POOR SISTERS OF NAZARETH. – Cardinal Wiseman, archbishop of Westminster, in 1850 conceived the plan for a hospice for the elderly similar to the French ones run by the Little Sisters of the Poor.
On 10 April 1851 three of these sisters were invited and established themselves at Brook Green (Hammersmith). After overcoming the initial difficulties, new English vocations arose and the work spread throughout England. The cardinal wished that the sisters in England, in addition to their charitable works for the elderly and the sick, should also include orphanages for illegitimate and abandoned daughters; but since the sisters who had come from France opposed this, he separated the English branch from the French one and constituted it as a true congregation in its own right, named the Poor Sisters of Nazareth. On 13 August 1883 the Institute received the decree of praise and definitive approval on 24 March 1888. At present the sisters number 857, distributed in 59 houses.