Galveston, Texas

The first three Hospital Sisters arrived from Lyon, and began work immediately to open an infirmary, St. Mary's Infirmary, in Galveston, Texas. It was to this mission that other sisters came, from the Monastery of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament in Lyon. In 1869, three sisters (whose only training in nursing was in this small infirmary) were appointed to leave Galveston, and open an infirmary in San Antonio, to tend to citizens dying from cholera. By 1871, two separate foundation were codified: The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Houston; and, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio.

In 1926, the novitiate of the Galveston sisters moved from there to Houston, into a newly completed motherhouse, Villa de Matel. Two years later, the Generalate moved from Galveston to Houston: The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Houston