St Joseph's Convent (primary school, Sidcup)

This is a copy of my article on Wikipedia with more information. I hope this is also useful for researchers on oral history,cultural studies, and religious education.On this page: St Joseph's,St Lawrence's Church, Loreto Ladies,Marist Fathers,St Mary's Grammar school, St Peter Chanel school, Verona Fathers (Comboni Missionaries)-

St Joseph's Convent, Sidcup was a Roman Catholic  mixed infant and junior school from 1901 to 1989. Comprising a convent and Preparatory school. For a few decades it also taught girls in Secondary education. The school was located on Hatherley Road, Sidcup, Kent in the London Borough of Bexley, England.

Very early photo of the Convent, the card is titles St Joseph's but the boards on the railings say 'St Gertrude's Ladies School'


The school underwent a number of name changes since its inception. Officially called St Joseph's, the plaque on the convent building was originally "English and French School" . The diversification into two schools introduced a second school name. For the final 40 years of the school's existence the name plaque at the apex read "St. Joseph's Convent and School."

St Joseph's Documentary

The actor-director Stephen Armourae who was a pupil from 1975 to 1981 has recorded an interview with a former pupil and is in preproduction for filming a documentary on the Convent.

Early years

The school was founded by three French nuns who were members of an order in Normandy France. It was commonly believed they were members of the Soeurs-De-L-Education-Chretienne in English known as Religious of Christian Education , since their mother house was in Briouze prefecture of Normandy. However further research by Stephen Armourae with help from the Southwark archives established the Order was Sisters of the Immaculate Conception originally called Loreto Ladies. A branch of the Institute of the Holy Family, founded in 1820 by the Abbé Pierre Bonaventure Noailles, Canon of Bordeaux. They arrived in 1901 during a period of anti-clerical legislation in France. The Order itself had been opening overseas convents since the 1880s in response to the Third Republic's anti-clerical legislation. Sister Marie-Claire was aged 17 (born 1884) when she arrived in Sidcup was the sister superior of the convent. Accompanying here were Rosalie Noel born 1883 and Anna Benchard born 1882.
The name St Joseph's Convent was chosen from the saint sacred to the Order, as the orphanage division of the Loreto Ladies are named Sisters of St. Joseph. A third branch is the Sisters of Hope who are nurses. The Order was founded during the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty and the rule of the Ultras in France, less commonly called Ultra-royalist. They had seized power shortly after Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. A number of nunnery orders were founded to educate girls to uphold Catholicism and Ancien Régime, and to oppose the radicalism of the French Revolution and especially the women of the French Revolution.

Founding of the convent

With the help of the mission priest at Chislehurst, the Sisters of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of Briouze opened a convent in Sidcup in 1901. On 2 October 1902 they opened a convent school at Hatherley Road.
The Convent was instituted in response to the rise of Catholic residents who had relocated from the poorer parishes of New Cross and Camberwell. They provided free education to the children of these low income families.
A stable was converted into a chapel, where the first Mass was said on the feast of St Lawrence of Canterbury on 2 February 1902.
Census records for 1911 list more than 8 nuns plus a child named  Jean Schmidt living at St Joseph's.
Census 1911, sister superior, Sister Marie has the following colourful description:
Marie Villette, 27, Mistress, Kent ,1884 Resident, France
Marie Villette ,1884 , France, Resident Bromley Foots Cray Kent

Another nun,
Augustine Forget 39 Mistress Kent 1872 Resident, France

Social changes result in name changes

It is believed that St. Joseph's began admitting boys in 1902, and in its first year it had been exclusively girls, however this remains a point of debate. The school was known as both "St. Joseph's" and English and French School, the latter being displayed on boards on the convent gates while St Joseph's Convent was carved on the apex with a statue of the saint holding the infant Jesus. In the 1920s the English and French School name wsa replaced by St Joseph's for the boys' school and St.Gertrude's for the girls' section; named after Gertrude the Great.
Later St Gertrude's became "St. Gertrude's High School" when the schools were reorganised into St Joseph's for primary education and St Gertrude's for girls' secondary education. Around 1965 the two schools were amalgamated under the name of St Joseph's as a mixed primary school.

St Josephs class with a male teacher

St Gertrude's added St Gertrude's High School for Girls due to a rising demand of for school places as a consequence of the increase in size of population of Sidcup. Sidcup was rural town, but this began to change following the opening of the Sidcup railway station as part of the Dartford Loop Line. The first major influx was from the slum areas of New Cross, this included an increase in Roman Catholic people which encouraged the building of St Lawrence's Church to meet the growing population spiritual needs. This led to a surge in pupil numbers at St. Joseph's.

The senior girls block at the period when St Josephs was called St Gertrudes

Classroom at St Josephs

Following the electrification of the rail line between London Bridge Railway Station and Dartford, property speculators purchased farmland in Sidcup and built more expensive properties attracting middle class residents. The new populace having more disposable income were able to enroll their children in fee paying schools. To meet this demand, the nuns opened a fee paying secondary school, St Gertrude's High School for Girls for this demand.

 None of these have the habit worn by our nuns, the cornice style on the far right would have jazzed things up

Connection with St. Lawrence's Church

The nuns and the pupils used the local Roman Catholic church of St.Lawrence named in remembrance of Lawrence of Rome for Masses and religious observations. From 1901-1911 this church was under the auspices of the Verona Fathers . Due to an ambitious building scheme, they were forced to relinquish the church due to debts. The church then passed to the Marist Fathers who continued the fraternal link with the Convent and installed a relic of their patron St.Peter Chanel. The relic kept in a small display box near the altar was given to the Marist Fathers as part of the Marist collection that was brought first to France following missionary reassignment. The relic contained a pressed red flower from the South Sea Islands, red representing martyrdom in Catholicism. The accompanying inscription stated that Chanel had been killed by, a warrior who had been injured trying to stop King Niuliki son Meitala from being baptised.King Niuliki incited Peter Chanel's murder,due to jealousy of Christianity.
Tuesday mornings was the regular day for pupils to attend Mass at St Lawrence's. This would consist of the entire school, with the exception of the kindergarten, walking through Sidcup High Street to reach the church.

The end of the convent

Sister Marie-Claire who was the founding nun and Sister Superior in 1901. Eventually she died in her sleep on her 95th birthday on Wednesday 17 October 1979. She was succeeded by one of the cooks.
The school closed in July 1989. The local newspaper, The News shopper, ran an article in March 1989 detailing a public meeting where it was announced the school would be closed due to the bishop in France being unable to provide a sufficient number of nuns to replace the ageing nuns at the Convent.
The Bishop of Normandy's decision to recall the nuns was due to lack of replacement novices willing to teach in England, the age of the resident nuns and the growing debts due to the nuns refusing to raise their school fees in order to maintain the ethos of providing education available to lower incomes.
Following the demolishing of numbers 2 to 8 of Hatherley Road a new building was constructed, the Sidcup Nursing and Residential Centre. The Centre has been a place of controversial following the discovery of a dead resident with a pillow over her face in 2012.
The Order continues to be involved with a school in south west England. Sister Anne is the only member of her convent who teaches at their St Joseph's Convent.

Nuns at the convent since 1970

All the teachers who had taken religious vows were members of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception also known as Ladies of Loreto.

• Sister Antionette - returned to France when the convent closed at the age of 93. She taught the kindergarten, maths and needlework.
• Sister Blanche - retired to France in 1974
• Sister Denise - returned to France when the convent closed. Taught French, Spanish and science
• Sister Emmanuel - former headmistress. She taught the kindergarten until 1977. She retired to France as a result of arthritis.

Sister Marie-Claire - one of the founders. She taught different subjects including typing at the girls' secondary school of St. Gertrude's. Her administrative duties were reduced when she was 90 and in declining health by which time she required two walking sticks. Died 1979 aged 95. Her name was pronounced with an emphasis on the first syllable in Marie. She would take non-Catholic pupils. This occurred particularly on the closure of Halfway Street school on the outbreak of World War II when there was an influx of non-Catholic and some Jewish pupils.
Sister Theresa - unlike the other nuns she was English. She became headmistress after Sister Emanuel. She taught the final year boys. Her specialisation was mathematics. She managed the school trips. She died in September 1980.
There were two nuns who were cooks for the school. They did not teach due to their strong French accents. One of them became sister superior on the death of Marie-Claire.
Other nuns known to be at the Convent Sister Renee - she was at the Convent at an early date and taught for decades.
Sister Eileen and Sister Moiren were teaching in the 1940s-1950s

Lay Teachers

Many laity teachers who had not taken holy orders taught at the school. A photograph from 1917 shows a male teacher.[4] For the final 30 years of the school, all teachers were women,with the exception of Stephen Armourae who provided a few geology and science lessons; he went onto to study physics, pharmaceuticals, chemistry and engineering. As an actor and designer he also studied at Rose_Bruford_College,Goldsmiths,_University_of_London,Ravensbourne_(college) and IMT in acting, design,sound engineering, film and broadcasting. Plus attending many research and PhD seminars in the Classical Music department.
Some of the teachers were: Mrs Cullen (girls IIIrd year), Mrs Taylor(girls IInd year), Mrs Gomez(girls IIIrd year and speech lessons), Mrs Naylor (PE), Mrs Greatrex(music), Mrs Diamond(girls IV year), Mrs Cohrino, Miss Lenahan(mixed II2nd year), Mrs O'Hanlan(music), Mrs Newman(girls Vth year), Mrs Wren(boys Vth year). The latter two were headmistresses following the death of Sister Theresa.

Alumni

The award winning writer and poet Fleur Adcock and her younger sister Marilyn pupils at the Convent and attended during the existence of St. Gertrude's. Fleur refers to the school in her collection of poems The Incident Book (1986) A short excerpt from her poem about the school is here  Two her poems describe the school: St Gertrude's Sidcup and Halfway Street Sidcup.
The poem St. Gertrude's Sidcup is amongst Adcock's most famous work due to the memorable first and last lines
Nuns, now: ladies in black hoods; ..... and my knickers fell down in the snow.
The actress Jean Kent, who appeared in a number of films from the 1940s to the end of 50s was a pupil.

Jean Kent,Sister Theresa confirmed that Jean attended the Convent to future pupils including Stella Foxwell

Another which Sister Theresa told pupils was the popular singer Anne Shelton (singer). Her niece Kelly contacted Stephen Armourae with this message:
Hi Steve, Kelly here Anne Shelton's niece. Yes indeed she did go to the convent..and many happy memories she had of those days. All the best, God Bless and Merry Christmas xx

Uniform

School cap property of Stephen Armourae (1979)

The nuns of the Order have always worn blue as part of their religious habit. This caused the formal nickname Le souers de la Coeur bleu. Consequently, the school colours for the uniforms at St. Joseph's were predominantly blue. According to early photographs the first girls' uniforms were light blue smock with a broad rimmed hat. From the 1950s onwards the school uniform colours were blue and yellow. School blazers for boys were navy blue with the initials S and J overlapping on a badge background. This design was repeated on the school caps and ties. A light grey shirt and darker grey shorts.
Girls had a darker blue blazer. Their hats were modelled on a combination of a Renaissance beret and a military cap. On the front it bore an enamel badge stylised in a coat of arms quadrant. In the summer term girls were allowed to wear a straw hat styled similar to a bowler hat with an enamel badge with the S.J. overlapping letters in yellow on a navy blue background.

Music - BBC Music Workshop 

(I'll be writing a more detailed article)
Autumn 1980 BBC Music Workshop at the Convent & maybe the best one. I have a copy of this and will be recording some of the music to put online. The BBC have erased all recordings and destroyed all copies.

The BBC are still getting requests for the '60s-80s Music Workshops.

Pupils who listened to the BBC accompanying broadcasts at 10.45 on Thursday or Friday morning will remember the clumsy music theory at the back of the book:

Instead of teaching music notes, we had this nonsense!
Duck = quaver quack goes the BBC broadcast
Fox = crotchet
Cow = minim
Elephant = semibreve

Nuns Dress

The religious habit of the nuns varied according to whether they had taken their final vows. Nuns who were teachers but still novices wore a white cornette style headdress with a holy habit also called a tunic. This is seen in a couple of photos circa 1910 of teaching nuns. They all wore a silver cross topped with a heart of blue cloth under their tunic hence the nickname "sisters of the blue heart." On becoming a bride of Christ the headdress would be changed to a white coif with a black veil and a guimpe.
A source of confusion was that Sister Denise was the only nun who wore all black instead of a blue tunic. This was due to her choice of retaining the French style of dress of all black instead of the blue tunic which was only worn by nuns in Britain.

School anthem

The school anthem was "We Are the Pupils of St. Joseph's School". A mid-fast tempo song of 150 beats per minute in G major with an ascending musical phrase at the end of each vocal line. It features a middle 8 with a tricky double triplet descending across the scale repeated 6 times which would cause mistakes in singing without sufficient practice due to the song's fast tempo.
Music was an important part of the school since being a religious establishment, hymns were sung at all assemblies. As part of the singing training the pupils held a successful carol concert at St Lawrence's in December 1980.
(Start in a major key like G or C .Very uptempo) "We are the pupils of St Joseph’s School and to him we sing our praise, (Key change still major, actually it is all major) May the holy spirit of St Joseph rule within our hearts always,
(now the middle 8 so change in time signature & it becomes a tongue twister which did have the music teacher repeating it until students had it right)
With St Joseph to guide us, always walking beside us, so secure and protected we will be, (return similar to opening melody but more forza) So safe in the love of him who was the father of the Holy Family.
Bless us dear St Joseph, May our hearts be good, Teach us to help and love one another just as Jesus said we should."

Discipline

The school retained corporal punishment by caning until Mrs. Wren became headmistress in 1982. Sister Theresa who was headmistress from 1968 to 1980 would cane pupils irregularly but she did cane two boys aged 6. Mrs Wren had a mentally disabled son which influenced her opposition to corporal punishment in education.
An eccentric punishment was to order pupils to pray before a large statue of Jesus that was situated on a mound in the playground. If this position was already occupied the disobedient child had to pray before a statue of the Virgin Mary situated 15 yards away. This punishment was not monitored which enabled the pupil to say anything they chose rather than recite a prayer. This 'punishment' was only applicable to boys as the statues were located in the boys' playground.
Another punishment, for boys aged 8 to 10, which was actually a source of enjoyment was to polish part of the ground floor area using dusters tied to the feet. This is a practice that occurs in some Catholic Orders, The Doctor Who actor Tom Baker recalls the same practice during his time at a monastery in his autobiography Who On Earth Is Tom Baker (ISBN 0-00-638854-X).
The result of using dusters covered in floor polish on a smooth floor was that friction would be so low as to result in high and often uncontrolled speeds when polishing the floor with the feet. Pupils would often career into furniture resulting in bruising.

St Lawrences

St Lawrences where St Josephs worshiped 1901–1989 and founder of St Marys Grammar & St Peter Chanel School

This church administers to the pastoral religious requirements of the schools in its parish: St Joseph's Convent, St Mary's Grammar, and St. Peter Chanel School. The latter two were founded by and had teachers from St. Lawrences.

St Lawrences and the college

The church was built by the Dioceses of Southwark to meet the religious worship of the growing Catholic population. The church was place under the care of the Verona Fathers. Building commenced in 1900.

Church connected to St Joseph's Convent,Sidcup,Kent.Composite photo of statues taken by Stephen Armourae. Religious statues.Pupils of St Joseph's Convent would pray before these.Light votive candles. The Eucharist gong was struck during the elevation of the Host

As was common in the Late Victorian era the Gothic Revival architecture had fallen out of fashion due to its ubiquity and ornateness. Instead brick buildings had become popular due to their ease of construction and uncluttered design. The arched central ceiling of the church was a sky blue colour in accordance to the Catholic theological practice of representing Heaven
St. Lawrence's is in the style of neo Romanesque architecture or Romanesque Revival architecture. Constructed of brick it features the arches typical of Romanesque architecture on a smaller scale. A mosaic design for the name is above the entrance. In the courtyard is a full size metal statue of Christ in a blessing pose standing upon a plinth.
St. Lawrence's Church was founded after St Joseph's Convent had started education. In 1903 the Diocese purchased with the help of Miss Roberts a plot on Main Road. In August the mission was entrusted to the Verona Fathers, also known as Sons of the Sacred Heart. 1904 houses 1 and 3 Hamilton Road were acquired. Building occurred between 1904 and 1906; the commission was given to architect Edward Goldie (1856–1921), son of the architect George Goldie. Conscrtuction used stock brick, laid in English bond, with stone dressings and a tiled pitched roof. The plan is cruciform, approaching a Greek cross with slightly shorter transept arms. The crossing roof has four gables in the main directions.St Lawrence's opened when Bishop Amigo consecrated the church on 15 August 1906. Only the main body of the church was completed. The aisles and sacristy were added after 1906. The eastern arm was bricked off and used as the sacristy. 109 Main Road, which was next to the church was built as a school for vocations to the African missions.
The ambitious scale of the construction resulted in the Verona Fathers being unable to fund the projects. They were forced to relinquish the church in 1911 with debts of £6000. The equivalent of over £483,000 in 2015.
The Marists took control of the church and parish in 1911 from the Verona Fathers. The parochial house became St Ethelberts Marist College under Father Dr. John Mulkern who was the first rector or parish priest to take over from the Verona Fathers, it was opened in 1911.
The side aisles and the sacristy were completed in 1930 by Messrs Frederick Smith of London, and once again Bishop Amigo reopened St. Lawrence's on 27 April 1930.The organ was installed in 1940, followed by the pulpit and altar rails in 1942. Side altars were installed, dedicated to Our Lady and the Sacred Heart. A high altar was intended for installation next in 1943, but the Second World War prevented imports from Italy. Instead a Mr. Palla designed the altar in England. Plans for the high altar dated back to 1930 as presented in plans showing an alternative design of a simpler altar under a large baldacchino.
The uppermost west window had a stained glass depiction of Christ with the Blessed Sacrament and the inscription ‘Charity’ added. The west arm with kingpost roof has windows depicting St Patrick and St Gertrude. St Gertrude was chosen to honour the nuns of St. Jospeh's secondary school St Gertrude's which was absorbed back into St Joseph's soon after.
With the additional changes to the church, it was consecrated 6 June 1956 by Bishop Cowderoy. The three revisions since then of the sanctuary has resulted in the loss of the east wall paintings with geometric patterns, the inscription ‘Et verbum caro factum est’ and a mandorla behind the crucifix. The timber pulpit removed 1970 was octagonal, set against the northeast crossing pier. The high altar had marble colonnettes flanking the frontal, a horizontal panel with a blind arcade behind the tabernacle, above which stood a tall canopied monstrance throne. Four marble columns, two freestanding colums and part of the arcaded panel were reused for the Lady altar at Blackfen. The building work was undertaken by Walters & Kerr Bate.

Jesus statue,organ loft,aisle of St Lawrence's Church.Pupils of St Joseph's would attend Mass every Tuesday morning.Stephen Armourae at a later date played the church's organ

In the 1990s a priest who had lived at St Ethelbert's returned as parish priest. Father Robin Duckworth was assistant professor of Biblical Languages at Heythrop College in the 1960s.His successor died in 2012. In June 2012 the Marist Fathers faced the same decision as the nuns had in 1989. On Friday, 22 June 2012, Archbishop Peter Smith presided at a Mass of Thanksgiving for the ministry of the Marist Community, who have served the parish for 101 years. He was joined by Bishop Tom Burns of Menevia, himself a Marist who taught at St Marys Grammar school in Sidcup, Bishop Paul and Monsignor Matthew Dickens. It was decided that the Marists would relinquish the parish in August 2012. In October Father John Diver was appointed Parish Priest.
Stephen Armourae's photos and description of St Lawrence's from the 1970s-80s also show further changes: the blue arched ceiling was repainted a glaring white. The 50 foot medieval floral design fire curtain at the north end of the church has been removed. The mosaic floor is now covered by wooden paneling.

St Peter Chanel

This school is connected with St Joseph's Convent as a consequence of being part of the same Catholic parish and under the auspices of the Marist Fathers and their theological house throughout the whole period they provided parochial care to St. Joseph's. Consequently, the two schools had a fraternal relationship.

Fraternal school of St Joseph's Convent built by the Marist Fathers priests who provided religious care for both schools

The Marist Fathers founded St Peter Chanel school and named it after their martyr and saint. A couple of the priests served as headmasters of the school.
The uniform is distinctive from their St. Joseph neighbours. Dark brown blazer, with an unusual bright yellow shirt. The school emblem is a cross against a background of palm fronds.
At the turn of the century the population of Sidcup was mostly Anglican and Non-Conformist. By 1950 the number of Catholic residents had increased to a number to require the building of a second Roman Catholic school, St Mary’s Roman Catholic Grammar School for Boys. followed by a second primary school, St Peter Chanel in 1975, and a grammar school

St Mary’s Roman Catholic Grammar School for Boys

This is a now defunct secondary school in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Southwark. The school was opened as a result of its close educational and geographical connection to the primary school of St Joseph's Convent, the majority of boys on graduating from St Joseph's at the age of 10 or 11 attended this school, located half a mile from St Joseph's.
Built in the 1950s by the Marist Fathers as a grammar school it had an excellent academic record. The school emblem was a bee which signified industriousness. In 1982 under changing circumstances the school became co-educational changing its name to St Mary’s and St Joseph's Roman Catholic School . Academic results started falling dramatically from 1988.
The condition was so severe that by 2001 it was decided to abolish secondary education and concentrate resources as a sixth form only college, renamed St Luke's Catholic Sixth Form. [32] In 2008 the college came under the auspices of the Christ the King Sixth Form College in Lewisham. This was followed by a name change Christ the King: St Mary's.
A priest of St Lawrence's and former headmaster of St Mary's Father Philip Graystone, . passed away at Dorrington House Car Home, Wells-next-the-Sea, at 11.30 pm on Monday 15 September 2014 on the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. He is commemorated by a plaque at St Lawrence's. He wrote a number of books on traveling and landscapes.

Verona Fathers (Comboni Missionaries)

The Verona Fathers are an educational order with a strong presence in Central America, Africa and particularly Kenya. [35] They place an emphasis on teaching science.
The Order were commissioned with the parish and the church under the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Southwark in Sidcup in 1900. They were the first to provide pastoral care and religious worship to the nuns and pupils of St Joseph's.
In recent years the Verona Fathers have been central to a series of sexual abuse allegations inflicted on former pupils at other schools including Mirfield Junior Seminary which resulted in an out of court settlement. The accusations and court cases are part of the wider Catholic Church sexual abuse cases . Victims at Mirfield were as young as 11.
By contrast, another member of the Verona Fathers Bishop Óscar Romero  was martyred as a result of his outspoken opposition to the atrocities committed by the El Salvador government. During Mass, on completing his sermon he proceeded to the centre of the altar where he was suddenly shot dead by government operatives on 24 March 1980.

Recent years

There has been a growing interest seen on the Friends Reunited page for the Convent among former pupils in collating details about the Convent. The rather unusual circumstances of being taught by French nuns in a convent with weekly Masses has encouraged this.^[27][28][29]
Correspondence with the Roman Catholic Sees in Rome and Normandy confirmed that the Marist Fathers had vacated St Lawrence's in 2012 and a recent new Regional Superior appointed.[42]

Soeurs-De-L-Education-Chretienne

(This is included as it was part of the research into the Convent's history and the error of the Order was recognised in 2015)The first four nuns who founded the Order as an educational denomination was in response to, Father Louis Lafosse, pastor of Echauffour. The four dedicated themselves on 21 November 1817. Lafosse trained them to give "little girls a solid human and Christian formation guarantee of future outbreaks." His decision was the result of his horror caused by the French Revolution. [18] The nuns taught in the parish of Church of St. Andrew Echauffour. The new congregation was approved by Bishop Saussol Alexis, the Bishop of Sees Diocèse_de_Séez [19] from 1817 to 1836 under the ascent of Archbishop fr: François de Pierre de Bernis in 1821. He was the Archbishop for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rouen . [20] [21] In the twentieth century they expanded their schools across the world and installed an international community in Peru in response to the country's then human rights conditions.
The sisters' made a statement in 2011 attesting to their ethics: " "We are working with other people to growth and the creation of communities able to create and evolve structures . society in the interests of justice and truth always attentive to the poor, we participate in the mission of the Church in Education various sectors: pastoral, teaching, catechesis, chaplaincy, youth movements, women's promotion in third and Fourth World ... " "Following Christ, we live in community. Nourished by the Gospel and the Eucharist, we seek God in life, prayer and personal and community reflection." The nuns resided at the congregation in Échauffour which closed in June 2011. The nuns were relocated to the Congregation of the Sisters of Misericorde in the Orne department of Normandy, France.
The decision to vacate the nunnery they have occupied since 1817 was taken by Sister Cara Nagle, Superior General of the Sisters of Christian Education due to the small number and age of the remaining nuns and the financial demands of maintaining a large estate.
Overseas missions continue to thrive. The surviving nuns of the Order have an average age of 89 as of 2015. They moved to the Misericords convent where they joined other nuns who had moved there for clinical care.
Sister Odette said of the relocation, ""Of course, people are sad to see us leave, but they understand what happens to us. We are not all that different from other families, increasingly face the phenomenon of old age and must adapt.
Another sister said, "Christian Education, [the order] even at the time of its international influence, remained a small congregation, we were always told that these apostolates of modest size, the average life expectancy was usually 150 to 200 years."
Sister Marie-Thérèse one of the surviving seven nuns, said, "The community life is essential for us, it is part of our being, usque ad mortem!" ""We will strive to establish contacts with people who have changed little. This is our charisma, "live with" dear to our founder Fr. Lafosse."
Christian Delahaye, for the Church in the Orne, said, "In this period of change experienced by the Church in general and in particular congregation, the community is more attached than ever."