Sisters of Saint Joseph of Medaille

The Sisters of Saint Joseph of Medaille aka Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Bourg is a Roman Catholic congregation of women. Its forebearer, the The Congregation of Sisters of Saint Joseph was started in Le Puy, France by the Jesuit Jean Pierre Médaille and accepted by the bishop, Monsignor de Maupas, on October 15, 1650. The Congregation of Saint Joseph was disbanded during the French Revolution. It was revived in 1807 at Lyon, during the Napoleonic regime through the efforts of Cardinal Fesch and Mother Saint John Fontbonne.

In 1819 a foundation from the mother house in Lyon was established in the Diocese of Belley under the leadership of Mother Saint Joseph Chaney. In 1823 the sisters of the diocese formally separated from Lyon. They became a new independent diocesan congregation under the leadership of Reverend Mother Saint Benoit Cornillon and direction of Bishop Alexander Devie.

Sisters of St. Joseph of Bourg were sent to establish house in the United States. They ministered to the poor and suffering of Louisiana and Mississippi, opening schools, hospitals and an orphanage. Sisters from the New Orleans group went to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1893, where they created a boarding residence, known as the Sacred Heart Home, for young working women girls. It later became known as Fontbonne Home. In time, the sisters also undertook educational and other apostolic ministries in Ohio.

In 1903 six sisters were dispatched from Bourg, France to staff a school in Argyle, Minnesota. Two years later a school and convent were begun in Crookston, Minnesota. The sisters soon staffed educational and health care institutions throughout the area, extending their presence in Minneapolis/St. Paul, and to Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Canada. By 1962, the Bourg Congregation had six provinces, three in Europe and three in the United States, with missions in Africa and Latin America.

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