This congregation was founded after the horrors of the Thirty Years’ War with the establishment of the House of Mercy by Emanuel Chauvenel on 18 June 1652. Five sisters initially served in this house. On 6 May 1663, the state approved the establishment of the Society of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and on 21 May 1663 it was also approved by the Church, specifically by the Bishop of Toul. Owing to their charitable activities, the sisters came to be known as “merciful” or “charitable.”
In Bohemia, the congregation began its work on 28 September 1837 at the Institute for the Blind in Prague at Klárov. By purchasing two houses below Strahov, they laid the foundations for what is today the Hospital of the Sisters of Charity of St. Charles Borromeo in Prague’s Lesser Town. In 1945, the sisters were active in 120 locations, mainly in schools and healthcare institutions. After 1948, all their property was nationalised and young sisters were assigned to work in border-region industry. The revival of the congregation came after 1989, when its official activities were restored.
In Jáchymov, the Borromean Sisters were active from 15 November 1860, when three sisters arrived in the town at the invitation of Father Hamer to teach girls needlework and domestic crafts. The sisters’ house was destroyed during the great town fire on 31 March 1873, but the congregation rebuilt it at considerable expense. However, in 1884 the Mother General recalled the sisters from Jáchymov following disputes with other teachers and, above all, because of the severe poverty of the region. The sale of the sisters’ house in 1888 marked the end of the Borromean Sisters’ presence in Jáchymov.
This article was prepared with the kind assistance of Sister Fidelis from the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of St. Charles Borromeo and based on information from the congregation’s official website: http://www.boromejky.cz/
