Little sisters of Jesus
The Little Sisters of Jesus are a religious community in the Roman Catholic Church . They belong to the spiritual family of the blessed brother Charles of Jesus , who made it his life's work to live as a Christian in Algeria among nomads, shepherds and Tuaregs and thereby to bear witness.
Emergence
The establishment of communities came about only after the death of Blessed Charles de Foucauld , first that of the Little Brothers of Jesus in 1933, then in 1939 that of the Little Sisters of Jesus by Magdeleine Hutin (1898–1989).
Magdeleine Hutin was born in Alsace-Lorraine in 1898 and lost almost her entire family in the First World War . Her sister died of the Spanish flu and she herself contracted pulmonary tuberculosis as a child. Even as a child, Magdeleine Hutin was enthusiastic about the life of African nomads. As a young woman she felt strongly drawn to the life and writings of Charles de Foucauld. Her own experience and work with wealthy and destitute children opened her heart to those on the fringes of society. She dreamed of living with them, but her poor health prevented her from doing so for a long time. In 1936 Magdeleine Hutin finally set out with a companion for the Sahara to live with a group of impoverished, Muslim nomads in what was then France's colonial territory . The doctor had advised her to live in a dry climate to avoid permanent disability from arthritis.
She lived with her companion Anne for two years in the Arab district of Boghari (today: Ksar el-Boukhari in the province of Medea , Algeria). In 1938, after meeting Father René Voillaume , at the request of the diocesan bishop who wanted to accept the new community in his diocese , she made a canonical novitiate with the White Sisters of Algiers and accepted the religious name Little Sister Magdeleine of Jesus . Together with Anne she made her temporary profession on December 8, 1939 . As a result, the two founded the first community in Touggourt with other postulants .
After the war, numerous women of very different origins joined the young community, which made a living mainly through wage labor in factories. The little sisters of Jesus live with factory workers, with traveling people, with war refugees, in slums. Since 1957 the community expanded outside France and Algiers, and in 1964 the religious community was recognized by the church. The motherhouse , formerly in Aix-en-Provence , has been in Rome since 1957 on the site of the Trappist monastery of Tre Fontane , where the sisters were allowed to build barracks.
The Little Sisters of Jesus are spread all over the world. The community has around 1400 members and conventions in 70 countries. Her spirituality consists in looking at "the child of Bethlehem, who comes to us in simplicity and without power, as the center of the heart." Little sisters live contemplatively in small groups in the middle of the world, often unrecognized, in order to live and work with the poorest of people and to make Jesus Christ present among them.
Individual evidence
literature
- Little sister Magdeleine of Jesus: From the Sahara to the whole world - the little sisters of Jesus on the trail of brother Charles of Jesus. Neue Stadt Verlag, 1984, ISBN 978-3879961511 .
- Annie of Jesus: Small sparks, burning fire. The life of the little sister Magdeleine of Jesus. Real publishing house, Würzburg 2009.