Little Sisters of the Sacred Heart

Catholic religious congregation of nuns

The Little Sisters of the Sacred Heart are a religious congregation of contemplative nuns in the world, founded by a Belgian widow Alida Capart in 1933^[1] in Montpellier (Hérault, France) and whose spirituality is inspired by Father Charles de Foucauld (Blessed Charles of Jesus, 1858-1916). "Nazareth can be lived anywhere".^[2]

After the Second Vatican Council, they left the habit and adapted their constitutions to live more mixed with people, in a "living with", among the most disadvantaged, favoring simplicity and fraternal joy. "We try to discover the ways of inner silence that open to God and to others" (Constitutions)).^[3]

Today these nuns are around fifty divided into small fraternities in Algeria,^[4] Tunisia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Bolivia, France and Spain, where they are in the last two countries mainly in small apartments "on the periphery". The general fraternity is in Rosny-sous-Bois and the formation fraternity in L'Île-Saint-Denis, on the outskirts of Paris.^[5]

The congregation has a blessed, Sister Odette Prévost^[6] (1932-1995), a French nun who is one of the nineteen Martyrs of Algeria, beatified in 2018.

Notes

^ (in French) History of the Congregation
^ Charles de Foucauld
^ (in Italian) Piccole Sorelle del Sacro Cuore
^ Aineah, Agnes. "Why Congregation of Sisters in Algeria Needs to Survive amid Shortage of Vocations", ACI Africa, 09 July, 2020
^ (in French) Catholic communities in Seine-Saint-Denis
^ Her religious name was Odette of the Cross.