Sisters of Service

The Religious Institute of the Sisters of Service (SOS) are a community of Roman Catholic religious women established to work with newcomers to Canada and bring the Church to rural communities. They were founded on August 15, 1922 in Toronto, and have 124 permanent members.

Unlike most other Catholic women religious at the time in traditional habits and large convents, the SOS wore simple grey uniforms and hats and lived in small communities. The simple and flexible nature of their Institute allowed the Sisters, as a domestic missionary community, to more easily adapt to the ways of life in the communities in which they lived. Their motto was "I Have Come To Serve" and the Sisters lived this charism by serving in many communities across Canada. In Western Canada, they worked as teachers, nurses and social workers. In larger cities, they operated hostels/residences for working women, particularly recently arrived immigrant women. The Sisters also maintained a presence at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, assisting newcomers in the transition from the ports to their homesteads. The SOS also provided catechetical instruction via religious correspondence schools and religious vacation schools during the summer months.

In 2011, after deciding to accept no new applicants to the novitiate, the Sisters signed a sponsorship agreement with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto, who have assumed their administration.

Added by F Rousselle, 2 Oct 2024.
Revised by F Rousselle, 13 May 2025.

The Sisters of Service of Canada

I Have Come to Serve, by MC Havey [SOS congregational archivist]. Independently published, 2022.