Origins of the Congregation
In the diocese of Poitiers, after the French Revolution, at the end of the 18th century, André-Hubert Fournet saw the needs of the people in the various parishes entrusted to him around Saint-Pierre de Maillé.
Jeanne-Elisabeth Bichier des Ages, from 1797, after the meeting of “Les Marsyllis” gathered children from the village in La Guimetière, her family home, in the municipality of Béthines, to teach them catechism. Then, she opened a school in Béthines for little girls.
While she was in Poitiers to learn about the structures of religious life, she received this urgent call from André-Hubert: "What are you thinking of? There are children here who do not know the first principles of religion and who have no one to teach them! There are sick people lying in their beds, without help, without consolation. Come and care for them, come and assist them at their death! ». (page 137 Saubat)
Back in Béthines, four other young girls join Jeanne-Elisabeth who, with her, dedicated themselves to "all kinds of good works": church maintenance, care of the sick, help with various works, meeting the most pressing needs of the area.
In 1806, they accommodated 33 orphans in their house at Molante, in St-Pierre de Maillé. In addition to helping the sick, they continued to teach catechism and to educate the orphans and the other children in the vicinity.
These five young girls - the first Sisters of the Cross - took their vows in 1807, and the small community quickly multiplied. Small rural schools also…
