The Anglican Tradition

Anglican monasticism began in the 1840s and was associated with the Anglo-Catholic movement. Women’s communities, which were focused on nursing, teaching, and social work, grew quickly, while men’s communities developed later and more slowly. Fears of Roman Catholicism initially caused new communities to avoid traditional forms of monasticism in favour of the more recent models of the Visitation, Daughters of Charity, and Mercy Sisters. Anglican monasticism quickly spread to North America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Melanesia. The years since have seen the emergence of characteristically Anglican notions of community formation, rules, governance, and spirituality. The Second Vatican Council had a profound effect on the Anglo-Catholic movement, leading to significant changes in Anglican monastic communities—among them a greater willingness to experiment with different kinds of community life. Many areas of research are open.

Portrait of the Underprivileged : Managing the Ignorant Substitute of Christ

The fourth chapter tackles the means and contents of moral management aimed at the poor the Company of the Daughters of Charity helped. Focusing on the ideas and attitudes of the Company toward their benefactors, the chapter examines prejudice and love as motives in charity work and argues for the prevalence of the latter. Furthermore, the chapter discusses the contents of this moral management and finds that only a certain group of people were helped, the so called deserving poor, who were educated to become chaste and working members of society. This was not only in line with contemporary thinking of social order, but also part of the survival strategy that separated the order from erudite cloistered orders.

At the Cradle: Gender and Power in Seventeenth-century Parisian Society

The chapter offers an overview of the historical context that gave birth to the Company of the Daughters of Charity. It argues that the urban development of Paris is a crucial backdrop: the contents and direction of the Company and its moral management were always handled from the motherhouse in Paris. Vital support for the Company came likewise from the devout networks of powerful elite Parisian women (the dévotes). Understanding the institutional changes in poor relief and nursing likewise sets the stage further for the analysis of the organization, execution, and contents of the moral management of the Daughters of Charity.

Portrait of Louise de Marillac: Ensuring Resources for Moral Management

The aim of the chapter is to put Louise de Marillac fully in the spotlight. It reassess her role in the success of the Company of the Daughters of Charity and examines her significance in the organization of the Company’s moral management activities. The first subchapter examines the role of Louise de Marillac’s family and dévote networks in the founding and funding of the Company of the Daughters of Charity. The following subchapters turn to the image of Louise de Marillac and study the ways her image as a living saint and a passive penitent of Vincent de Paul were critical in creating spiritual authority and an orthodox image of the Company as a whole.

From Conservative Moral Management to Survival: Conclusions

The conclusion brings together the main findings of the book. It argues that as a whole the book has shown that the value system the Daughters of Charity promoted through their moral management was rather conservative and attached to medieval mentalities. The chapter points out that although most religious companies operate on the principles of moral management, the Daughters of Charity were unique in their systematic and holistic implementation. This is one very important reason for the survival of the Company well into the 21st century. Louise de Marillac was canonized in 1934, and the Company employs today more than 14 000 sisters in 94 countries. It is one of the most important Catholic organizations in France.

Portrait of the Daughter of Charity : Safeguarding the Execution of Moral Management

The chapter turns to the body of members of the Daughters of Charity to examine the ways the directors managed the morality of the sisters. The chapter argues that the way the sisters were trained to become good Daughters and Christian women was an important survival strategy for the Company. The chapter opens with an analysis of the delicate position of the sisters as active women religious in avoidance of enclosure which would have made their vocation impossible. The subsequent sections discuss the ways the directors aimed to manage the sisters’ spiritual position by controlling their behaviour in public space, education, and devotional practices in order to negotiate an orthodox religious identity and avoid enclosure.

Three Worlds, Three Portraits: Introduction

The chapter introduces the subject, approach, and focus of the book. The book offers a new insight into the history of the unenclosed Catholic Company the Daughters of Charity (les Filles de la Charité) by focusing on the contents and implementation of its value system in the first half of the seventeenth century. The chapter discusses the backbone of the book, the methodological concept of moral management which is a ‘travelling concept’ (Mieke Bal) utilized here for the first time in research on seventeenth-century Catholicism. Moral management is defined as the implementation, within the organization and its charitable activities, of a specific value system that is expressed in actions, behaviour, and mentalities, and that aims at securing the survival of the Company threatened by its perplexing religious identity.

Opieka Krakowskiego Towarzystwa Dobroczynności nad ołtarzem i obrazem Matki Boskiej w Bramie Floriańskiej w XIX i na początku XX wieku

The care of the Cracow Charitable Society over the altar and painting of Our Lady at the Florian Gate in the 19th and early 20th centuries The aim of this article is to present the actions taken by the Cracow Charitable Society in order to protect the altar and the painting in the Florian Gate. The image of Our Lady was handed over to the Society for care in 1817, which it provided until the communist authorities disbanded the Society in 1951. In order to renovate the painting and altar, the Society mainly raised funds through public sacrifices and donations of individual people. Among the benefactors there were many affluent and well-known people from Cracow, as well as anonymous individuals. Source materials reveal that the image was revered both by the inhabitants of Cracow and its surroundings and that the religious services held there in the 19th century were infused with patriotic spirit. Next to the painting an alms box was placed for financial donations to the poor who were cared for by the Society – it had the highest income among all the poor boxes in Cracow. Today, the Florian Gate still houses an altar with a painting, which is currently under the care of the Daughters of Charity.