Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny is a Roman Catholic religious institute founded in 1807. Located around the world, its members perform a variety of charitable works, but they devote themselves especially to missionary work and providing education for the poor.

Anne Marie Javouhey, the founder of the religious institute, was born in a remote village in Burgundy, France, on November 10, 1779 and died on the July 15, 1851. She was committed to a life of God from a young age and worked in five continents during her lifetime. During the revolution against the church in France, she, along with her parents, helped save the lives of priests who would not swear an oath of allegiance to the State, which influenced her growing need to be a protector and advocate for her religion. She worked with lepers in South America. When she returned to France, her attention shifted to the mentally ill, who were at that time neglected by the medical profession, and she created the precursor to occupational therapy.

"I have promised God to give myself wholly to the service of the sick and the instruction of little children," Anne Marie wrote in one of her letters to her father. She believed that all people are equal and have a right to human and spiritual formation. Her educational methods show great respect for the true nature of human beings: "Free persons are led, not by constraint, but by persuasion." Her inclusive nature was unusual for the time, and she helped young Africans who wished to become priests to do so in spite of the current prejudices. Her philosophy in cultural integration was also progressive for the early 19th century: "We will keep to all that can be kept of the simple customs which suit the climate, we will change only what is not good."

Anne Marie Javouhey grew up at a time when the country was in the grip of the French Revolution. Churches and schools were closed and priests, those who had taken orders and believers were persecuted. It was under these circumstances that Anne Marie as a young girl tried to meet the spiritual needs of the people around her. Not long after she turned 20, Anne Marie chose to become a nun, but for her it was not an easy process. She made several attempts to enter religious life and ended up leaving several institutes, before deciding to begin one of her own. Anne Marie was encouraged in this endeavor by Pope Pius VII during a meeting in 1805, in the town of Chalon-sur-Saône, France.

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