History

The Sisters of St. Louis came to the soil of Ghana (the then Gold Coast) in October, 1947.  They were invited by Mgs. Hubert Paulissen, S.M.A.  He was the Vicar Apostolic of Kumasi Vicariate at that time.  The Bishop needed Sisters to run a Girls’ School in Kumasi which was a desperate need in those days.  He had invited several groups of Sisters but did not receive a positive response from any of them.  The Sisters of St. Louis, however, responded to this urgent invitation whole-heartedly. 

The first four Sisters to come from Ireland were Sisters: Mary Joannes Hayes, Joseph Mary Connolly, Sheila Gillespie and Bried Mulhern.  Sister Bried is the only surviving member living in Ireland .The Sisters were accompanied on their first journey by the superior general, Mother Columbanus who missioned them to Kumasi .  Later on, many more Irish Sisters were missioned to work in Ghana .

The Sisters took over the running of St. Bernadette’s Catholic Girls’ School from the O.L.A. Sisters shortly after their arrival in 1947.  There was no secondary school for girls at that time and many of the children of school-going age were boys.  From very humble beginnings and with hard work in St. Bernadette’s, the Sisters of St. Louis excelled in education, health care and other ministries in which they engaged in as the need arose.