History

The Community of the Sisters of the Holy Cross is an Institute of Consecrated Life which arose from the Work of the Holy Angels, Opus Sanctorum Angelorum.

The Sisters first gathered to begin their community life in Austria, where the first promises were made on the Feast of the Assumption in 1964. The Rule of the Sisters was initially approved for the “House of Adoration” in Scheffau, Austria in 1967 by the Archbishop of Salzburg, where the fist novitiate was also held. Passing through the different canonical stages, the community was canonically erected as a Pious Union in 1970 in Germany, followed by further canonical erections in Brazil and Portugal. The community was erected as a Diocesan Institute of Consecrated Life in Innsbruck, Austria on November 9, 2002.

In 2018, it was recognized by the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life as a Religious Institute of Pontifical Right.

In various countries, small communities of Sisters formed in order to live a life of professed vows in the spirit of the Work. Their Rule was written by Mother Gabriele Bitterlich and was approved in 1967 by the Archbishop of Salzburg for his diocese, and in 1970 by the Bishop of Freiburg for the entire Community of the Sisters.

The community in the US

Through the preaching of retreats and missions in the United States by the Priests of the Order of the Holy Cross, who traveled several times a year from Europe, there were already a large number of lay members of Opus Angelorum in the States, but no actual presence of a community of Brothers or Sisters. By this mission activity, the first American Sisters came to know the Work of the Holy Angels and, one after another, entered religious life in Europe, most of them having their formation in Fatima Portugal.

From the OA office in Fatima, they also assisted with the apostolate and circular letters for the Work in the United States, and helped to plan the missions for the Priests.

After many years of working from Fatima as their headquarters, the first American Sisters were invited in 1998 to begin a small community in the convent of a parish in Detroit, Michigan, Assumption Grotto. All the while, both the Priests and the Sisters continued to seek a location to build a permanent monastery, convent and OA center.

After nearly 20 years in Detroit, they finally moved along with the Priests of the Holy Cross to Carrollton, Ohio, in 2014, where they completed the construction of the convent, monastery, Church and Opus Angelorum center in May, 2026.

Currently in Carrollton, they are 10 Sisters from 3 different countries, the United States, the Philippines and Austria.