The Institute of the Helpers of the Souls in Purgatory was founded in France in 1856. The first Sisters quickly settled in the house of La Barouillère, which is now in the heart of Paris but was then in the suburbs. The first call the Sisters responded to was to care for the neighbourhood’s sick poor people.
Most of the Sisters live in small communities of four to six members. They share ordinary daily life, doing grocery shopping, cooking, etc. Gathered together for missions, they go out to meet those to whom they are sent. Their community life is marked by prayer, regular times for sharing and reflection, as well as celebrations and relaxation. About twenty Helpers live in homes for dependent elderly people.
Sisters from the entire Province come together several times a year (annual assembly, training weekends on a specific theme, generation groups, celebrations).
The Province is responsible for the guesthouse of La Barouillère, which welcomes Sisters from the entire Institute for working sessions and commissions, as well as ecclesial or social groups, refugees, parents with a child in hospital, or young people seeking a place of silence.
“Choosing life with those who are going through situations of trial and growth.”
Our missions
The Helpers of the Province of France-Belgium work in various fields within the professional or associative world or in direct connection with the Church: education, health, social work, refugee aid, hospital chaplaincy, prison chaplaincy, pastoral care for gypsies, catechumenate, spiritual guidance, spiritual centres, youth ministry, theology…
In Eugénie Smet’s own words, the horizons are wide enough for the Sisters to “help in all manner of good, whatever it may be.”
