For 130 years, this congregation of Catholic women religious has played a vital role in the lives of people in Western Pennsylvania. The community's mission to serve is evidenced by a history of ministries providing educational, health, pastoral, and social service care to those in need.

The Sisters trace their origin to the first American congregation of women religious, founded by Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in 1809.

In 1870, Sister Aloysia Lowe and three sisters were sent to Western Pennsylvania from Cincinnati and began their work, founding and staffing schools. They established their foundation at Seton Hill in Greensburg in 1882. There, they also established a school for boys and an academy for girls, which grew into Seton Hill College, now Seton Hill University.

From that home, Sisters moved out into the region, then into Arizona, California, Maryland, Louisiana, Ohio, and West Virginia. They established The Roselia Foundling Asylum and Maternity Hospital and Pittsburgh Hospital, founded DePaul Institute for the hearing impaired, and staffed Jeannette District Memorial Hospital and Providence Hospital of Beaver Falls.

In 1960, the Congregation sent Sisters to Mokpo, Korea, to establish the community's first foreign mission. Today, there are nearly 200 Korean Sisters of Charity ministering in parishes, schools, retreat houses, and daycare centers.

The Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill serve in education, health care, social services, and pastoral ministry. Sisters support the elderly in many capacities and care for the homeless. They also minister to Native Americans in Arizona and work among the poor in West Virginia.