The mission for all Dominicans is to preach God’s love. The Hawthorne Dominicans accomplish this in a specific way by preaching God’s love and His healing presence in the world through the ministry to His sick poor with incurable cancer.
The Congregation of Saint Rose of Lima was founded in 1900 by Rose Hawthorme Lathrop, (Mother Mary Alphonsa), the daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Rose was a convert to Catholism and in searching for a way to serve God and the poor began her work of caring for incurable cancer patients on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Today, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne’s continue nursing Christ’s sick poor who suffer from incurable cancer in the Motherhouse: Rosary Hill Home (Hawthorne, NY), Sacred Heart Home (Philadelphia, PA) and in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home (Atlanta, GA)