Our origins, our founders

Louis-Marie Baudouin, a young Vendéen ordained priest in 1789, went into hiding during the French Revolution, and was then exiled to Spain. On his return, he had to hide again, in Les Sables d'Olonne.

It was here that he met Charlotte-Gabrielle Ranfray, a former cloistered hospital sister from La Rochelle. He invited her to forget "the sweetness of her cloister", to reach out to the poor, the little ones, all those children in need of teaching and education, all those sick people waiting for care, and to assist priests in their mission of evangelization.

On July 2, Charlotte-Gabrielle Ranfray and five companions arrived by cart in Chavagnes, where Louis-Marie Baudouin had been parish priest for a year. Chavagnes-en-Paillers has become the cradle of the congregation. We love to come back and rediscover the sap of our origins. From this place, "We are sent to live, together, in community. Rooted in concrete realities, we want to welcome the life of the people with whom we journey, and cooperate with them to bring about a world of justice and fraternity. Unceasingly, we must strip ourselves of ourselves, allowing ourselves to be transformed by the Spirit of the Gospel, who makes us inventive and capable of bold action." Livre de Vie UdJ 1