Community of the Transfiguration

In 1896, Eva Lee Matthews, a missionary for the Episcopal Church, relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where she worked at the Bethany Mission House, an Episcopal charitable organization designed to help the less fortunate residents of Cincinnati. It was at this time that Matthews and coworker Beatrice Henderson decided to create a new Episcopal religious order. The purpose of this order was to assist Cincinnati's poor, especially children. On August 6, 1898, Episcopal Church officials formally recognized Matthews' and Henderson's order, formally naming the group the Community of the Transfiguration. At this time, Matthews formally became a nun, and she became known as Sister Eva Mary.

The Community of the Transfiguration remained in Cincinnati for only a short time. The order soon relocated to Glendale, Ohio, Matthews's childhood home. The order grew slowly but by the 1920s, the Community of the Transfiguration had members engaged in charity work in China, Hawaii, Painesville, Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio, and Woodlawn, Ohio. Matthews served as the leader of the Community of the Transfiguration until her death in July 1928.

The Community of Transfiguration has since relocated to Cincinnati. Here, the sisters continue to care for Cincinnati's less fortunate residents. Currently, approximately thirty women belong to the order. Besides in Ohio, in recent years, the sisters have engaged in charitable work in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and California.