The Sisters of the Holy Childhood of Jesus and Mary, known also as Sisters of Ste-Chrétienne, are a Roman Catholic congregation founded in 1807 by Mme Anne-Victoire Méjanes, née Tailleux, for the education of girls and the care of the sick poor.
At the invitation of bishop Jauffret of Metz, Mme Méjanes and her community went from Argancy to Metz and took up their abode in the Abbey of St. Glossinde, where, on 20 April, 1807, they bound themselves by vow to follow the statutes drawn up for them by the bishop. Their numbers soon increased until now (2008) there are 206 sisters in 38 houses.[1]
The religious are divided into choir and lay sisters, the latter occupied with the domestic care of their various institutions, the former engaged in the works peculiar to higher schools, industrial schools, and orphanages. The vows are made annually for ten years, after which final vows are taken.
The congregation received the approval of the Holy See in 1888, and in 1899 its statutes were granted papal approbation.
The sisters have houses in France, Austria, Hungary, Georgia, Canada, and the United States. There is a novitiate of the congregation in Salem, Massachusetts.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.