Bishop Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler imagined a diocesan community of women who would teach the young girls in the poor farming areas of his Diocese of Mainz, where there were few teachers and the opportunities for education were limited. The farming families also had little access to medical care. Bishop Ketteler wanted the Sisters to be prepared with basic medical knowledge so they could go into the homes and attend to those in need.
As his dream for a community of women religious moved toward reality, Bishop Ketteler contacted Stephanie de la Roche, who had recently become a convert. Meeting with her, Bishop Ketteler was impressed by her mature faith, her cheerful confidence in God’s Providence, her concern for others and her openness to search for and follow God’s will. He asked her to cooperate with him in establishing this new community. Together they agreed that she would make a novitiate in another community of Sisters, so that she would have a solid formation which would prepare her more fully to become the first superior of the new congregation.
As the Congregation grew and as the first members were being prepared to continue the mission of Jesus into ministries of education and healing, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck rose to power in Germany. New laws were passed during the Kulturkampf, a movement of anti-Catholicism which began in 1871, at which time the Sisters were removed from the classrooms and control over education was given to the government. In addition, the laws initially denied religious communities the right to accept new members. Given the deepening antagonism against Catholics and Catholic religious communities, in 1884, the Congregation of Divine Providence received approval to become an Institute of Pontifical Right.