Catholic Pocket Dictionary/Sisterhoods

The principal Sisterhoods are as follows:

1. Sisters of the Assumption.-Founded by Monsignor Affre, archbishop of Paris, in 1839, chiefly as an educational order. The habit is violet, with a cross on the breast, and a white veil.
2. Sisterhood of Bon Secours.-This institute was founded by Mgr. de QueIen, archbishop of Paris in 1822, for the care of the sick in their own homes, and also of orphans. It was formally approved by the Holy See in 1875.
3. Sisters of St. Brigid, or of the Holy Faith.-Founded in 1857 to take charge of poor schools for girls and little boys.
4. Sisters of Charity.--Called also "Gray Sisters," "Daughters of Charity," "Sisters of St, Vincent of Paul." This congregation, after many and long-continued tentative operations, was founded at Paris in 1634 by St. Vincent of Paul for the work of nursing the sick in hospitals. The constitution of the society has never varied. The sisters take simple vows, which are yearly renewed; they add a fourth vow, by which they bind themselves to serve the sick. Postulants are admitted to the habit at the end of six months; the period of probation lasts for five years. The dress of a Sister of Charity is too well known to need description.
5. Sisters of Charity of St. Paul. – This congregation was founded by M. Chauvet, a French curé, assisted by Mdlle. de Tylly, in 1704.
6. Sisters of Charity. This institute was founded in 1815 by Mary Frances Aikenhead, for the purpose of ministering to the sick and poor in hospitals and at their own homes. The sisters, though not in any way connected with the celebrated foundation of St. Vincent of Paul, have "very nearly, if not exactly, the same objects of Christian charity in view." The congregation was approved by the Holy See in 1834. The vows are perpetual; the rule is that of the Society of Jesus so far as it is suitable for women; a probation of two years and a half is undergone before admission to the habit.
7. Sisters of the Good Shepherd. This society, the chief object of which is the reformation of fallen women, was founded by the Pére Eudes and Marguerite l'Ami in 1646.
8. Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus. This is a recent institute, founded for teaching both the rich and the poor.
9. Sisters (Little) of the Poor. This admirable institute was founded in 1840 by the cure of St. Servan, M. le Pailleur, aided by four women of humble birth, whose names were Marie Augustine, Marie Therese, Jeanne Jugon, and Fauchon Aubert, for the support, relief, and nursing of aged or infirm poor persons. The sisters maintain (their resources being chiefly got by begging from door to door) thousands of the aged poor in many countries.
10. Sisters of Mercy. This important and flourishing order was founded by Miss Catherine McAuley, for carrying on all the works of mercy, both spiritual and corporal. The foundress took the title of her order from that of St. Peter Nolasco; its rule, with some slight modifications, from that of the Presentation Nuns. Except in the case of recent filiations, each convent is independent of every other, and is completely under the jurisdiction and control of the bishop of the diocese. Besides the three essential vows the sisters take a fourth – to devote themselves for life to the service and instruction of the poor, sick, and ignorant.
11. Sisters (Poor) of Nazareth.-An offshoot from the institute of the Little Sisters of the Poor, which it resembles in most respects.
12. Sisters of Providence. Founded some years before the French Revolution, chiefly in order to meet the difficulty of obtaining sound education in country districts, by M. Moye, vicar of a parish near Metz.
13. Sisters (School) of Notre Dame. An order which had for its primary object the salvation of the souls of poor children. In 1809 the mother house and the administration of the order was established at Namur, France. The rules and constitutions received the formal approbation of the Holy See in 1844.
14. Sisters of La Sainte Union des Sacrés Coeurs.-Founded at Douai by the Abbé Debrabant. The rule and constitutions are chiefly taken from the rule prescribed by St. Francis of Sales to the nuns of the Visitation. The object of the institute is the education of girls in every rank of society.

15. Sisters of the Faithful Virgin. This order was founded mainly for the care of orphans. The mother house is at La Délivrande in Normandy.