Poor Handmaids of JESUS CHRIST. – A religious institute founded at Dernbach (Hesse) in 1848 by Maria Caterina Kasper for the instruction and education of youth and for the care of the sick in clinics and homes for the elderly. It was approved by the Holy See in 1870. Due to the religious persecution of the *Kulturkampf*, the sisters were forced into exile, transplanting their institute to other regions and even to America. Today there are 284 houses with over 4,000 sisters.
BIBL.: W. Meyer, *Mutter Maria Kasper*, Wiesbaden 1937; Silverio Mattei