FIGLIE DELLA SANTA CROCE (Liège). —
A religious institute founded in Liège, Belgium, in 1833, with the specific purpose of educating girls, especially those who were poor, and rehabilitating female prisoners and penitents. In 1843 it received the decree of praise and definitive approval, and in 1851 approval of its constitutions. In 1947 the Association of the “Lay Auxiliaries of the Cross” was affiliated with it; the Holy See approved its statutes and regulations.
By decree of 30 November 1943, the sisters of a local diocesan institute, known as those of S. Giuseppe, founded in Liège in 1853 and approved in 1840, who had by then become too few in number to carry on their works, were united with equal rights to the class of choir sisters of the F. della C.
At present the sisters number 1,867, with 95 houses.
FIGLIE DELLA SANTA VERGINE « SUORE
DEL RITIRO » (Vannes). — After the religious wars, evangelical men arose in Brittany who worked strenuously for the spiritual renewal of their land. The principal initiative for bringing about the religious revival of the people was the popular missions, which Fr. Huby wished to perpetuate by suggesting, toward the end of the seventeenth century, the work of retreats to the ven. Caterina di Francheville; the vicar general of Vannes, Mgr de Kerlivio, was to organize II. A congregation of sisters with simple vows resulted, approved on 21 October 1675 by the bishop of Vannes, who subsequently, in 1703, also approved its constitutions.
After the Revolution, the work was resumed; in 1864 it returned to its original cradle, on 11 June 1866 it obtained the decree of praise, and on 17 December 1887 definitive approval. The constitutions were revised after the publication of the Code and approved on 24 March 1931.
The sisters dedicate themselves to the sanctification of their neighbor not only by promoting retreats, but also by providing sound education to young women and by carrying out other works of charity and apostolate. In 1937 they had 11 houses and numbered 140.