Daughters of the Holy Spirit

The congregation was founded in the town of Plérin in Brittany on December 8, 1706, by Marie Balavenne (1666-1743), the widow of a former harbormaster, and Renée Burel.

They served under the guidance of Jean Leuduger (1649-1722), a local priest, who was head of the missions for Upper Brittany and who supported them in this commitment.

Additionally they wore a large, white cape with a black border on the hood, which was the local style of dress in Plérin.

The sisters provided comprehensive care for the sick poor on their patrons' estates, acting not only as nurses, but they took on expanded roles as physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries.

[2] With the start in 1902 of laws limiting the role of the Catholic Church and of religious communities, especially in education, which culminated in the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State, again many of the sisters began to leave France, departing for England, Belgium and the United States,[6] while still possessing their motherhouse at Saint-Brieuc, and several other houses in France.

[2] In the United States, the sisters of the American Province founded what became Annhurst College in South Woodstock, Connecticut, in 1940.

[7] In 2003, the monastery of the Hospitalers of the Holy Spirit [fr] in Poligny, Jura, a community of canonesses regular of the Order of the Holy Ghost, a nursing order of both men and women which was founded in Jerusalem in the 9th century and re-established in Europe in 11th century where it soon spread throughout Europe, chose to merge with the Daughters.