Many religious communities have the term Sisters of Charity in their name. Some Sisters of Charity communities refer to the Vincentian tradition alone, or in America to the tradition of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton (whose sisters are also of the Vincentian tradition), but others are unrelated. The rule of Vincent de Paul for the Daughters of Charity has been adopted and adapted by at least sixty founders of religious institutes for sisters around the world.
In 1633, Vincent de Paul, a French priest and Louise de Marillac, a widow, established the Company of the Daughters of Charity as a group of women dedicated to serving the "poorest of the poor". They set up soup kitchens, organized community hospitals, established schools and homes for orphaned children, offered job training, taught the young to read and write, and improved prison conditions. Louise de Marillac and Vincent de Paul both died in 1660, and by this time there were more than forty houses of the Daughters of Charity in France, and the sick poor were cared for in their own dwellings in twenty-six parishes in Paris. The French Revolution shut down all convents, but the society was restored in 1801 and eventually spread to Austria, Australia, [1] Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Portugal, Turkey, Britain and the Americas. [2]
In 1809, the American Elizabeth Ann Seton founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, adapting the rule of the French Daughters of Charity for her Emmitsburg, Maryland, community.
In 1817, Mother Seton sent three Sisters to New York City to establish an orphanage. [3] In 1829, four Sisters of Charity from Emmitsburg, Maryland, traveled to Cincinnati, to open St. Peter’s Girl’s Orphan Asylum and School. [4] In 1850, the Sulpician priests of Baltimore successfully negotiated that the Emmitsburg community be united with the international community based in Paris. The foundations in New York and Cincinnati decided to become independent diocesan congregations. Six separate religious congregations trace their roots to the beginnings of the Sisters of Charity in Emmitsburg. In addition to the original community of Sisters at Emmitsburg (now part of the Vincentian order), they are based in New York City; Cincinnati, Ohio; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Convent Station, New Jersey; and Greensburg, Pennsylvania.[ citation needed ]
In 2011, the Daughters of Charity established The Province of St. Louise, bringing together the West Central, East Central, Southeast, and Northeast Provinces of the United States. [5] Los Altos Hills in California remains a separate province. [6]
Sisters of Charity Federation in the Vincentian-Setonian Tradition:
The most famous convent is at 140 Rue du Bac in Paris, France, Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal founded in 1633 by Vincent de Paul. This was where Catholics believe Sister Catherine Labouré later received the vision of Immaculate Mary on the eve of St. Vincent's feast day in 1830, as well as the dispensation of the Miraculous Medal.
Many other groups called Sisters of Charity have also founded and operate educational institutions, hospitals and orphanages:
The Religious Sisters of Charity (or Irish Sisters of Charity), founded by Mary Aikenhead in 1815, were one of the orders involved in the controversial Magdalene laundries. [15] [16]
Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton was a Catholic religious sister in the United States and an educator, known as a founder of the country's parochial school system. Born in New York and reared as an Episcopalian, she married and had five children with her husband William Seton. Two years after his death, she converted to Catholicism in 1805.
Catherine Labouré, DC was a French member of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and a Marian visionary. She is believed to have relayed the request from the Blessed Virgin Mary to create the Miraculous Medal, now worn by millions of people around the world. Labouré spent forty years caring for the aged and infirm. For this, she is called the patroness of seniors.
Vincent de Paul, CM, commonly known as Saint Vincent de Paul, was an Occitan French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor.
The Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, commonly called the Daughters of Charity or Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent De Paul, is a Society of Apostolic Life for women within the Catholic Church. Its members make annual vows throughout their life, which leaves them always free to leave, without the need of ecclesiastical permission. They were founded in 1633 by Vincent de Paul and state that they are devoted to serving the poor through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
Louise de Marillac , also known as Louise Le Gras, was the co-founder, with Vincent de Paul, of the Daughters of Charity. She is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
The Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul of New York, most often known as the Sisters of Charity of New York, is a religious congregation of sisters in the Catholic Church whose primary missions are education and nursing and who are dedicated in particular to the service of the poor. The motherhouse is located at Mt. St. Vincent in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. They were founded by Elizabeth Ann Seton in 1809.
The Sisters of Charity Federation in the Vincentian-Setonian Tradition is an organization of fourteen congregations of religious women in the Catholic Church who trace their lineage to Saint Elizabeth Seton, Saint Vincent de Paul, and Saint Louise de Marillac.
The Vincentian Studies Institute of the United States (VSI) is an American Catholic research outfit at DePaul Universityin Chicago, Illinois. It promotes research on the Vincentian Family.
The Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill were founded by Sister Aloysia Lowe. In 1870, she and sisters Blanche O'Keefe, Maria Theresa O'Donnell, Maria Kavanaugh and two novices were sent to western Pennsylvania from the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati and began their work, founding and staffing schools. The sisters later expanded their work to include healthcare.
The Vincentian Sisters of Charity were an American religious congregation of Religious Sisters founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1902 to serve the Slovak American immigrant population in Pennsylvania.
The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati were founded in 1852 by Mother Margaret Farrell George, by the separation of the community from the Sisters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Maryland. the motherhouse of the community is at Mount Saint Joseph, Ohio.
The Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul were founded on May 11, 1849, when the four founding Sisters of Charity arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from New York City; this has been designated a National Historic Event.
The Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, also known as the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, is a Catholic religious order that was founded in 1835 by Mary Euphrasia Pelletier in Angers, France. The religious sisters belong to a Catholic international congregation of religious women dedicated to promoting the welfare of women and girls.
Bartolomea Capitanio was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious and the co-foundress of the Sisters of Charity of Lovere that she established with Vincenza Gerosa. Capitanio's rather short life was dedicated to the educational needs of children and the poor and she served as a teacher for most of her life while using her order to achieve this aim.
Vincenza Gerosa - born Caterina Gerosa - was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious and the co-foundress of the Sisters of Charity of Lovere that she founded alongside Bartolomea Capitanio. Gerosa met Capitanio in 1824 and the two consecrated themselves to God in the name of educating children and tending to the poor of the Bergamo area.
The Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy is a Roman Catholic religious institute founded by Bishop John England of the Diocese of Charleston in South Carolina, in 1829 as the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. In 1949 the word "Charity" was added to the congregation's name, in order to identify it more explicitly with others that follow the Rule of Life of St. Vincent de Paul. They came to serve throughout the Eastern United States. The members of the congregation use the postnominal initials of O.L.M.
The Religious Sisters of Charity or Irish Sisters of Charity is a Roman Catholic religious institute founded by Mary Aikenhead in Ireland on 15 January 1815. Its motto is Caritas Christi urget nos.
The Institute of the Sisters of Charity of Saints Bartolomea Capitanio and Vincenza Gerosa (SCCG), also known as the Sisters of Maria Bambina (Sisters of Holy Child Mary) had its origins in a house which the people called "Conventino" (small convent) in Lovere, Italy. It was founded by a young woman of 26 named Bartolomea Capitanio in 1832. Bartolomea was helped in her project by Catherine Gerosa, a simple and wealthy lady of Lovere who later took the name of Sister Vincenza, in honor of St. Vincent de Paul.
Leonarda Angela Casiraghi, popularly known as Doddamma, was an Italian-born naturalised Indian Catholic missionary and social worker, known for her medical service in Dharwad, in the south Indian state of Karnataka. She founded a small medical dispensary in Dharwad in 1958, which later grew to become a full-fledged hospital by name, Our Lady of Lourdes Charitable Hospital. She came to India in 1955 and worked in Mangalore and Hyderabad for three years before founding the medical facility in Dharwad. A member of the Sisters of Charity of Saints Bartolomea Capitanio and Vincenza Gerosa congregation, she was the administrator of the hospital and its sister concern, Our Lady of Lourdes School of Nursing, since their inception. She was awarded the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri by the Government of India, in 1998, for her services to the society
Bishop Mathias Sebastião Francisco Fernandes was a Roman Catholic bishop, the first native to be bishop of Diocese of Mysore in Mysore, India. His tenure was marked by the introduction of a number of religious orders offering educational opportunities within the diocese. He was of Goan origin.
