The Little Sisters of the Assumption is a Roman Catholic religious order founded in France in 1865 by Antoinette Fage and Father Etienne Pernet.
The declared work of the congregation is the nursing of the sick poor in their own homes. This labour they perform gratuitously and without distinction of creed.
Contents |
The congregation was founded in Paris in 1865, by the Rev. Etienne Pernet, and Marie Antoinette Fage. Both had long been engaged in charitable work, Father Pernet while a professor in the College of the Assumption at Nîmes, and MIIe. Fage as a member of the Association of Our Lady of Good Council in Paris. They met in Paris and Father Pernet placed her in charge of the work of nursing the sick poor which he had inaugurated. Out of this movement the sisterhood grew, Mother Marie de Jesus being the first superior. The nursing of the sick poor was not the only or even the chief purpose of the Little Sisters.
They endeavoured to bring about conversions, to regularize illicit unions, to have children baptized, sent to school, and prepared for first Communion and Confirmation. They formed societies among their clients and enlisted the aid of laymen and laywomen of education and means to further the work of regeneration. The congregation had established houses in Italy, Spain, Belgium, England, Ireland, and the United States of America. The papal Brief approving the congregation was issued in 1897. By 1912, the sisters took simple vows and were governed by a mother-general, who resided in Paris.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.