St. Dominic de Guzman founded the Order of Preachers in 1216. By the mid sixteenth century, the presence of Dominican missionaries has spread to Southeast Asia, as far as Vietnam. It was not for another century, in 1676, that the Dominican Friars of Holy Rosary Province (France), Friar Juan de Santa Cruz Thập and Friar Juan de Arjona Cao, were able to establish permanent residency in North Vietnam at the invitation of the French Bishop Lambert de la Motte. The missionary Dominicans were soon entrusted with the task of serving the first established diocese of Vietnam, Dong Dang Ngoai. As another century passed with trials and persecutions, the one country diocese was craved into five: Bui Chu, Hai Noi, Thai Binh, Phat Diem, and Lang Son. By 1954 however, the presence of Dominican friars has terminated in the aforementioned dioceses of North Vietnam.

The patrimony of the Congregation of St. Catherine of Siena remotely traces back to the French Dominican missionaries and thus shares the Dominican spirit with the rest of the Order of Preachers. 

In 1951 the Apostolic See granted the erection of the first congregation of Dominican Sisters, Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena, under the auspice of Bishop Peter Chi Ngoc Pham of the diocese of Bui Chu. Soon each diocese established their own congregation to minister to the many needs of that particular diocese. The Geneva Treaty of 1954 however, divided the country into north and south and this prompted the southward migration, with Dominican Sisters scattered throughout the South. Bishop Simon Hoa Hien Van Nguyen of Saigon issued a formal decree in January 21, 1958 that unified the various congregations of Dominican Sisters in south Vietnam, with the exception of the congregation from Bui Chu, which became Tam Hiep and Lang Son. However, by 1973, Sisters from the dioceses of Hai Phong, Thai Binh, and Bac Ninh decided to establish autonomy and to serve directly their former dioceses of the North. Henceforth, the remaining 136 professed Sisters formed the Congregation of St. Catherine of Siena at Thanh Tam and continued to develop and flourish within the diocese of Xuan Loc.

The events of April 30, 1975 once more sent a group of Sisters across the Pacific. The migrated Sisters were welcomed into the then Diocese (now Archdiocese) of Galveston-Houston and later formed the Dominican Sisters of Mary Immaculate Province.