Beginning in France(3)

Chartres. The good work of the Sisters did not escape the attention of the Bishop of Chartres, Monsignor Paul Godet des Marais. Perceiving their inner vitality and potential, he called them to Chartres, gave them a home and a name - his own name - after the great Apostle St Paul. Thus the Sisters became known as Sisters of St Paul de Chartres.

Cayenne, French Guiana. With the early death of Marie Michau in 1702, Marie Anne de Tilly in 1703, and Pere Chauvet in 1710, the community was marked by the Paschal Mystery of Christ from the very beginning. But like a seed buried in the ground, their death gave great impetus to its further growth and development so that by 1727, the Congregation was ready to send Sisters to their first mission - to Cayenne in French Guiana, a French penal colony in South America - and to Hong Kong in 1848.

In years to come, many more departures were made for the mission fields in all five continents. By a miracle of God's Providence, the little seed planted by Pere Chauvet had grown not only into a big tree, it became many trees, an orchard. Affiliate congregations branched off from the tiny Levesville community - in Strasbourg in 1734 and in England in 1847 - which in turn founded other autonomous communities.