Later Developments

The Sisters had come to England to teach. They took over a free school for the poor and began night classes for those children who had to work. Even then education was seen as the way out of poverty.

Mother Genevieve Dupuis was a woman of great vision and courage. She was not afraid to take risks and although she opened 88 convents, she also closed 37. Plans to open a convent in Ireland were well under way when Mother Genevieve died on 25th September 1903. From these beginnings the Sisters became involved not only in primary but later secondary education.

In later years the Sisters also moved into adult education, working with many who didn't have the opportunities that are available today including the establishment of a teacher-training college.

In 1954 the Sisters were invited to open a convent in South Africa and, following the overthrow in 1990 of Ceacescu in Romania, a new era began where the Sisters not only opened nurseries and worked with street children, but also welcomed in 1995 the first Romanian Sisters into the Novitiate.

The work in both these countries is ongoing.