Sister of Charity of Jesus and Mary

Sister of Charity of Jesus and Mary –  Sister Marie-Dominique, S.C.J.M.                                                                        Congrégation des Soeurs de la Charité de Jésus et de Marie                                                                   “Cor Unum Anima Una”  –  “One Heart and One Soul”

Founders:  Reverend Canon Peter Joseph Triest   (The “Vincent de Paul of Belgium”)                                       Mother Placide Van der Gauwen

Place:  Ghent, Belgium

Year:  1803 A.D.

Her Charism:  The mission of this Sister with Cistercian roots is to share her personal experience that God is love.  Inscribed in the cross she wears are the words: Deus Caritas Est, meaning “God is love.”  In her own particular way, and with a deepening sense of the sacred in everything, she unifies her life with God and her loving service to the poor, the sick, and the abandoned of our time.  Impelled by the love of Christ, not only does she spread God’s caring love in hospitals and nursing homes, but she also tends to AIDS patients, lepers, the terminally ill, the homeless, and refugees.  Her life is always guided by the love of Jesus and Mary because love is the spring of all things, and her spirit by St. Vincent de Paul and             St. Bernard of Clairvaux.  Service is her path.  Compassion is her method.  She believes that those who suffer and the needy show us the most authentic Face of God.  Her faith and absolute trust in Providence – Deus providebit – lives on and animates her.