Sisters of the Holy Childhood of Jesus and Mary

Sisters of the Holy Childhood of Jesus and Mary

(1) A congregation founded in 1835 in the Diocese of Fréjus, for the education of girls and the care of the sick, with mother-house at Draguignan; government authorization was granted in 1853.

(2) A congregation established at Sens, in 1838, for the work of teaching and the care of the sick in their own homes, the direction of asylums, boarding-schools, etc.; it received state authorization in 1853. Under the mother-house at St-Colombe-les-Sens are over 36 filial establishments.

(3) Sisters of the Holy Childhood of Jesus and Mary of Ste-Chrétienne, known also as Sisters of Ste-Chrétienne, founded in 1807 by Mme Anne-Victoire Méjanes, née Tailleux, for the education of girls and the care of the sick poor. At the invitation of Bishop Jauffret of Metz, Mme Méjanes and her community went from Argancy to Metz and took up their abode in the Abbey of St. Glossinde, where, on 20 April, 1807, they bound themselves by vow to follow the statutes drawn up for them by the bishop. Their numbers soon increased until now (1910) there are about 1400 sisters in over 809 houses. The religious are divided into choir and lay sisters, the latter occupied with the domestic care of their various institutions, the former engaged in the works peculiar to higher schools, industrial schools, and orphanages. The vows are made annually for ten years, after which final vows are taken. The congregation received the approval of the Holy See in 1888, and in 1899 its statutes were granted papal approbation. The sisters have houses in Lorraine, France, Austria, Belgium, England, and the United States. In the United States about 90 sisters have charge of 5 schools in the Archdiocese of Boston, with a total attendance of 2400. There is a novitiate of the congregation in Salem, Massachusetts.

Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregationen (Paderborn, 1908); The Official Catholic Directory (1910).

F.M. RUDGE