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Sister Regina: the Dominican sister who opened St. Joseph School in 1890

A profile of Sister Regina, the Dominican sister who came from the Netherlands in 1890 to become the first prioress on St. Maarten and the first principal of St. Joseph School.

By SXM Daily ·

Sister Regina was the Dominican sister who led the first group of sisters to teach on St. Maarten. She arrived from the Netherlands in 1890, became the first prioress on the island and the first principal of St. Joseph School in Philipsburg, and is remembered by the island's Catholic school foundation as a pioneer of Catholic education on St. Maarten.

St. Martin of Tours Roman Catholic Church on Front Street, Philipsburg (illustrative)

Illustrative: St. Martin of Tours Roman Catholic Church, Philipsburg. Photo: Richie Diesterheft / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

A request answered

According to the Foundation Catholic Education St. Maarten (SKOS), Fr. Nieuwenhuis asked the prioress of the Dominican convent at Voorschoten in the Netherlands in 1875 to send sisters to help with Catholic education. That request was not granted. When Fr. Onderwater asked again, the prioress agreed to send six sisters.

The journey of 1890

The six sisters left Holland on 15 April 1890 and reached St. Maarten on 3 May 1890, according to SKOS and to the historian Will Johnson. SKOS names them as Sr. Regina, Sr. Catharina, Sr. Helena, Sr. Gonzales, Sr. Raymunda and Sr. Huberta. Sister Regina became the first prioress of the community on St. Maarten and the first principal of St. Joseph School.

St. Joseph School

St. Joseph School, of which she was the first principal, is the first Roman Catholic school in the Windward Islands, according to SKOS. It still operates in Philipsburg as part of the foundation.

A school in her name

SKOS also runs Sister Regina Primary School on Simpson Bay Road. According to the foundation, the Catholic school in Simpson Bay was renamed Sister Regina Primary School in her honour on its twentieth anniversary. SKOS describes her as the first prioress of the Dominican sisters on St. Maarten and a pioneer of Catholic education on the island.

Sources

  • https://skos-sxm.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/St.-Joseph-School-History.pdf
  • https://skos-sxm.org/school/st-joseph-school/
  • https://skos-sxm.org/school/sr-regina-primary/
  • https://thesabaislander.com/2018/02/24/a-short-history-of-the-st-joseph-convent/
  • https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St.Martin_of_Tours_Roman_Catholic_Church(6545946259).jpg

Source: https://skos-sxm.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/St.-Joseph-School-History.pdf

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