Here, he fervently hoped to strengthen the faith of his predominantly German immigrant flock. In November , the sisters took charge of the parish school, comprising 20 children. In , the sisters began perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. There were 13 sisters at the time, and they tended a garden, cared for boarders, taught 60 girls in the village school, cared for 11 orphans brought by Father Rudolf, and experienced the construction of an addition to the convent.
The construction was completed in the spring of On January 23, , fire reduced the convent to ashes. Unfortunately, there was no insurance. Mother Theresa permitted her young sisters to return to their homes, but all the sisters remained.
A week after the fire, lumber for the new building was cut in the neighboring woods. Mother Theresa and a companion solicited funds for rebuilding in Cincinnati and St.
By November, the sisters and their pupils and orphans, were able to move into the reconstructed convent. In , Mother Theresa died at the age of She was succeeded by Mother Antonia Dreer, who had been overseeing all education of the sisters and the operation of the schools.
Mother Michaela Lindemann, who had been in charge of the farm, was elected to leadership in By the time of her death in , there were sisters who had founded or staffed 54 schools located in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Iowa and Missouri. Although the congregation had many contacts with Cincinnati, the sisters did not have any schools in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati until the late s.
