Our History

The ceremony of Religious profession took place on November 8th 1820, in the parish church of Beignon. Six women, “the first six sisters as they were called in the Congregation, entered that experience of Christian life in which the search for God becomes a priority. A search for God that does not remain in a monastery or in the desert, but by being a presence in the world and at the service of others.

On this day the “Sisters of Christian Instruction” was officially founded in the Church to contend against the human and religious ignorance that existed in the country areas at this time.

In the course of this year five young girls came to join the first six sisters and formed the “Noviciate”.

The same year, the founder Father Gabriel Deshayes was requested to turn his attention to the Montfortian Congregations. In January 1821, he was elected Superior of the Company of Mary and the Daughter of Wisdom.

The Institute, The Sisters of Christian Instruction was to move and develop in Nantes, but kept the strongly marked features of its origins: evangelical simplicity, spirit of faith, abandonment to God’s providence, apostolic daring and the love of the poor.

Due to the growth of the project congregation a new bigger house was founded to welcome the growing congregation. In May 1828, Fr, Gabriel Deshayes purchased the Benedicitine Abbey of St. Gildas des Bois which was abandoned since the revolution.

At the beginning of the 1830 , the project was leaning towards collapse due to lack of instruction and finan- cial means. Father Gabriel Deshayes who resided in St. Laurent sur Sèvre since 1821 asked the bishop of Nantes for a superior for St. Gildas. A Monseigneur Angebault was appointed.