The story of the Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres is a long story of Love extending over 300 years written in a mysterious way and hidden in the hearts of thousands of women.In 1696, Father Louis Chauvet, a young, learned and newly arrived parish priest of Levesville-la-Chenard in the diocese of Chartres, soon perceived the immense poverty and ignorance of his village inhabitants. He was determined to raise the living standard and human dignity of his people. He lost no time in gathering Marie Micheau and Barbe Foucault, with Marie Anne de Tilly, a gentlewoman from Allaines, to form a small community to care for the sick and to comfort the lonely and the poor. Fr. Chauvet was keen to educate the mind and heart of these village girls, so, he started a little school with the help of Marie Anne de Tilly, to teach them how to pray, read and write so that they could in turn, teach other children  how to read and write and to  develop a healthy sense of their own dignity, despite the desperate poverty of the times.

Levesville is not far from the great Cathedral of Chartres, and the Bishop of Chartres, Monsignor Paul Godet des Marais took a keen interest in the little community. In 1710, after the death of Fr. Chauvet, the Bishop took the Sisters under his protection and gave them St. Paul the Apostle as their patron. The Sisters were then officially known as “Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres”.

From the earliest days of their fledgling community, the Sisters drew inspiration from the writings and spirit of St. Paul. They resolved to follow his footsteps, eager to spread the Good News of Jesus. The Congregation has no territorial preference and responds with fidelity to the call of the Church, to leave everything in order to follow Christ and to serve their brothers and sisters under every horizon, with a special love for the most neglected and the marginalized. Their major services include education, nursing, and all forms of pastoral work. In practical terms, this has often meant working in leprosarium, prisons, visiting and serving in remote, dangerous and poverty-stricken areas.

In 1727, in response to the personal request of King Louis XV, the first four missionaries set out for French Guyana, in South America, to the notorious Devil’s Island. After the French Revolution, despite the suppression of the Church, Napoleon called on the Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres to go back to French Guyana where the need was great.

At present, the Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres serve in 40 countries all over the world, ready to answer both spiritual and human needs, anywhere and at any time. In Vietnam, where one of the largest groups of Sisters can be found, over 1,000 Sisters are working in hospitals, schools, orphanages and aged care facilities. Sisters from Hong Kong were sent in 1984 to establish communities in Australia. At present, the Sisters’ apostolic works  in Australia include running  an International College, a Residential Aged Care facility; engaging  in Youth Ministries within different ethnic groups and communities, as well as working actively in all forms of pastoral ministries in local parishes spreading in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.