Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word: An apostolic of spirituality

We have reflected upon the Sisters of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament–a contemplative order of sisters, and the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament–a contemplative/apostolic order, both founded in France.  

We now come to consider the lives of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, an apostolic order founded in Lyons, France, but with emphasis on a calling to work among the people of Texas.  

In 1862, Father Claude Marie Dubuis was named the second bishop of the Diocese of Texas to replace Bishop Jean Marie Odin who had been transferred to New Orleans.  Bishop Dubuis, a native of France, had been in Texas as a missionary since 1846 so he was familiar with the many needs of the Diocese of Texas.   He saw a real need for religious women to care for the sick and the many orphaned children in the diocese.  

His efforts to get sisters from American communities failed so he wrote to communities in France, hoping to receive assistance of them. In his request for help in the missions of Texas, Bishop Dubuis’ wrote, “Our Lord Jesus Christ, suffering in the persons of a multitude of the sick and infirm of every kind, seeks relief at your hands…He begs you to accept the mission of corporal works of mercy by sending sisters to take charge of our hospitals and orphan asylums.”

He then journeyed to France and—after deep prayer—approached Mother Angelique, superior of the cloistered order of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament in Lyons. Cloistered sisters went out only in case of great necessity, so Bishop Dubuis and Mother Angelique prayed and worked together to discover God’s will in regard to founding a new order – one that would be founded to work among the people even as the sisters maintained their own prayer life. 

Mother Angelique was moved by this request, and accepted into her novitiate three young French women who had responded to the call of Bishop Dubuis and prayed for and worked at the effort to found a new apostolic community.  As with all religious communities, they worked toward having a deeply prayerful life but also placed much emphasis on apostolic work.  Since the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament helped their foundation, this new community took the title of Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.  

  After a very short time of preparation, the first Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, left for Texas. In Lyons, the founding community continued to receive succeeding groups of volunteers for the Texas mission. The members of these groups were carefully formed spiritually, especially in knowing and loving the Person of Jesus under the title of Incarnate Word.  

Their thrust as a community, however, was to help the People of God grow spiritually through active, apostolic work.  The first community of Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word began their apostolic work in Galveston, Texas. In March 1869, Bishop Dubuis chose from the Galveston community three Sisters to go to San Antonio, Texas to open the first Catholic hospital in that area.  

The founding sisters of the hospital were Sister Sainte-Madeleine Choller (whom the Bishop named as first superior of the new community), Sister Saint-Pierre Cinquin and Sister Agnes Buisson.  The following year, when three more women entered the sisters’ community in San Antonio, Bishop Dubuis declared the Galveston community and the San Antonio community independent of each other.  

Mother Sainte-Pierre Cinquin followed Mother St. Madeleine as superior in San Antonio. She remained in office until her death in 1891.  Under her dynamic leadership, the congregation flourished and spread far beyond the confines of Texas.  As the congregation grew in numbers so did the services of the sisters who staffed various hospitals, schools, orphanages and a home for the aged.  

In 1905, the congregation sought and obtained preliminary papal approbation.  Five years later, the congregation was established as a Congregation of Pontifical Right with the final approbation of its Constitution by the Holy See.  

When the first sisters left Lyons for Texas, Mother Angelique gave them a copy of the Constitution of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament to use as a guide until they could draw up their own Constitution, modified as needed by the circumstances of their missionary life in Texas.  According to this modified Constitution, the purpose of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word is “to love and glorify the Incarnate Word in their lives and in the works of mercy entrusted to them.  The spirit that should animate them in their daily living is a spirit of charity, dependence, and simplicity in imitation of Jesus.”  

The charism or special calling of the congregation, then as now, is to make the love of God as shown in the Incarnation a real and tangible presence in the world today.  The sisters recognized the mystery of the Incarnation as the foundation of their charism, lives and spirituality.  

The mission of the congregation is to actualize the saving and helping love of the Incarnate Word by promoting human dignity.  Moved by the Holy Spirit, the sisters examine the reality of their world and discern the needs of the Church.  Like Mary, they respond in faith to these needs.  They follow the Incarnate Word, model of charity and obedience and proclaim the mission of Him who assumed a human existence, sharing in the life, sufferings, and hopes of His people. 

Throughout, they bring the love of the Incarnate Word to those for whom and with whom they minister.