Sisters of the Temple

The Sisters of the Temple (whose full title is Sisters of the Finding of Jesus in the Temple) are a pre-Reformation foundation. They were established in London for educational purposes at the time of the Crusades by a dean whose name has not come down to us. They spread widely in England in the following centuries, but were driven into exile at the Reformation.

In 1860 Cardinal Wiseman, with generous help of the Abbe Roullin, re-established them in the Archdiocese of Westminster, whence they moved to Clifton. But it was not until a house was opened at Vernon, Normandy, that they began once more to flourish; from Vernon they have opened six houses in France and Belgium, and now number 170 sisters. They have a home for invalid priests at Clifton, and chief work of the sisters now is nursing among all classes of society. They are known as the Blue Nuns in England and France, from the blue habit they wear.

DATIN, Discours pour le cinquantenaire des Soeurs de Jesus au Temple (1910).

Francesca M. Steele.