Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph

The Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph (also known as Réligieuses hospitalières de Saint-Joseph) is a religious order founded in La Fleche, France by the Venerable Jerome le Royer de la Dauversiere and Venerable Marie de la Ferre.

Jerome le Royer was born in La Flèche, France on March 18, 1597. He pursued his studies at the Jesuit College of there and when his father died in 1619, Jerome succeeded him as tax collector. He also inherited the small estate “La Dauversière”, whence comes the title attached to his name. He married Jeanne de Bauge, who bore him five children.

M. le Royer collaborated in the administration of the old Maison Dieu (House of God), where the sick poor received care. The three women who worked there lived on alms obtained in the city. Le Royer wondered what to do to improve their situation. First he rebuilt the dilapidated hospital at la Flèche.

Marie de la Ferre was born around 1589 in the small village of Roiffé. Around 1601, her mother died. When her father remarried, the girl went to live with her aunt, Catherine de Goubitz, at her manor in Ruigné, near La Flèche. Her aunt wanted her to make a brilliant match; but Marie decided to consecrate her life to the Lord. Several experiences of religious life having failed, Marie devoted herself to her aunt’s service, as well as those wounded by life. The people, witnesses of her charity, called her “The Holy Woman”. After the death of her aunt, De la Ferre visited the sick poor in the small Maison Dieu in La Flèche, where she met M. le Royer.

Le Royer founded the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph (RHSJ) order with Marie de la Ferre in 1636. This order is distinct from the Sisters of Saint Joseph founded in Le Puy-en-Velay, France in 1650.

In May 1636, Marie de la Ferre and Anne Foureau formed a community at the Hotel-Dieu with three servants of the poor already on site. Thus began the Congregation of the Daughters Hospitallers of St. Joseph. The first constitutions of the congregation were approved and on January 22, 1644, Marie de la Ferre and her eleven companions made simple vows for one year in the Congregation of the Daughters of St. Joseph. They elected De la Ferre as superior of the newly founded community. In the spring of 1652, an epidemic broke out in the town of Moulins, where the Sisters had come to serve the sick. The infection claimed many people and even the Sisters fell ill. As the epidemic began to regress, Sister Marie de la Ferre, already exhausted, died on July 28, 1652.

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