History of CHN
The beginnings of CHN go back to 1888.
Sisters Esther, Ellen and Christina, circa 1889.
early beginnings
The Community of the Holy Name was founded in 1888 by Sister Esther. While a novice of the Community of St Mary the Virgin in Wantage, England, she suffered an accident which led her to come to Australia to recuperate. In Melbourne she was asked to help establish the Anglican welfare mission known as the Diocesan Mission to the Streets and Lanes. Sister Esther realized that, within this mission, God was calling her to form a new Community.
First mission hall in Little Lonsdale Street, circa 1888.
THE OLD BAKERY
The Sisters worked with the women and children of the back streets of the inner City. At first they lived in an old bakery in Little Lonsdale Street. Later, the Sisters moved to their Mission House in Spring Street. They ministered by providing both material and spiritual help. There were Sunday services, including one in the evening for derelict people. They ran Sunday schools for children and small day schools. There were soup kitchens, youth clubs and mothers' clubs.
Girls with a Sister at the House of Mercy.
HOUSE OF MERCY
They founded children's homes, a babies' home and hospitals. Their work in the courts and prisons led to the founding of a reformatory for girls, the House of Mercy, at Cheltenham. This later became the Retreat House which was operated by the Sisters until 2000.
Sister Felicity at the Royal Children's Hospital.
INDIVIDUAL ministries
From the mid-1900s, government bodies started to provide many of these social services and the new CHN Rule exhorted women to be ‘women of our time for service in the world today’. Sisters moved into individual ministries such as hospital chaplaincy, prison chaplaincy and retreat work.
Community House, repurposed as a Spirituality Centre.
NEW SPIRITUALITY CENTRE
In the 21st century, the pace of life is often stressful. With God’s guidance, the Sisters decided to build a new convent – Esther House - and use the original one as a Spirituality Centre. This opened in 2018 for retreats, Quiet Days and guest accommodation, where people can come to reflect, pray and be spiritually renewed.
Click on image to view and/or download.
For fuller details about our history, click on this image, to view ‘A history of the Community of the Holy Name, from 1888 until 2018,incorporating the Mission to the Streets and Lanes of Melbourne.’
“We thank God for our Foundress, Sister Esther, for the life and ministry of CHN since 1888, for the courage and perseverance of the pioneer Sisters, for their initiatives, especially in the care of women and children, the poor and marginalised, the neglected and abandoned and those who knew nothing of God’s love, for all who supported and enabled them.”