St Joseph's Convent (primary school, Sidcup)
This is a copy of my article that used to appear 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."
