“You, as women, have your own gift to offer to the Church - a gift that is very precious and very needed.” - Joseph Cardinal Bernadin, Former Archbishop of Chicago and Advisor to the Daughters of Isabella

Our Patroness

Queen Isabel was born in Alcazar, Kingdom of Avila, Spain, on April 22, 1451. She married Ferdinand, heir of Aragon, at 18 years of age, on October 19, 1469.

She was crowned Queen Castille on December 13, 1474, and lived much of her life under duress of severe struggles for power with in the State. Nevertheless, she conquered kings and unified her beloved country under the holy sign of Christianity.

She helped Christopher Columbus undertake the greatest voyage of history and therefore is perhaps better known for her benevolent sponsorship of the discoveries of the new world where Christianity was yet unknown.

A brave and virtuous woman, in addition to adversity resulting from the shifting centers of power in 15th century Europe, Isabel also had to contend with her own personal tragedy, losing prematurely many of the persons closest to her, including a son and a daughter.

Her preservation of Christianity is emulated through the Daughters of Isabella who seek to promote the welfare of the community and to follow in mutually supportive ways, the teachings and rules of the Catholic Church.

About Us

The National Daughters of Isabella was founded in New Haven, CT.  The first Circle, RUSSELL, instituted on May 14, 1897, having been organized by the members of Russel Council No. 65, Knights of Columbus, was also incorporated as an auxiliary to that Council in 1904.  On July 25, 1907, by a special act of the General Assembly of Connecticut they secured a National Charter under the name “National Circle, Daughters of Isabella”.  The charter gave them permission to establish subordinate branches throughout the country with the purpose of uniting all Catholic women in sisterhood.

Our main object is to unite with the bonds of a great fraternal, beneficial society for all Catholic women of proper age and standing, to the end that we may become better acquainted with each other, widen our circle of friendships, place ourselves in a position where, by combining our resources our energies, we can be of mutual assistance in times of distress and trouble, promote the social and religious up-building of our gender, aid our intellectual growth, enable us to fill with loftier devotion and more untiring zeal the high as well as the lowly places which fall to our lot, and whether as wife or mother, sister or friends or in any other capacity which we may be called upon to act, strive for development of all that is best and truest in womanhood and become in human society a more potent factor for the promotion of high ideals of life and morals, and a mightier force for the advancement of good in the world.

Our society is working in thorough sympathy and accord with the teachings and rules of the Church of which we are members.  We have no secrets which the Church authorities may not know.  Our work, our ritual and our precepts strengthen the Catholic faith, and no one may pass our portals who is not in the truest sense a child of the Church.

With those aims and these objects, we appeal with confidence to this intelligent Catholic womanhood of America to give us aid in the formation of new circles and in the general extension of the order under the rules and regulations set for in our Constitution.

Although not affiliated with the Knights of Columbus (since the order refused to grant permission to any organization to affiliate with it) the National Daughters of Isabella have always worked in conjunction with them.  The author of their ritual, Daniel Colwell, is one of the eight founders of the Knights of Columbus.  His daughter, Catherine Colwell Gleeson, was the first National Secretary and was also the first Secretary of Illinois when the order was incorporated.

The following is a letter which appeared in the first edition of “The National Isabella”, dated September 1, 1915 from the second National Regent, Mary E. Booth.

“Our future is before us; we can make it what we will.  This can be applied to our paper, The National Isabella, for there is nothing done that will reach the heart of every sister as to hear from them direct.  Now power does not mean what one can do alone, nor does it mean that to one alone can come the honor for successful results.

It would not be possible to accomplish successful detail work all over this broad land over which our order has jurisdiction, did not the individual worker give her best effort also.  A great success is only possible by everybody working.  If our National Isabella is to be a success, it is by co-operation, not by arraying ourselves in battle line against work, harmony and affirmative attitude.  Let us stand together for every movement which tends to its future strength, integrity and perpetuity.

Looking back over the years since the institution of our first Circle and considering the growth our Order has had and the great good it has accomplished, one cannot portray the future possibilities of the National Daughters of Isabella.  Women banded together by truth, honor, justice, mercy and charity cannot help but be successful at all times.”

Today, it is one of the largest Catholic women’s organizations, with a membership of over 60,000 women from the United States and Canada and has continued to prosper and establish bonds among Catholic women throughout the world. Members encourage each other’s total development and foster growth of every aspect of life - spiritual, social and charitable - adding up to a more fulfilling life!