Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/79

 SISTERHOODS women. These were all placed under the pro- tection of St. Mary Magdalen, and, spreading rapidly with the order itself, effected a great moral reform in France and elsewhere. The " Sisters of Penitence " originated at Marseilles in 1278, and were specially devoted to the same purpose. A host of similar sisterhoods arose afterward, among which were the " Sisters of Charity " established at Marseilles in 1290, who soon opened houses in the chief cities of south- ern France ; the Jesuates of St. Jerome, founded in 1358 at Siena, approved by Pope Martin V., and suppressed by Clement IX.; the "Con- gregation of Our Lady of Charity " in Paris ; and the numerous communities of noble ladies popularly known as Magdelonettes, but united under the patronage of St. Mary Magdalen, es- iblished at Metz in 1452, at Paris in 1492, at Naples in 1524, and at Rouen and Bordeaux in 1618. In the Magdelonette establishments, the women under care of the nuns were classed in three categories : the congregation of St. Mar- tha, formed of persons supposed to be thor- oughly reformed, and permitted to bind them- selves by religious vows; the daughters of St. Martha, who, though penitent, are not per- mitted to make vows; and the daughters of St. Lazarus, who are either unwilling to re- form or are placed in the establishment by the public magistrates. Similar sisterhoods were organized at Rome by Leo X., and confirmed and endowed by Clement VIII. The congre- ition of the u Sisters of Our Lady of Provi- lence," founded in 1830 for the same purpose in the south of France by Mile. Lamouroux, has several large establishments, one of which is at Laval. Of the communities whose sole re is that of the aged and homeless poor, two deserve special mention. The " Little sisters of the Poor" were founded in 1840 at >t. Servan in Brittany, by Abb6 Le Pailleur, rith the aid of two poor girls. They give a )me to the aged of both sexes, depending )lely on the alms collected from door to door " on the labor of the sisterhood. They were mch opposed at first, but were soon called to >pen houses in all the cities of France. They were approved by Pius IX., July 9, 1854, and 30gnized by the French government in 1856. house was given to them in London in 1860, md their labors were warmly recommended by s Dickens and other public men, and from London they spread all over Great Britain id Ireland. In 1868 they came to Brooklyn, Y., Cincinnati, and New Orleans, in 1869 Baltimore and St. Louis, and afterward to Tew York, Philadelphia, Louisville, and Bos- )n. They also have establishments in Alge- ia, Asia Minor, and Constantinople. The oth- commnnity is that of the " Sisters of the or of St. Francis," a congregation which originated at Aix-la-Chapelle in the pres- snt century, and came to the United States in 1857. Besides the care of the aged poor, bind themselves to receive at all times and without distinction the sick and wounded of every creed and nationality. They have many establishments in most of the large cities of the United States. Among the communities devoted to the care of the insane are the " Sis- ters of the Good Saviour " at Caen in Nor- mandy. The community was founded in 1720 by two poor girls, who- taught little outcast children, visited the poor, nursed the sick, and in 1730 opened asylums for homeless children, female penitents, and insane persons. They were suppressed in 1 789, but continued to labor among the needy till May 22, 1805, when 15 sisters once more met in community under Abbe Jamet, their former chaplain. In 1817 and 1818 they were first charged by govern- ment with the care of insane women, and soon afterward with that of insane men. Besides, Abbe" Jamet having invented a new method of instruction for deaf and dumb orphans, his school gradually became a normal school to which pupil teachers of the deaf and dumb resort from France, Belgium, and the British isles. In 1874 the mother house at Caen num- bered 300 sisters and upward of B l,000 insane patients. There are three associated estab- lishments of equal importance at Albi, Pont- 1'Abbe, and Brucourt. In Canada, the care of the insane at Quebec devolved on the sisters of the general hospital till 1844 ; and the sisters of Providence founded at Montreal in 1828, and canonically approved in 1844, have charge of the insane asylum near that city. II. Protes- tant. In the church of England several com- munities of charitable women have been organ- ized in the present century. A community of " Sisters of Mercy " was founded at Devonport about 1845 by Miss Lydia Sellon, who began with the establishment of industrial, infant, and ragged schools. Several ladies joined her in her work, and they took a house and formed a community under Miss Sellon, at first subject to the visitorial control of the bishop of Ex- eter. The society was composed of three or- ders, viz. : those living in community, working among the poor, and leading an active labori- ous life ; those who were unable to undertake this work, but who wished to live a calm life, engaged in prayer, reading, and quiet occu- pations ; and married and single women who lived in the world, but maintained a certain connection with the community, and assisted its work in various ways. The sisters were bound by no vows except a promise of obe- dience to their superior. They were free to abandon their vocation at will, but while con- nected with it adopted a peculiar garb, and shared their property in common. The sisters also undertook the entire charge and support of a large number of orphan children. At East Grinstead a sisterhood was founded in 1855 by the Rev. Dr. John Mason Neale, with the ob- ject of nursing the sick, poor and rich, in their own homes, and in hospitals or infirmaries, in town or country. In 1874 the society had branch houses ia London, Aberdeen, Wigan,
 * hey take charge of hospitals, into which they