Villeneuve, Hospital Sisters of

This congregation was founded at Paris, about the middle of the 17th century, by Ange le Proust, an Augustiniai prior of Lamballe. In 1662

several noble ladies were united in a society, under his direction, for the relief of the poor in hospitals, and from this; grew the congregation, which was named in honor of the recent canonization of St. Thomas de Villeneuve. It was approved by a bull of Innocent XII. Le Proust gave to it the Augustinian rule, and before his: death it counted thirty six houses. Under his successors it has flourished and spread over France, and especially in Brittany, including at a recent date forty large establishments. By the statutes of its founder it cannot be carried into, any other country. The parent house in Paris was the only religious establishment kept open during the Reign of Terror, and the sisters did a good work in relieving the victims of the massacres of 1792. The vows of the sisterhood are the same as the other sisters of their order. They work in poor-houses, prisons, houses of refuge, hospitals, and asylums for the aged. Migne's Helyot, Ordres Religieux, 3, 909; 4,1416.