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Little Sisters of the Poor

From Catholicism Wiki
Petites Sœurs des pauvres
Abbreviation LSP; PSDP
Formation 1839
Founder Saint Jeanne Jugan
Type Religious institute of the Catholic Church
Headquarters 3 La Tour St Joseph, 35190 Saint-Pern, France
Coordinates 48°17′37″N 1°59′32″W / 48.29361400838414°N 1.9921482741332976°W
Region served 31 countries on five continents
Members 2,372 sisters
Website littlesistersofthepoor.org

The Little Sisters of the Poor (French: Petites Sœurs des pauvres) is a Catholic religious institute for women founded by Jeanne Jugan. Having felt the need to care for the many impoverished elderly who lined the streets of French towns and cities, Jugan established the congregation in 1839.[1]

History

The Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor was founded in Cancale in Brittany in 1839. In 1847, a house was established in Tours, and communities of sisters began to spread across France. In 1851, the work expanded to England, and in 1868, the Little Sisters also extended to the United States, where (as of 2014) they now operate twenty-nine homes to care for the elderly poor.[2]

Pope Benedict XVI canonized their foundress, Jeanne Jugan, on 11 October 2009.[3]

Present day

The motherhouse is in Saint-Pern, France.[1]

Internationally, the letters following members' names are PSDP. In the United States, however, they are LSP. Today the Little Sisters of the Poor serve over 13,000 of the elderly poor in 31 countries around the world (including homes in the United States, Turkey, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Penang, New Zealand, South Korea, and Philippines), continuing their original purpose of caring for the elderly. As of January 1, 2014, they were one of the larger religious institutes of women in the Catholic Church, with 234 houses and 2,372 members.[4]

Members, in accordance with the evangelical counsels, make vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, but also a fourth, hospitality. They believe hospitality perfects the other three by bringing their religious consecration into the realities of everyday life and giving a spiritual dimension to the many humble tasks of hospitality performed throughout the day.[5] They wear traditional habits, either all-white or black with gray veils.[2]

The Sisters continue the tradition of begging, which was set forth by their founder, Jugan. To provide for the needs of the aged poor, she traveled the roads of France on foot seeking alms. She was recognized by the begging basket she carried. Knocking on doors, she asked for not only money but also for gifts that were needed, such as food, clothing, wood, and wool.[2]

Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act tried to require employers to offer health-insurance plans that paid for contraceptives. The law specifically exempted churches, but not faith-based ministries. Consequently, religious nonprofit organizations, such as Little Sisters of the Poor, were fined if they did not comply with the law.[6]

On 6 October 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a new rule with an updated religious exemption that protected religious nonprofit organizations.[7] Federal Judge Wendy Beetlestone issued an injunction, temporarily preventing the enforcement of that exemption.[8][9] The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania also sued the federal government to take away the exemption.[10] Pennsylvania asked a judge to order that the Little Sisters of the Poor must comply with the federal mandate or pay a penalty of tens of millions of dollars.[11][12] The state alleged that the religious organization violated the Constitution, federal anti-discrimination law, and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).[13]

On 8 July 2020, in Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had the authority under the Affordable Care Act to allow the religious and moral exemptions,[14] and that the rules for the exemptions are free from procedural defects,[15][13] meaning that the Little Sisters of the Poor need not provide contraception nor abortion coverage in their employees' health plans.

See also

  • Zubik v. Burwell — a case before the U.S. Supreme Court on the contraceptive mandate, involving the Little Sisters of the Poor

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Little Sisters of the Poor — An active, unenclosed religious congregation founded at St Servan, Brittany, 1839, through the instrumentality of Abbé Augustin Marie Le Pailleur. To two of his penitents, in whom he discerned an unusual aptitude for spiritual things, he had given a rule of life, and had placed one of them, Marie Jamet, in the position of superior to her companion, Virginie Trédaniel. These young workwomen, at the instance of their director, added to their daily duties the personal care and support of a poor blind woman. While in search of a lodging for this aged woman the Abbé Le Pailleur formed the acquaintance of Jeanne Jugan, who was born at Cancale, 15 May, 1793. She was soon eager to share in the charitable work, and on 15 October, 1840, Marie Jamet and Virginie Trédaniel, with their charge, went to live in her house. The three young women went out daily to their work, bringing home their earnings for their common support and that of the blind woman. In course of time they were joined by Madeleine Bourges and gave shelter to other helpless old people. The zeal displayed by Jeanne Jugan in securing the means to support those in their care has caused her to be regarded as the real foundress of the order.

[Editor's Note: In 2000, the Little Sisters of the Poor offered this clarification of the Catholic Encyclopedia: "Jeanne Jugan is truly our foundress, not the priest mentioned in the article. Father Le Pailleur was in fact involved in the early phases of the work, but he was not the founder. In fact, as time went on, he removed Jeanne Jugan from the office of superior, forced her into oblivion, and then manufactured and propagated a false story about the origins of our congregation. This is the story which appears in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia. In time the truth was revealed. Jeanne Jugan is now recognized as the foundress and she was beatified in 1982. We are praying most earnestly for her canonization."]

The congregation is included in the class of hospitallers. Its constitutions are based on the Rule of St. Augustine, and the sisters take simple and perpetual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, to which they add a fourth, hospitality. They receive into their houses aged men and women who have no other shelter. Sixty is the youngest age at which they are admitted, after which they are members of what is known as the "Little Family", the superior being called by all the "Good Mother". To the best of their ability they assist the sisters in the work of the home. For the support of their foundation the sisters are dependent absolutely on charity, having no fixed income or endowments, and most of what they receive they procure by begging. The constitution was definitively approved by Pius X, 7 May, 1907. The mother-house and novitiate are at La Tour St Joseph, St. Pern, Ile-et-Vilaine, France; there are also novitiates in Italy, Spain, Belgium, and the United States. The total number of foundations (1911) is 307; in France there are more than 100 houses, seven of them being in Paris; there are thirty in England, fifteen in Belgium, fifty-two in Spain, sixteen in Italy, four in Sicily, forty-nine in America, three in Australia, one in New Zealand, one in New Caledonia, etc. the order numbers more than 5400 members. On 19 January, 1911, the sisters in charge of the refuge of Campolide, Lisbon, where they cared for 329 inmates, were ordered to leave, their places to be supplied by lay attendants. In Rome the sisters have a house near S. Pietro in Vincoli. In Kimberley, South Africa, they are known as Sisters of Nazareth.

[Editor's Note: The Sisters of Nazareth are a Congregation in their own right. They were founded in London in 1851 at the request of Cardinal Wiseman, and received their approbation from the Holy See in 1888.]

HEIMBUCHER, Orden und Kongregationen, III (Paderborn, 1908), 388; STEELE, Convents of Great Britain (St. Louis, 1902), 244; LEROY, Au pays de la Charité (Abbéville, 1903); Messenger of the Sacred Heart (February, 1890), 103-12; Tablet (Oct. 24, 1896), 647; RAM, Little Sisters of the Poor (London, 1894).

References

  1. Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Almanac 2015. Our Sunday Visitor. 2015. pp. 482–483. ISBN 978-1-61278-830-2.
  2. Back to citation occurrence 2.0 Back to citation occurrence 2.1 Back to citation occurrence 2.2 Hamedy, S., "With health-care lawsuit, the Little Sisters of the Poor step into the spotlight", The Washington Post, January 20, 2014, archived on 24 January 2014, accessed on 18 November 2025
  3. Back to citation Catholic News Agency, "Saint Jeanne Jugan"
  4. Back to citation Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Almanac 2015. Our Sunday Visitor. 2015. p. 486. ISBN 978-1-61278-830-2.
  5. Back to citation Little Sisters of the Poor Archived 2015-02-14 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Back to citation Alvaré, Helen (May 5, 2020). "The Endless War on the Little Sisters of the Poor". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  7. Back to citation "Trump Administration Issues Rules Protecting the Conscience Rights of All Americans". U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. October 6, 2017. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  8. Back to citation "Trump rolls back free birth control". BBC News. October 6, 2017.
  9. Back to citation "Federal judge in Pennsylvania temporarily blocks new Trump rules on birth control". The Associated Press. The Morning Call.
  10. Back to citation "Little Sisters of the Poor v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania". Becket. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  11. Back to citation "Little Sisters of the Poor v. Azar". Becket. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  12. Back to citation "Nuns fight for religious exemption to Obamacare contraceptive mandate". Court TV. 2020-05-06. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  13. Back to citation occurrence 13.0 Back to citation occurrence 13.1 "Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania". Oyez. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  14. Back to citation Wolf, Richard (July 8, 2020). "Supreme Court allows religious, moral exemptions for employers opposed to contraceptives". USA Today. Archived from the original on October 6, 2020. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  15. Back to citation "BREAKING: Supreme Court Rules 7-2 in Favor of Little Sisters of the Poor in ObamaCare Contraception Case". Fox News. Space Coast Daily.com. July 8, 2020. Archived from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
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