Our story begins in the French Alpine town of LePuy during the 17th Century.   Francois Eyraud and five other young women gathered to pray and discuss the formation of a religious community.  Their spiritual director was a Jesuit missionary, Jean-Pierre Medaille.  The Church had traditionally insisted that convents be cloistered, dedicating their lives to prayer.  But the new sisters wanted to combine prayer with service to people in need.  They were fortunate that the local bishop, Henri de Maupas, was a friend of St. Vincent de Paul and an admirer of St. Francis de Sales, who had unsuccessfully tried to keep the Visitation Sisters out of cloister earlier in the century.  The bishop supported the new community's determination to serve the needs of the poor, the sick, the aged and orphans. Father Medaille developed what he called a "little design" of apostolic life for women serving outside the cloister, based on the constitutions of the Society of Jesus.  On October 15, 1650, these first Sisters of St. Joseph were formally charged with the care of LePuy's orphan girls, hospitalized and sick poor.  As new members joined over the following century, the Sisters were invited to establish convents in other parts of France.

In 1793, the French Revolution had a terrible impact on the growing congregation. Its convents and chapels were confiscated. Five sisters were executed for their beliefs, and many others were imprisoned or driven out of France. The order was effectively disbanded until 1807, when it was reestablished by Mother St. John Fontbonne, who had been imprisoned and scheduled for the guillotine when Robespierre fell from power.

Education was sorely needed after the Revolution, so the Sisters added it to their mission. Despite the anti-religious mood of the period, they were recognized as effective teachers and asked to run the principal schools of Lyons, including the school for teachers. As the congregation grew in size, members were assigned throughout France, then all of Europe and parts of Asia and Africa.

In 1812 a colony of Sisters was sent from Lyons to Chambery in Savoy, France. Before long, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery were sending members to serve in Russia, Brazil, Scandinavia and Iceland. Because the Chambery branch of the congregation outgrew the diocesan form of management, Pope Pius IX reformed it as a papal congregation with a superior general.  In 1885, Pope Leo XIII sent five of the Sisters (three of whom spoke no English!) to Lee, Massachusetts, to create Berkshire County's first parochial school.  (Their original school building was retired in 1957 and now houses "The Chambery Inn.") This was the beginning of the North American Province of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery, which later moved its headquarters to West Hartford, where it supports the Sisters' work in all levels of education, law, social services, health care and prison ministries. They are joined with the U.S. members of other branches of the original congregation through membership in the Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph of the USA.

Sacred Heart Academy is the realization of a dream cherished by Josephine O'Connor, one of the original sisters in Lee. In 1921 the Sisters acquired the McHarg Estate, 13 acres on Strawberry Hill, and the doors were opened to the first sixteen students on September 6, 1922. The MacVicker property was purchased for use as a lecture hall and laboratory in 1925. Today's main school building was built in 1926, and the basketball team was formed a few years later upon the conversion of the McHargs' carriage house (now Stamford Theatre Works) into a gymnasium.  The school struggled through the Depression and thrived after World War II.  The lab and auditorium annex was built in the early 1960s.   The softball and soccer teams were very successful during the 1980s, so the orchard behind the main building was given up for Kelly Field, where the school won several Fairchester League pennants.

SHA has, at times, been a boarding school and a school for boys and girls! Through its many changes, however, SHA has been true to the purposes of its founders, who say...

As Sisters of St. Joseph, we embrace Gospel values and strive to bring about unity in our world. We work for justice as a healing presence, reaching out in service to all people, especially those in greatest need. We build relationships among ourselves and with others in a spirit of joy, simplicity and hospitality.

The closing of Sacred Heart Academy is just another change, not in the Sisters' mission, but in the circumstances in which they work.  Just as they were reaching out, building, and serving before 1922, they will continue to carry out their mission after 2006.  Through our many neighbors and friends who attended Sacred Heart Academy, Stamford will enjoy the benefit of the Sisters' 84-year stay on Strawberry Hill for many more years to come.