Our History

In 1633, a humble French priest and a widow established the Company of the Daughters of Charity as a group of women dedicated to serving the “poorest of the poor.”

St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac taught them that prayer and community life were essential elements of their vocation of service. Almost two centuries later Elizabeth Ann Seton, the American foundress of the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, adapted the rule of the French Daughters of Charity for Emmitsburg, Maryland community. In 1850, the Emmitsburg community united with the international community of the Daughters of Charity.

The silent revolution began in Paris.

Several young women, in the home of Louise de Marillac and in the presence of Vincent de Paul, expressed their commitment to live in community and to serve Christ in the person of the poor on November 29, 1633. Up to that point in history, religious communities of women had been restricted to cloistered convents, due primarily to their pronounced perpetual vows. Vincent and Louise had a radically new concept of how these young women should live their religious commitment.

These peasant women, called “Daughters of Charity” by the poor they served, were laywomen who would eventually profess annual rather than perpetual vows. Given the restrictions of the time, becoming nuns would have prevented their freedom to go about the city and villages serving those most abandoned by society. Vincent and Louise began a revolution in women’s religious life. Seeing Christ in the faces of the poor, Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac began a legacy of charity that was permeated with endless love, compassion, respect, and devotion. The very motto of the Company of Daughters of Charity is: “The charity of Jesus crucified compels us.”

The Beginnings of the Province of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

St. Joseph’s House in Emmitsburg, MD, the first home of the Sisters in the US

In 1850, the American headquarters for the Daughters of Charity was in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and they provided services primarily in those states east of the Mississippi River. They taught children, cared for orphans, and nursed the sick. Then California became the 31st state in the Union and the population in the San Francisco area grew rapidly just after the discovery of gold in 1848. Many new problems followed this population increase.

Orphanage on Market Street in the early days in San Francisco

In 1852, the Archbishop of San Francisco appealed to the leadership in Emmitsburg requesting Sisters to care for the orphans of the cholera epidemic. The leadership responded and seven Sisters began the long, perilous journey from the east coast to California to begin an orphanage and school in San Francisco.

Since 1852, the Daughters of Charity helped settle California with hospitals, schools, and orphanages.

In the early decades of the 1900s and in the 1950s through the 1990s, they opened many other ministries in California as well as in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Washington, New Mexico, and Alaska. Some of these establishments were closed within a short time, others continued for many decades and still others have continued into the present. The original ministries in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara have responded to the changing needs of the times and the works continue today with uninterrupted service.

History of the Habit

Sr. Estela Morales in Habit with Box Coiff

The early Daughters of Charity wore the simple peasant dress of the day, their headpiece evolved into the winged “cornette.” As the times changed, the habit was modified and today is simply a blue dress or skirt and blouse, worn with or without the coiffe (veil).

The cornette was a white starched headpiece worn from 1685 until 1964, and considered the most recognizable mark of a Daughter of Charity. In its origin, it reflected the peasant dress of 17th-century France. Over time and with added starch, the cornette went from being more of a veiled piece of fabric to what was often referred to as “wings.” The cornette has been the focus of many artists over time. As the reality of the sisters’ lives changed, so did the habit — they began driving more regularly, they were working as surgical nurses, and there was a desire to simplify the overall style.