It was founded in 1957 in Rome, Italy, by Sister Catherine Morosoff, D.C., (b. 1910) under the direction of Pope Pius XII at the recommendation of Cardinal Eugene Tisserant, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Churches, in order to start a monastery according to the Russian Rite which would train sisters to go into Russia when that country reopened. The principal aim of the monastery is the contemplative and liturgical life. Pius XII asked the various institutes to give a sister of Russian nationality for this work. Her superiors asked Morosoff, a Daughter of Charity (1931-1956), born in Russia and raised in a home for Russian children in Belgium, to join the three other founding members of this new institute. Morosoff (Mother Ekaterina) is the superior for life. The monastery is the responsibility of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.
The sisters do translation work and make vestments for priests of the Byzantine Rite. Like Moscow’s cathedral and thousands of Russian churches, Icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos, the convent is dedicated to the Most Holy Mother of God, honoured in the mystery of her “Uspenie” or “Falling asleep” (her Assumption, as Western world prefers to call it).
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