The Sisters of St. Joseph and the People of Belgium

This week we are invited to pray for the 36 Sisters of St. Joseph who minister in BELGIUM. They are from the congregations of: Institut de Souers de Saint Joseph, Chambéry, and Lyon. Their works include education, pastoral care and various social activities. The Lyon mission in Belgium has an interesting history: The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Bourg grew out of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Lyon which had been disbanded during the French Revolution. In 1819 a daughter house was established in Bourg, which became an independent congregation in 1823. By 1962, the Bourg Congregation had six provinces, three in Europe: Bourg, Switzerland and Belgium, and three in the United States. In 1996 the Bourg congregation re-joined the founding congregation of Lyon, as part of the latter's European Province.