page_title: Joan Elizabeth Bichier des Âges
section_title: Foundress
hierarchical_section_title: Joan Elizabeth Bichier des Âges / Life / Foundress
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: La Puye, Chapelle de la Maison-mère des filles de la Croix, en septembre 2011
context_page_description: Joan Elizabeth Lucy Bichier des Âges was a French religious sister, commonly referred to as Elizabeth Bichier. Together with Andrew Fournet, she founded the Sisters of the Cross, Sisters of St. Andrew, a religious congregation which was established for the care of the poor and the instruction of rural children in the Diocese of Poitiers in 1807. She also helped to inspire the founding of a community of priests dedicated to missionary service, the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Betharram. She has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church.
context_section_description: The small community felt it wiser to be closer to Fournet, their spiritual guide, and decided to relocate to Maillé. They needed a home which would both accommodate the community and provide a place for their work. For this, they were able to acquire the local chateau. There the community was joined by Anne Bannier. In February 1807, the five members of the community professed religious vows, establishing the new congregation of the Sisters of the Cross.
  The small community began to expand quickly and the schools began to multiply where the Daughters could exercise their ministry to the poor and needy. In 1816 the community received ecclesiastical approval. By 1820 they had expanded again, and a former monastery of the Order of Fontevrault was obtained in La Puye, where their motherhouse was established. It still serves as the congregation's headquarters. Within ten years there were over sixty communities of Sisters of the Cross. In 1850 they established their first foreign foundation, in Bilbao, Spain.
  Bichier died in 1838, at which time there were about 600 Daughters of the Cross serving in some 100 communities.
caption: A view of the chapel of the motherhouse of the Daughters of the Cross in La Puye, resting place of St. Elizabeth Bichier
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