Sisters of the Child Jesus

The Sisters of the Child Jesus (French: Suoers de l'Enfant-Jésus) are Religious Sisters founded in 1676 in Le Puy-en-Velay, France, by Ann-Marie Martel (1644–1673) to care for those in need. Divided among various independent religious congregations following the same spirit and tradition, they serve around the world. Since 1903 they have used the postnominal initials of R.E.J..

Martel, the daughter of a local magistrate, had grown up in affluence and comfort. A deeply spiritual young woman, she desired to find a path in life in keeping with her religious beliefs. After a period of consultation with her, her spiritual director, the Abbé Louis Trond of the Society of Saint-Sulpice, suggested that she undertake the practical expression of her faith by helping with a small hospital in the city for destitute women.

Martel followed Trond's suggestion and started to help there, where she would care for the women and instruct them in the faith. She was soon asked to teach catechism to the children of the city who were living on the street. Her example and reputation led other young women to join her in this ministry to the needy. The mission then expanded to reach out to the lace-makers working in the factories. By 1669 the number of women sharing this vision had grown to the point that their work had spread throughout the city and out into the surrounding villages and they had begun to live in community.

Martel died in 1673, at the age of 27, without seeing the formalization of her work into a religious congregation. (The cause for her canonization was accepted for study by the Holy See in 2005.) The society of instructors she had founded did not achieve the status within the Church of a religious community until 1676, when, under the guidance of a canon of Rheims, John Baptist de la Salle, whom they met after their establishment of a convent there, they received the official approval of Armand de Béthune, the Bishop of Le Puy, as the "Ladies and Girls of Instruction". After the group underwent a formal period of novitiate, they professed a public vow of chastity in 1678. With the exception of the community at Versailles, founded in 1680, most of the various communities, previously independent, merged into the Congregation of the Sisters of the Child Jesus in 1708, and received their first common Rule of Life in 1760.

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