the Ursulines. As they performed this service as the first visiting nurses in the region, they came to be called the angels of the city, partly due to their white religious habits.