Sisters of Charity of Nevers
The motherhouse at Nevers
|
|
| Founder | |
|---|---|
| Jean-Baptiste Delaveyne, 1680 | |
| Religions | |
| Roman Catholicism |
The Sisters of Charity of Nevers (French: Congrégation des Sœurs de la Charité de Nevers), also known as Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction, is a religious institute founded in 1680 in Nevers, Nièvre department, France, at the instigation of Jean-Baptiste Delaveyne. The motherhouse, the convent at St. Gildard in Nevers, is built on the ruins of the priory of Saint-Gildard, and was supervised by the bishop of the diocese of Nevers.
In 1678, Jean-Baptiste Delaveyne (1653–1719), a Benedictine who had spent seven years being dazzled by the court of Louis XIV of France, returned to Saint-Saulge, the hamlet in the Nièvre department where he was born, in an attempt to regain the spiritual direction of his youth. Struck by the poverty he found in that rural area, he offered the young ladies of the village of Saint-Saulge a challenge: "Have no other business but that of charity. Have no other interests but those of the unfortunate." This challenge led to the congregation's foundation. Delaveyne organized a small house with Sisters who ministered to the sick and the poor.
The congregation was housed in Château-Chinon in 1706. In 1710 they moved to Decize to serve in the local hospital, and in 1716 they consecrated a chapel in Saint-Saulge to the Immaculate Conception. In 1748 they returned to Château-Chinon, to its hospital. While the Sisters initially ministered to the poor, during the nineteenth century they were more oriented toward the middle classes (and most of the novices were middle-class girls), and by the 1860s operated 260 convents in France.
...
Wikipedia