The Order of Our Lady of Charity (also known as Order of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge) is a Roman Catholic monastic order, founded in 1641 by John Eudes, at

History

Moved by pity for prostitutes, the priest John Eudes at first attempted to house them under the care of good and pious women. One of these women, Madeleine Lamy persuaded Eudes that more was needed. Three

Visitation Visitation may refer to: Law * Visitation (law) or contact, the right of a non-custodial parent to visit with their children * Prison visitation rights, the rules and conditions under which prisoners may have visitors Music * ''Visitation'' (D ...

nuns came to his aid temporarily, and, in 1641, a house was opened at Caen under the title of Refuge of Our Lady of Charity.Ory, Joseph Mary. ''The Origin of the Order of Our Lady of Charity'', Le Couteulx Leader Press, Buffalo, New York, 1918
/ref> Other ladies joined them, and, in 1651, the

Bishop of Bayeux The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bayeux and Lisieux (Latin: ''Dioecesis Baiocensis et Lexoviensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Bayeux et Lisieux'') is a diocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is coextensive with the Department of Calvados and is ...

gave the institute his approbation. In 1664 a Bull of approbation was obtained from

Pope Alexander VII Pope Alexander VII ( it, Alessandro VII; 13 February 159922 May 1667), born Fabio Chigi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 April 1655 to his death in May 1667. He began his career as a vice- papal legate, an ...

. That same year a house was opened at

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

, and the institute began to spread. When the French Revolution broke out there were seven communities of the order in France.Steele, Francesca. "Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 12 Jun. 2013
/ref> Notredamedecharite

All the houses of this order are independent of each other, and each has its own novitiate, but the mother-house is still at

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,nuns wear a white habit and a large silver cross on the breast. To the three ordinary religious vows they add a fourth, viz., to devote themselves to the reformation of the fallen. The novitiate lasts two years. On 8 July 1855, Mother Mary of St. Jerome Tourneux of Rennes, France, established the first Foundation in North America in Buffalo, New York, and thus began the spread of the Mission of Our Lady of Charity in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In France they had seventeen houses: one each at Caen, Saint-Brieuc, Rennes, La Rochelle, Paris, Versailles,

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

, Lyon,

Valence Valence or valency may refer to: Science * Valence (chemistry), a measure of an element's combining power with other atoms * Degree (graph theory), also called the valency of a vertex in graph theory * Valency (linguistics), aspect of verbs rel ...

, Toulouse,

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

, Blois, Montauban, Besançon, Valognes, and two at

Marseilles Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

; in Italy, one at Loreto; and in Spain, one at Bilbao; and in Austria. The sisters came to England in 1863, building a large purpose built convent at

Bartestree Bartestree is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, east of Hereford on the A438 road. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 330. History The name is thought to be derived from the Old English Beorhtwald's ...

near

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

and by 1910 also had houses at Waterlooville near Portsmouth,

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...

, Southampton, and

Northfield Northfield may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Northfield, Aberdeen, Scotland * Northfield, Edinburgh, Scotland * Northfield, Birmingham, England * Northfield (Kettering BC Ward), Northamptonshire, England United States * Northfield, Connec ...

. By 1960 about 1,500 sisters served in forty-four communities of Our Lady of Charity in ten countries.

Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd

John Eudes had established his houses as separate and autonomous. Mary of Saint Euphrasia was the superior of the house in Tours. The city of Angers asked that Mary Euphrasia establish a Convent of Refuge there. She established a house in an old factory and called it "Bon Pasteur" (Good Shepherd). In 1831 she was appointed as Mother Superior of the House in Angers. However, neither the house in Tours, nor the one in Nantes was interested in expanding to Angers. Believing that the work would proceed more efficiently under a central administration, in April 1835, she obtained approval from Pope Gregory XVI for the Mother-House at Angers as the home of a separate institute known as Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd.

Apostolate

Their primary apostolate is to work with "women in need." Ministries include: counseling, serving in parishes, counseling troubled teenage girls, day care for children and adults, rehabilitation and nursing care for the ill and elderly, people with AIDS, teaching in schools and religious education programs.

Fusion with the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

Feeling the need for a restructuring of the congregation, in 1944 an American Federation of sisters was founded, followed by a French Federation in 1945, an Irish Federation in 1948, and an English Federation in 1957. The member monasteries remained autonomous with the Federation President tasked with maintaining communication among member communities. A movement toward a more centralized organization continued to develop. The Latin Union, under a Superior General was formed in 1967. On 21 March 1979, the North American Union Sisters of Our Lady of Charity received its approval from the Holy See. In North America, they are located in: Hamburg & Newburgh, NY; Erie & Pittsburgh, PA; Wheeling, WV; & El Paso, TX; Carrollton, OH; Green Bay, WI; San Diego, CA; and Mexico & Canada. An English Union was formed in 1982, and an Irish Union in 1989."Development of Our Lady of Charity"
/ref> The International Union of Sisters of Our Lady of Charity received approval in 1995. Only the Mexican Federation remains outside the International Union. On 27 June 2014, after a 179-year split, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, founded by John Eudes, merged with the Good Shepherd Sisters, founded by Mary Euphrasia Pelletier, to form the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd (''Soeurs du Bon Pastore'' / Good Shepherd Sisters).

Ireland

In Ireland they had two houses at Dublin. The Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Refuge was one of four congregations involved in managing the controversial

Magdalene laundries Magdalene asylums, also known as Magdalene laundries, were initially Protestant but later mostly Roman Catholic institutions that operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries, ostensibly to house " fallen women". The term referred to fema ...

. Dr. Martin McAleese found the environment in the laundries to be harsh and involved physically demanding work, which produced a traumatic and lasting impact on the girls. However, according to the vast majority of women, the ill treatment and physical punishment present in industrial schools was not reported in the laundries. A spokesperson for the congregation said, "The laundries which were attached to refuges were hard and demanding places to work. Many women used our refuges as a place of last resort...Regardless of why a woman was in a refuge or how she came to be there, we endeavoured to provide care. It is with sorrow and sadness that we recognise that, for many of those who spoke to the inquiry, their time in a refuge is associated with anxiety, distress, loneliness, isolation, pain and confusion and much more."

Monastery of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge

The Monastery of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge, Hot Springs, Arkansas began in 1908, when five French-speaking Canadian nuns arrived in Hot Springs from Ottawa in September 1908. In 1913 the sisters began St. Michael's School for the girls who had come into their care. Because few children could pay for their education, the sisters supplemented their income with a laundry service, which they operated for over fifty years. In the 1950s, the sisters organized a childcare program serving infants and pre-school children.Lancaster, Guy, "Monastery of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge", ''The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture''
/ref> On 26 September 2007, Monsignor J. Gaston Hebert, diocesan administrator, announced that six of the ten sisters at the Monastery of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge had been formally excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church for their association with a Canadian group called the

Army of Mary The Community of the Lady of All Nations, also known as the Community of the Lady of All Peoples or the Army of Mary, is a Marian sect that has been condemned as heretical by the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1971 by Marie-Paule Giguère in ...

, which the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had defined as a heretical group. The community is an autonomous religious group and not connected with any other monastery.Hargett, Malia. "Six Arkansas nuns excommunicated for supporting heresy", ''Arkansas Catholic'', 6 October 2007
/ref>

References

External links

Order of Our Lady of Charity - International Website

North American Union Sisters of Our Lady of Charity
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge Catholic female orders and societies 1641 establishments in France Religious organizations established in the 1640s Catholic organizations established in the 17th century Christian religious orders established in the 17th century