- Sisters of Charity of Our Lady Mother of Mercy
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Johannes Zwijsen
The Sisters of Charity of Our Lady Mother of Mercy are a Roman Catholic congregation founded in Holland in 1832 by the Rev. Johannes Zwijsen, pastor of Tilburg, aided by Mary M. Leijsen, for the instruction of children and the betterment of a people deprived of spiritual aid.
The See of Utrecht had been vacant for about three hundred years when, on the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in Holland in 1853, Bishop Johannes Zwijsen, of Gerra, was made Archbishop of Utrecht and Primate of Holland. He found no Catholic institutions for the education of girls in this vast diocese, neither were there any teaching orders, with the exception of his humble congregation.
The founder's accession to the See gave fresh impetus to his cherished work, and from this time the congregation spread rapidly throughout Holland and Belgium. There is now hardly a city of the Netherlands that has not one or more of its communities. Among these institutions are homes for the aged and infirm, the blind, the mutes and also hospitals.
The Rules were approved by Gregory XVI in 1843, and Pius IX approved the congregation in 1848. About the middle of the eighteenth century, when the cholera was raging in Holland, the heroic charity of the sisters won the recognition of King William III who conferred decorations of honour on the congregation.
In December 2005, this congregation had 889 members and 115 houses.
Source
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.External links
Categories:- Roman Catholic female orders and societies
- 1832 establishments in the Netherlands
- Religious organizations established in 1832
- Christian religious orders established in the 19th century
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