The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres (SPC) is a Roman Catholic religious apostolic missionary congregation of

pontifical right In Catholicism "of pontifical right" is the term given to ecclesiastical institutions (religious and secular institutes, societies of apostolic life) either created by the Holy See, or approved by it with the formal decree known by the Latin nam ...

for teaching, nursing, visiting the poor and taking care of orphans, the old and infirm, and the mentally ill. It was founded in Levesville-la-Chenard, France in 1696. There are no lay-sisters, but every sister must be prepared to undertake any kind of work. The interior spirit is a love of sacrifice and labor for the spiritual and temporal good of others. The Postulancy lasts from six months to one year, the novitiate two years, after which the sisters take vows annually for three to seven years, and then perpetual simple vows.

History

In 1696, the congregation was founded by Father Louis Chauvet, the parish priest of Levesville-la-Chenard, a little French village. He asked the help of Marie-Anne de Tilly who became one of the first sisters and second superior of the community. An alternative history suggests that they were founded at Chartres in 1704 by Monsignor Maréchaut, a theologian of the Cathedral of Chartres, assisted by Mlle de Tilly and Mlle de Tronche. Their first house belonged to Father Louis Chauvet. Eventually they were asked to go to

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as de ...

and they occupied a house given by the

Bishop of Chartres The oldest known list of bishops of Chartres is found in an 11th-century manuscript of Trinity Abbey, Vendôme. It includes 57 names from Adventus (Saint Aventin) to Aguiertus (Agobert) who died in 1060. The most well-known list is included in the ...

, Monsignor Paul Godet des Marais. This house formerly belonged to a sabot-maker, and this gave them the name of "les Sœurs sabotières de Saint-Maurice", by which they were originally known. The congregation was dispersed under the Terror, during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...

, but it was restored by

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

, who gave the sisters a monastery at Chartres, which originally belonged to the

Jacobins , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = Pa ...

, from which they became known as "les Sœurs de St. Jacques". They settled in England in 1847 at the invitation of

Cardinal Wiseman Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman (3 August 1802 – 15 February 1865) was a Cardinal of the Catholic Church who became the first Archbishop of Westminster upon the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales in 1850. Bo ...

France and England

Until 1902 they had over two hundred and fifty houses in France where, besides various kinds of schools, they undertook asylums for the blind, the aged, and the insane, hospitals, dispensaries, and crèches. By 1913, more than one hundred and sixty of these schools have been closed, also thirty of the hospitals, military and civil, in the French colonies, three convents at Blois and a hospice at Brie. On the other hand they have in the meanwhile opened five or six hospitals in the French colonies, two hospitals and three elementary schools in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, and three educational houses in Siam. The English branch was under the government of a mother general (as of 1913).

Hong Kong

The first Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres arrived in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta ...

in 1848. Institutions founded by the Sisters include: * St. Paul's Convent School * St. Paul's Secondary School * St. Paul's School (Lam Tin) * St. Paul's Hospital (Hong Kong) * St. Teresa's Hospital

Core values

References

* The entry cities: **Steel, ''Convents of Great Britain'' (London, 1902)

External links