The Daughters of Charity are today the largest community of Catholic women, with 15,000 sisters in about 100 countries. They devote their lives to serving the poorest in hospitals, schools, and care centers for homeless or migrants, as well as working to promote social justice. Each year, millions of Miraculous Medals are sent all over the world from their motherhouse in Paris, where Catherine Labouré had visions of the Virgin Mary in 1830.
Until now, however, the history of the Daughters of Charity has been almost wholly neglected. The opening of their central archives, combined with access to many public and private archives, has finally allowed this to be remedied.
"Matthieu Brejon de Lavergnée's study, founded on a seemingly inexhaustible harvest of sources, is sure to endure. It is a vital reference for the religious and social history of France in the early modern era." -- Yves-Marie Bercé, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Institut de France
"By this fine study, Brejon de Lavergnée puts all historians of religion in his debt and also provides the raw materials that will now need to be digested by historians of women, work, medicine, and relief of the poor." -- Colin Jones, Queen Mary University of London, The Catholic Historical Review
"The impressive work of M. Brejon de Lavergnée invites scholars to examine more closely the relationship between religious commitment and social status in order to consider the character of female agency in Ancient Regime society." --Nicolas Lyon-Caen, CNRS, Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales
