They were founded in 1633 by Vincent de Paul and state that they are devoted to serving the poor through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

The need for organization in working with the poor suggested to De Paul the forming of a confraternity among the women of his parish in Châtillon-les-Dombes.

Vincent de Paul remedied this by referring interested young women from the countryside to work with the "Ladies of Charity" in Paris.

The newly formed Daughters of Charity set up soup kitchens, organized community hospitals, established schools and homes for orphaned children, offered job training, taught the young to read and write, and improved prison conditions.

In Angers, revolutionary authorities decided to make an example of sisters Marie-Anne Vaillot and Odile Baumgarten in order to demonstrate what refusal to take the oath would mean.

At a ceremony in Rome on 19 February 1984 Pope John Paul II beatified ninety-nine persons who died for the faith in Angers, including Vaillot and Baumgarten.

A false testimony allowed them to say that Sr. Marguerite was unpatriotic, a fanatic against the principles of the Revolution and that she tried to convince the wounded soldiers to desert and join the royalist army of Vendéens.

Sisters Marie-Madeleine Fontaine, Marie-Françoise Lanel, Thérèse Fantou, and Jeanne Gérard from the House of Charity in Arras were guillotined in Cambrai 26 June 1794.

[3] From that time and through the 19th century, the community spread to Austria, Australia, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Portugal, Turkey, Britain and the Americas.

[5] The Convent of Saint Vincent de Paul was the first building established on Mamilla Street in Jerusalem, near Jaffa Gate, in 1886.

Precipitating the future growth of that street as a commercial thoroughfare, the sisters put up a series of shops in front of the building and used the rent money for convent operations.

The traditional habit of the Daughters of Charity was one of the most conspicuous of Catholic Sisters, as it included a large starched cornette on the head.

[9] In the United States, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, a recent convert to the Catholic Church, had hoped to establish a community of Daughters of Charity.

Bishop Benedict J. Flaget presented the request to superiors in Paris and in 1810 brought to Mother Seton the Rules by which she guided her community during her lifetime.

In 1850, the community at Emmitsburg affiliated with the Mother House of the Daughters of Charity in Paris and at that time adopted the blue habit and the white collar and cornette.

The Sisters in New York retained the rule, customs, and spiritual exercises originally established by Mother Seton: the black habit, cape and cap.

Reverend Mother Mariana Flynn, head of the Daughters of Charity, recalled their service during the Civil War and said her sisters were proud to be "back in the army again, caring for our sick and wounded.

[10] As of 2019, 14,000 serve in ninety countries, addressing needs of food, water, sanitation and shelter, besides their work with health care, HIV/AIDS, migrant and refugee assistance, and education.

[13] In July 2011 the Daughters of Charity merged four of the five existing U.S. provinces – Emmitsburg, Maryland; Albany, New York; St. Louis, Missouri; and Evansville, Indiana.

In recent times, they were accused of abusing power in maternity wards run by them both in private and public hospitals, stealing children from their mothers.

Though no longer staffed and run by the Daughters, five of the hospitals which were founded by them in the USA continue to operate within the St. Vincent's Health Care System.

[19] Daughters operate St. Ann's Infant and Maternity Home near Washington, D.C.[20] Saints Blesseds Venerables Servants of God Other prominent members During WW2, two members of the order, including Sister Barta Pulherija, operated a children's concentration camp on behalf of the Axis puppet state Independent State of Croatia known as Jastrebarsko children's camp.

[31] Smyllum Park was founded in 1864 and closed in 1981 due to a move from institutional establishments to small family group living for children in care.

[37] Peter Kearney, director of the Scottish Catholic Media Office, said "During the 60-year period the inquiry covered, over 400,000 children experienced residential care in Scotland, the vast majority in non-Catholic homes.