Brief History

In 1934, when the tension toward World War II increased, Father van Nuenen built a cloister in one of the poorest areas in Utrecht in the Netherlands. The land had already been devastated by the First World War and worsened after the Second War. There were too many women and their children on the streets who did not have fathers. They did not have places to live, enough food, and clothes. Children could not attend school, and mothers could not find jobs to earn enough income. He and the first 10 sisters came to live there, visited poor people, and offered meals and a place to stay without setting limitations on how long they could stay. They built a school and kindergarten in the cloister territory and taught those children. Besides, they gave job training to mothers so that they could get jobs. In later years, they even built a vacation/retreat house and organised dance parties for those ladies. The number of sisters was 150 by then, and in 50 years ceremony of the congregation in 1984, 12,000 people from the whole country gathered to celebrate. Their activities are recognised by the government and they received the title of honourable citizen.

They are the true activists.

A sister told me one day, 'Social work here began from the cloister. We do not ask if they believe in God, but we ask what they need.'