PENITENT RECOLLECTINES OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF ROOSENDAAL. - The Institute originated from the ancient monastery of Lovanio, suppressed by the French Revolution in 1796.
Some nuns, having then taken refuge in Holland, founded a House at Breda and resumed their life under the Rule of the Franciscan Third Order and the Constitutions of the Recollect Tertiaries. The branch of Roosendaal properly dates from 1832, when Sister Maria Giuseppa di Gesù (Maria Raaymakers) began another work with eminently educational and penitential purposes. The Institute soon developed considerably. The S. Congr. di Propaganda approved its Constitutions for a ten-year period on 1 Oct. 1869 and in perpetuity on 11 March 1883. They were subsequently adapted to the Code with the approval of the S. Congr. dei Religiosi.
The purpose of the Institute is the education of female youth and the expiation of the evils of the world through a life of rigorous penance. At present they have 42 houses with 1,130 sisters.