1797 : LES SABLES D’OLONNE
Louis-Marie Baudouin,a young man from Vendee, ordained priest in 1789, knew what it was to be in hiding during the French Revolution, and then experienced exile in Spain. On his return to France he had to go into hiding once again, in Sables d’Olonne.
It was there he met Charlotte-Gabrielle Ranfray, a former cloistered Hospitalier sister, from La Rochelle. He invited her to forget « the sweet solitude of her cloister » in order to go out to the poor ; the helpless ; the children who were in need of instruction and education ; all the sick who needed nursing ; and to help priests in their mission of evangelisation.
1802 : CHAVAGNES !
It was on 2d July that Charlotte Gabrielle Ranfray arrived at Chavagnes in a cart, with five companions, the place where Louis-Marie Baudouin had been the parish priest for a year. Chavagnes-en-Paillers became the cradle of the Congregation. We love to return there to get in touch with the life-giving inspiration of our beginnings. From this place,
"We are sent out to live in community together. Rooted in concrete realities, we want to embrace the lives of the people with whom we are journeying and work with them for the coming of a world of justice and fraternity. Unceasingly, we must strip ourselves of ourselves, letting ourselves be transformed by the Spirit of the Gospel which will enable us to be resourceful and act boldly"
U.J.Book of Life 1
