CANFIELD — The Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown will begin a yearlong celebration to commemorate 150 years of ministry in the Mahoning Valley on Sunday.

Bishop David J. Bonnar will celebrate Mass at 2 p.m. at St. Luke Parish, 5235 South Ave., Boardman. An invitation-only dinner follows at The Embassy, 5030 Youngstown-Poland Road, with doors opening at 3:30 p.m. A welcome, invocation and toast will begin at 4:30 p.m., dinner starts at 5 p.m. and remarks by Sister Mary McCormick, general superior, will be at 6 p.m.

About 250 guests, including the Ursuline Sisters, their family members and associates, donors and senior Ursuline Sisters Mission staff members are expected.

Events to follow include an exhibit at the Tyler History Center, 325 W. Federal St., Youngstown, operated by the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, and the release of the book, “The Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown: Serving the Mahoning Valley since 1874,” authored by Ursuline graduate Thomas Welsh with a foreword by actor Ed O’Neill, also an Ursuline graduate, being published by History Press in August 2024, and more.

In 1874, Youngstown was a budding industrial town filled with immigrants but few teachers. A priest at St. Columba Parish asked his sister, an Ursuline sister of Cleveland, for help. She arrived with a small group of nuns on Sept. 18, 1874, and the Ursulines’ ministry in the Mahoning Valley began. At one time, all sisters were educators. Thousands of students benefited from their care and educational expertise at parochial schools throughout the Diocese of Youngstown, including at Ursuline High School, Youngstown, which the Sisters founded in 1905, and at Youngstown State University, according to a news release from the sisters.

Today, they serve as teachers, in elder care facilities, in area parishes and in prayer. Their lives are enriched through community and service to others. Their nonprofit, Ursuline Sisters Mission, maintains the vibrancy of their major programs, including Beatitude House, Ursuline Sisters HIV / AIDS Ministry, Ursuline Sisters Senior Living, Ursuline Sisters Scholars, Immigrant Outreach and Ursuline Education & Wellness Center. The Ursulines were founded by St. Angela Merici in Italy in 1535.