The History of The Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady

Francis preached to the rich and poor, he recommended poverty which consisted of leaving everything and owning nothing; neither one’s own life or goods.

To all, he recommended the life of a son of the Church obedient to the Holy Father.

To all, he wished “Peace and happiness.”
Many joined him incuding nobles, middle class and peasants .

Francis then founded the Order of the Brothers Minor. Later, Claire of Assisi and her sister Agnes, from an aristocratic family, also wished to live according to his ideal. They became the “Poor Ladies” or “Clares”.

Men and women, having a family and professional life, also wished to live in the spirit of St. Francis. They became the Third Order of Saint Francis. This Third Order expanded just as the first two orders had, first in Italy, and then in Germany where Elizabeth of Hungary lived.

Daughter of Andrew II, king of Hungary, and of Gertrude of Merany, Elizabeth was born in 1207 at Presburg in Hungary. In 1220, when she was 13 years old, she married Louis IV of Thunngen and lived at the Chateau Warlburg near Eisenbach.

She met the first Friars Minor who came into Germany. One of them introduced her to the spirit of St. Francis. Her husband died in 1227 on a crusade and she found herself at 20 a widow with three children.

She consecrated herself to the service of the poor. In them, she venerated Christ. Encouraged by the Friars Minor, she lived in poverty. She used her income to build a hospital at Marburg. A little later she began living there with other companions after having been clothed in the habit of a Third Order Franciscan. She died at Marburg on November 17th 1231 before she was 24.

Elizabeth was a contemplative woman, totally given to the poor and the rejected. She would become the patron of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis which gave rise to numerous religious communities.

“God wishes to see me joyful since I love Him and He loves me”
(St. Elizabeth of Hungry)

Around Francis, the Brothers became more and more numerous. He blessed them and sent them to preach the Gospel. Italy was not large enough. The heart of Francis had to overflow to the world.

At a time when religious intolerance was everywhere, Francis visited the Sultan of Egypt.. The Sultan received him with admiration and welcome. Upon returning to Italy, Francis and his brothers set out on the roads of the world… In Morocco five brothers were decapitated, the first martyrs of the Order (1220)

Francis particularly loved France. His roots were there. His mother, Lady Pica, was from Provence. He decided to go to France but he was prevented. He sent in his place several of his companions with Brother Pacific. They arrived at Vezelay in 1217 where they established the first Franciscan monastery in France. It was called “The Cordelle”.

In 1219, Brother Pacific came to Paris, then to Saint Denis. About 1223, he found himself at Lensen-Artois in north of France. Under the inspiration of Brother Pacific, who had been named Provincial of the Order in France, the  brothers and their monasteries multiplied.

The needs of the French people were great. Brother Pacific brought from Italy some women who worked to relieve the misery of the people.They formed the Third Order Secular.

According to an ancient tradition, the first Sisters of the Third Order, called the Grey Nuns, established themselves at Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise in the north of France around 1223-1224, before the death of Saint Francis (1226).

In 1430, the Black Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis came from Saint-Omer and established at Saint-Pol where they lavished their care on the sick.
From Saint-Pol some Sisters were sent to Bethune, to Arras, to Lens….. others went to the north and to Belgium…. others to Picardy.

Rapid development continued from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century. After the thirty Years’ war, about 1650, there were seventy convents in Flanders and nearly 1200 religious.

Later, some following the example of Elizabeth of Hungry, adopted a Rule of Life, retired into convents and gave themselves to the works of mercy. They formed a Third Order “Regular” (one which followed a rule of life). They generally dressed like the widows in the places where they lived.

They had different names:

• The Manteled Sisters (wearing a large cape or mantel)

• The Gray Nuns

• The Black Nuns

• The White Nuns

• The Nuns of the Cell (with no resources but begging)

• The Nuns of the Faille

• The Sisters of St. Francis

• The Sisters of St. Catherine

Among these houses were the seven autonomous houses of Pas-de-Calais which, after the revolution, reclaimed the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi and became the beginning of the Congregation of the Franciscans of Calais.

Saint-Omer (1408-1434)
In 1408, the hospital of St. John was destined to lodge, warm, and nourish poor pilgrims for one night. In order to continue receiving the poor and the sick, they called upon the Sisters of the Faille in 1434. in 1636 they were outstanding for their dedication during epidemics, especially the plague.

Air-sur-la-Lys (1429)
The civil hospital was entrusted to the Franciscan Sisters in 1429.

Montreuil-sur-Mer (1455)
The Franciscan Sisters called, Sisters of the Cell were established here and worked with orphans.

Bethune (1495)
The hospital was served by lay nurses. In 1495, they asked the Grey Nuns to come from Saint-Pol. They had to “take in and care for all the poor strangers passing and returning, even the contagiously ill to visit and protect the sick in the city, the suburbs, and wherever they were needed, day and night, and even bury the dead”.

Lens-en-Artois (1555)
In 1555, the Franciscans brought the Black Sisters of Saint-Pol, also called the Sisters of the Cell into the Hospital. They took charge of the “care of the sick, and the instruction of children” this work grew and developed until the Revolution.

Arras (1339-1556)
In 1339, John Chariot, a businessman from Arras, built a hospital entrusted to twelve widows. In 1556, they were replaced by a dozen Franciscans of the Cell who came from Saint-Pol and who are called Chariottes. The religious were to “care for the sick and give lodging to poor travelers”.

Calais (1659-1807)
In 1659, some pious, charitable women took charge of the Chamber of the poor. In 1755, they were replaced by the Daughters of Charity expelled by the Revolution. The Franciscans arrived in 1807.

Saint-Pol
The communities of the Grey Nuns and the Black sisters were dissolved. The Grey Nuns even had one of their members martyred: the Superior, arrested, she was detained at Saint-Pol and at Frevent, then transferred to Arras where she was guillotined.

After these events, the different communities had great difficulty refounding themselves since their members had been dispersed. In certain places, they continued to care for the sick.

Gradually some houses took up the common life and resumed their activities. But their number was reduced and they were answerable to administrators. At Saint-Peter-of-Calais, the government asked for four Franciscans, some from Bethune and others from Saint-Omer, to come to relieve the Hospital and take care of abandoned children and elderly.

Founders and Foundress

In 1852, Abbot Adolph Duchenne was the chaplain of the Franciscan of Saint Peter’s Hospice in Calais. These Sisters wanted to join the Third Order of St. Francis.

On October 26, 1852, Father Lawrence d’Aoste, Provincial of the Capuchins of France, officially incorporated the Sisters of the Hospice with the Third Order. Monsignor Parisis, Bishop of Arras, spoke of the “union” of all the Franciscans of the diocese to form them into only one Congregation.

On December 4, 1852 he commissioned Abbot Duchenne to make this project happen. Abbot Duchenne began the visitation of the seven houses and the 75 Sisters with the Abbot of Tour-Auvergne, later Bishop of Bourges.

On February 8, 1853, the Sisters accepted the union and renewed their profession.

On April 10, 1854, an imperial decree recognised the new Congregation under the name “Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis of Assisi, called the Franciscans of Calais”.

On May 30, 1854, Monsignor Parisis, in accordance with the unanimous vote of the Sisters, named as the first Superior General, Mother Louise Mabille, then Superior of the Hospice of Calais. The solemn decree of definitive approbation of the Congregation was dated March 15, 1892.

From this union of the seven houses was born the Congregation of the Franciscan of Calais whose members observe the same Rule, the same Constitutions, wear the same habit, adopt the same customs, and recognise the same Superior General.

 “It is necessary then that you have among yourselves, young and old, to whatever house you belong, a great sisterly love, a spirit of strict union, and that you form only one family.”

Father Duchenne May 15, 1874

“Be all members of the one same body which inspires and gives life. That all and each one according to the grace given her, work at the task for which God has chosen us; He will be at our right, so that nothing will shake us.”

Sister Louise first Superior General, June 1854

Mgr Peter-Louise Parisis, Bishop of Arras, from 1851 to 1866.
As he made his first pastoral tour of the chief cities of the diocese, Mgr. Parisis was struck by the isolation of certain religious houses.

He met the Franciscans at Arras, at Lens, at Bethune, at Air-sur-la-Lys, at Saint Omer, at Montreuil-sur-Mer, and at Calais. Among them, they had no linkage, no connection. Each house was independent and autonomous, as well as having its own customs. Each lived its own lifestyle hardly compatible with the obligations of religious life because they were under the governance of the local administration.

Mgr. Parisis had to point out that the communities were responsible to the Church and their superiors and not to a civil government. His objective would be to reunite these Franciscan communities and to re-establish a mother house with a Superior General to safeguard their independence and their dignity.

Mgr Adolph Duchenne, was born at Boulogne-sur-Mer to a family of shipowners, his father having been a captain for a long time. On the day after his ordination in 1837, he was sent to the General Hospital of Saint-Omer where he took care of the orphans and abandoned children.

Three years later he arrived at Calais… where he would remain until his death. He knew the Franciscan Sisters at Saint-Omer and at Calais very well, and sensed that there were things weakening their religious spirit; the time of prayer was reduced, the strictness of the novitiate was relaxed… he had the same idea as Mgr Parisis and wished to make the pure religious spirit flourish again as well as placing the Sisters under the authority of only one superior.

Mgr. Duchene went to live with the Capuchins, who had returned to Paris after the Revolution of 1848, in order to immerse himself in their spirit. He studied the Rule of the Third Order with the Superior of the Hospice of the community at Calais. Mother Louise Mabille, led all the members of the Calais community to renew their vows to “live in obedience, without property, and in chastity, following the Rule of the third Order of Saint Francis..”..this incorporation took place on October 26, 1852.

Mother Louise Mabille, was born at Boulogne-sur-Mer on May 22, 1799. She received the habit of the Franciscan Sisters of Calais, was professed on October 4, 1825, and then was appointed to the civil hospice in Calais. Named Superior of the Hospice in 1851, she began the work of reuniting the seven autonomous Franciscan houses of Pas-de-Calais. At the same time as Mgr Duchenne, she studied the Rule and probed the Franciscan spirit. Mother Louise was named first Superior General by Mge Parisis, on May 30, 1854. she favoured the union by her calm and self-effacing temperament, by her prudence and wisdom, and by her will.

“have not only a great courage, but a courage which is lively and strong and to obtain it, as it of Him who alone can give it and He will give it always, if in simplicity of heart, we cooperate with his grace.”

Sister Louise, June 1854

Mother Francis of Saint John, was elected Superior General in 1864 upon the death of Mother Louise. Of a very upright nature and full of good sense, she gave evidence of humility, detachment from herself, and a great spirit of faith.

“Be united and we will be Strong”

Sister Francis of Saint John. January 30, 1866

The Birth of the Congregation

The Congregation was born at Calais. The Hospice, the first house, was already under the Community of Saint Peter-les-Calais. It was there that Mother Louise lived and worked with Mgr Duchenne to further the union of the seven houses.

In 1856, the mother house and the novitiate were located in another part of the city because of the lack of space of the first house.

Trials, Wars, and Changes…
Throughout its history, the congregation had to face difficult trials: the war of 1870, those of 1914-1918 and of 1939. the mother house of Calais and its chapel were completely destroyed in May of 1940. The only trace of this catastrophe was the head of a very beautiful statue of Saint Francis which adorned the chapel.

The New Mother House at Desvers (Pas -De_Calais)
After the war, the house of Desvers which had been requisitioned was given back to the Sisters. In September of 1945, Mother Osmanne, Superior General, decided to make it the mother house and to rebuild the novitiate which had been evacuated. In 1965, the Franciscans of Calais took the name “Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady”. In 1874, the Superior General and her Councilors were established at 3 rue Dombasle in Paris.

The First Constitutions say:

“We are always at the disposal of the Holy See and ready to be sent to forging missions when the sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith judges us worthy.”

Constitutions 1.1 1833

From the first years after the union of the seven houses, they were called the Franciscans of Calais. Subsequently, they founded other houses in France, then in mission countries. From 1854 to 1939, sixty houses were founded in Francis and spread among several dioceses.

Foundations in other countries:

1886 at Constantinople in Turkey
1887 at Aden in Arabia
1888 at Obock on the French Coast of Somaliland
1899 in Ethiopia
1935 in Mozambicue
1938 in Madagascar
1911 in Louisanna North America
1911 in Argentina South America
1965 in Brazil
1988 in Haiti
1990 in St Tome e Princpe
1988 in Angola
…shortly in South Africa

1868 in Belgium
1868 in Portugal
1897 in Holland
1899 in Scotland
1931 in Ireland
1951 in England
1977 in Germany

The Sisters work principally in serving the sick, the elderly, their older sisters, in pastoral work, in religious education, in enlivening the liturgy, in sheltering the outset.

The first Sisters left four years after the death of Mother Louise Mabille. They devoted themselves to the service of the sick, the poor, and children. The novitiate was opened in Porto and many foundations followed.

During the Revolution of 1910 most of the houses were closed. The novitiate was later reopened in 1926 at Tuy in Spain. At the time of the Spanish Revolution in 1936, it was moved to Sato Tirso in Portugal, and finally to Gondomar in 1963.

Today, the Sisters are engaged in teaching, educating young people and children, pastoral work serving the sick in hospitals, serving the elderly, in nursing Homes.

The first house was founded in Cord. The novitiate established in Thurman (England) in 1951, was moved to Langholm in Scotland in 1961, then to Mullingar in Ireland and finally to Dublin in 1981. The Sisters work in hospitals in nursing administration, visiting the sick etc, and in teaching.

The Missions

In 1911, six sisters arrived in Louisiana.
In 1913, the Hospital of Saint Francis opened in Monroe
In 1923, the Hospital of Our Lady of the Lake was founded at Baton Rouge.
In 1949, the Hospital of Our Lady of Lourdes was opened in Lafayette.
The provincial house and the novitiate were erected in 1967.
Today, the Sisters are present in the hospitals as Nursing, administration and pastoral work.
In 1988, the mission in Haiti.
In 1911, ten Sisters arrived at Rosario. They worked there and also at Totoras as teachers.
In 1949 a novitiate was opened at Rosario.