The origins of the Sisters of St Louis can be traced back to 1797 to Turkenstein near Strasbourg, when three people (Abbé Louis Joseph Colmar, Marie Madeline Louise Humann, and Marie Thérèse Brek) signed a spiritual act of union, where they promised to remain united together in the heart of Christ until death, to fulfil Christ’s prayer. A few decades later, this union profoundly influenced a priest named Louis Marie Eugène Bautain, and in 1842, he officially founded the Institute of St Louis in Juilly, outside Paris. Louis Marie Eugène Bautain was guided by the phrase “Sint Unum – May they be one”, taken from Our Lord’s Prayer at the last supper (John 17:22). His vision of one world, healed, unified, and transformed, continues to inspire all the Sisters do today.

The Institute of men and women was approved by Rome in July, 1844, but by 1850, the priests disbanded, leaving the Sisters remaining in the order. In 1859, the first Irish foundation was established in Monaghan, and two year….