Dominican Nuns

an order of nuns founded by Dominic (q.v.) de Guzman in 1206, at Prouille, near Toulouse. They were mostly converted Albigenses. At the time of their greatest prosperity they counted about 400 convents in Europe and America. They fell earlier into irregularities and disorders than the monks. They took part in all the reforms which were introduced among the monks, and split into similar congregations. The first convent of the order in the United States was organized by father Thomas Wilson, in Kentucky, in 1823, from which some other houses have sprung in the dioceses of Cincinnati, Nashville, and San Francisco. There are also congregations in the dioceses of Milwaukee and Brooklyn. They have also convents in most italian states, in France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, England, Russia. Their house in Rome is under the immediate direction of the Dominicans, while in most other countries they are under the jurisdiction of the diocesan bishops.