Congregation of Divine Providence

The Congregation of Divine Providence (or Sisters of Divine Providence) is the name of several Roman Catholic religious institutes of women which have developed from the work of Jean-Martin Moye (1730-1793), a French Catholic priest. They are dedicated to the instruction and care of the neediest of the world. Started in 1762, it took its final form in 1852.

Moye saw the lack of educational opportunities for females in the rural sectors of his large parish in the Duchy of Lorraine, at that time an independent nation, speaking a form of the German language. The general motherhouse of the largest congregation is in Saint-Jean-de-Bassel, Moselle, France. The Sisters of this congregation serve on four continents. They all use the postnominal initials of C.D.P..

Jean-Martin Moye was a parish priest in Lorraine, who was concerned about the lack of educational opportunities for young women and girls, and the general ignorance in the region about the faith, in the large parish for which he was responsible. He began to instruct several young women to combat this. On 14 January 1762, Moye sent out four literate women whom he had recruited, under the leadership of Marguerite LeComte, to teach in the remote hamlets of the region what was needed for the improvement of the peoples' lives, as well as for their practice of the Catholic faith. These women were to live alone and without provisions, like the first Christians, sharing in the daily labor of the local populace and trusting in God's divine providence to provide for their needs. Lecomte he stationed in the hamlet of Saint-Hubert where she served throughout the upheavals of the French Revolution.

Though pious, the women lacked any formal knowledge of teaching. Moye trained them in child psychology, in order to prepare them to teach effectively and in a Christian manner, instructing all those whom they met. They were instructed to provide special help to the less gifted and to the poor who had become distasteful to others from the situations of their lives. This innovative ministry by single women quickly came under criticism by some for this irregular behavior. In their first year of operation, the association was suppressed by the religious authorities. They did not, however, close the schools opened by the women, which immediately began to expand.

Moye initially gave the women the title of "Poor Sisters of the Child Jesus", but the villagers came to call them the "Poor Sisters of Providence".

Feeling called to preach the Gospel in the East, Moye joined the Paris Society for Foreign Missions and went to China to do missionary work in 1771, not returning to Lorraine until 1784 to oversee the new community. Before leaving, he put the care of the Sisters of Providence in the hands of two colleagues who were admirers of their work. He also appointed Marie Morel as their first Mother Superior. Driven into exile during the French Revolution, in 1793 he succumbed to typhus contracted while nursing fellow refugees. He was beatified by Pope Pius XII in 1954 and his feast day is celebrated on May 4.

The French Revolution caused the closing of the schools of the congregation and scattered the Sisters. The loss of their founder and guide left them uncertain as to their future. When two priests returned to Lorraine from exile, they guided the surviving Sisters in re-forming the community in 1802. The German-speaking Sisters established a base in the town of Saint-Jean-de-Bassel in 1827, opening schools throughout Moselle and Alsace. The French-speaking Sisters were headquartered in Portieux, serving the Department of Vosges. The two groups separated into separate congregations in 1852.

In 1866, the congregation expanded with a mission to the United States. In 1868 they sent a small group of Sisters to Algeria, who returned to France in 1871. During that period, they began to expand into new forms of service, opening a trade school for boys in Lixheim that same year, as well as ones to train girls in housekeeping. In 1879 Sisters began to serve in Belgium, and in 1889 a new mission was sent to the United States in Kentucky.