Daughters of Jesus

The roots of the congregation lay in the vision of Pierre Noury (1743–1804), who had studied at a Jesuit college, then in a seminary run by the Vincentian Fathers.

During this time, Noury conceived of establishing a small community of women who would lead lives in common of prayer and charitable works.

Samsom was a member of the Third Order of St. Francis, who committed herself to the service of the needy about her, nursing the sick, teaching young children the Breton language, leading prayer in the hamlet when no priest had been available during the troubled times of the Revolution.

She did not care for the authority entrusted to her, and as soon as a suitable replacement was found, she retired as Superior, sharing the ordinary duties of the community until her death.

In 1903, for example, more than 100 nuns left Brittany for Canada, settling in Alberta in Saint-Albert, Calgary, Edmonton; in New Brunswick to Chatam, Bathurst and Dalhousie; in Nova Scotia in Arichat and Sidney; in Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown, etc., but mainly in Quebec (around twenty foundations, for example in Trois-Rivières: Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Batiscan, Saint-Prosper, Saint-Narcisse, Shawinigan, etc.).

In the United States, for many years they conducted an academy and hospital at Lewistown, Montana,[3] and ran the school connected with the French-speaking Parish of St-Jean-Baptiste in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Currently, the Daughters of Jesus serve in France, Belgium, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, England and Honduras.

The motherhouse of the other congregation lies on the ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella, and is one of the sites which has given hospitality to the pilgrims making this journey for a millennium.