Bon Secours Sisters

"Bon Secours Sisters" - a Roman Catholic religious congregation for nursing ("gardes malades"), whose object is to take care of both rich and poor patients.

History

The congregation was begun by Archbishop de Quélen of Paris in 1822 and was formally approved by Pope Pius IX in 1875. Its members nurse the poor gratuitously. Patients who can afford it pay for such service. The habit of the sisters is black, they wear a white cap with frilled border and a black veil. By 1913, there were sixteen houses of the congregation in France, four in Ireland, one in England, two in the United states, and one in Belgium. The scope of the institute is expressed in the constitutions: "After the personal sanctification of its members, the principal aim of this pious society is the care of the sick in their own homes". Although these sisters had governmental approbation and complied with the fiscal laws in France they had suffered by the religious persecution in early 20-th century. Four large schools which had been started in behalf of miners' children and at the urgent request of the mining population of Northern France (Lille, Lens, etc.) were closed on the plea that they formed no part of the institute's approved charter. And with the schools were also suppressed attendance by the sisters on sick or wounded miners and a very interesting work called "la goutte de lait", or "the drop of milk," a sort of dispensary wherein the sisters superintended the food of miners' infants. [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02678a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia Article] ]

Present time

At present the congragation works in the United States, Ireland, Peru, France, and Great Britain.

Within the U.S., the sisters live and serve in nine states: Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia. [ [http://www.bonsecoursvocations.org/howwelive/index.html Sisters Of Bon Secours: How We Live] ]

External links

* [http://www.bonsecoursvocations.org Bon Secours Sisters]

References