DAUGHTERS OF COMPASSION, SERVANTS OF THE LORD. — On 8 December 1841 the noblewoman Alfonsa Petit, after the death of her husband and daughters, devoted herself entirely to the service of the poor sick, gathering them in her estate at Domfront. As the number of the sick increased, she sought helpers with whom she founded an association that was raised by Msgr. Cignoux, Bishop of Beauvais, to the status of a religious congregation on 18 February 1854. Mother Petit became its first superior under the name Sister Maria della Compassione.
The specific purpose of the Institute is the care of the poor sick, even in their homes. On 19 August 1867 Pius IX granted the decree of praise; the constitutions were approved provisionally in 1906, and definitively on 30 November 1932. The Institute now has about twenty houses and 130 sisters.