BAUGÉ (1650 - 1991)
The construction of the hospital was begun in 1643 by Marthe de la Beausse, a single woman with no fortune. She won over to her cause Miss Anne de Melun, Princess of Épinay, who went incognito under the borrowed name of “Sister de la Haye”. In November 1650, three Daughters of Saint Joseph from La Flèche went to live in the still unfinished hospital, which would quickly make great progress because of the generosity of “Sister de la Haye”.

LAVAL (1650 - )
In 1650, eight Hospitallers of Saint Joseph arrived in Laval where a former chaplaincy building had been transformed into Hotel Dieu. Hotel Dieu expanded normally, the community attracted young women. In1659, three Sisters from Laval were chosen for the foundation of the first community of Hospitallers of Saint Joseph in Montreal in New France.
During the French Revolution, the fate of the Hospitallers of Saint Joseph was almost the same as that of the Sisters in Baugé. In spite of their poverty and distress, they offered refuge to eight companions expelled from La Flèche and Beaufort.
In 1974, a modern hospital of 560 beds opened its doors and the sick from the old Hotel Dieu were transferred there. Eight sisters worked in this new Health Care Centre for a few years, the last until 1987.

Marie Moulins
During his studies in La Flèche, Gabriel Girault of Moulins got to know Jérôme Le Royer well and admired the smooth functioning of the hospital. As a priest, he wanted the Hospitallers of St. Joseph to come to his native city. Nevertheless, the city council were very reticent and accepted only with particular conditions: their hospital would be reserved for sick women and the Sisters would also take responsibility for an orphanage for girls of three to twelve years. Jérôme Le Royer recognized the needs and signed the contract.
In June 1651, Marie de la Ferre and four companions set up a charitable work in Moulins in very difficult conditions; Marie de la Ferre died there on July 28, 1652. Nevertheless, the situation became more normal with time; the community and the works of the Hospitallers of Saint Joseph grew. The French Revolution put an end to the expansion: in 1793, the Sisters were expelled from Moulins and never returned there.

NÎMES (1663 - )
On their arrival in Nîmes on May 18, 1663, the Hospitallers of St. Joseph, among whom were Sister Jeanne Le Royer, found the hospital in a very bad state: they quickly brought order, cleanliness and progress to the place.

The Nîmes community founded a hospital in Avignon in 1672, in Isle sur Sorgue in 1685 and in Rivières de Teyrargues in 1698. During the French Revolution, the Hospitallers in Nîmes, “condemned to a permanent prison in their convent,” continued to care for the sick. However, the community was evicted from Hotel Dieu in 1904. It then opened a private general hospital clinic that it would keep until 1975, then a dispensary from 1955 to 1981. Afterwards the Sisters in Nîmes were involved in diverse apostolates. The Chapel of their residence, in its original place near the centre of the city, was open to groups of youth and others. Over and above this service of hospitality, the sisters were involved in three areas: bringing Communion to people in their homes, participation in chaplaincy services to students, care for the poor through the Fourth World Movement.

In 2003, after 340 years in Nîmes, the R.H.S.J. Congregation, because of the lack of sisters, had to leave this historic city of the Midi.

Beaufort
(1671-1964)
At the request of Bishop Henri Arnault, Bishop of Angers, the Hospitallers of Saint Joseph arrived in Beaufort in May 1671. The important people in the city were not too happy at their coming, for they did not see the necessity of changing what had existed for a long time. The Sisters went into a hospital which “was only a pigsty where even the poor sick refused to enter ...”; they also had to see to the well-being of a dozen orphans. “Sister de la Haye”, Princess of Épinay, came from Baugé to help them and, with diverse gifts, the work of construction was undertaken; the city council ended by making its contribution.
In 1794 the Sisters were dispersed, imprisoned and threatened with deportation, but they returned to Beaufort the following year and welcomed the sick and orphans. The Sisters left Beaufort permanently in 1963; the community no longer had Sisters to respond to the needs of the hospital.

Avignon
(1672-1911)
Requested by the people of Avignon, the Hospitallers of Saint Joseph from the house in Nîmes, agreed in February 1672, to go to the Papal City to bring order into the “splendid hospital” founded in the 14th century. As in most of the other foundations, the beginnings were very difficult, but the situation in Hotel Dieu, Avignon, was normalized gradually. The Sisters could even, in 1685, respond to a request for a foundation in Isle Sur Sorgue.
The Sisters in Avignon suffered a great deal during the Revolution and they were dispersed for several years. But in 1910, some political troubles obliged the Hospitallers of Saint Joseph to leave Avignon; they then emigrated to Lobbes, in Belgium, where they founded a hospital.

ISLE SUR SORGUE
(1685- )
The three foundresses, one from Nîmes and two from Avignon, arrived on November 16, 1685, in the little town of 6,000 inhabitants, who welcomed them warmly; even providing a house and chapel for them. But they did not escape privations, because each of them brought only a modest income and they cared for the sick gratuitously, as was stipulated in their Constitutions. Additions to the hospital were nevertheless possible, thanks to the generosity of benefactors.
In 1792, an order was given to close the convent, so the community of sixteen Sisters was dispersed. In 1825, four Hospitallers of Saint Joseph of Avignon settled in Isle Sur Sorgue and Hotel Dieu was restored.
At the beginning of the 21st century, a little group of Sisters still represents the Congregation with parish ministry, charitable works and pastoral care in the Hospital.

Rivière-de-Teyrargues
(1698-1789)
The Duchess of Porte, the First Lady of Rivières de Teyrargues, decided to create a hospital for some 700 inhabitants and to confide it to the Hospitallers of Saint Joseph of Nîmes. Her persistent efforts overcame the resistance of the Sisters. In November 1698, the three foundresses went to the small village of Rivières, where there was no place to receive them. The Duchess welcomed them into her Teyrargues Castle, where they stayed for 17 years.
The hospital, closed in 1717, was an establishment without a future; it went under during the Revolution, but we don’t know the details.

Ernée
(1819 - )
In 1819, reduced to a small number of elderly Sisters, a community of Hospitallers of Saint Joseph Canonesses, who had administered the hospital in Ernee for about 200 years, asked for affiliation with the Hospitallers of Saint Joseph in Laval. The contract was signed on May 24, 1819; after a year of novitiate, the Canonesses pronounced their vows as Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph. This renewed community in Ernée served the hospital until 1971.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the community is essentially composed of elderly, sick or handicapped Sisters, whose mission is to pray for the Church and the world. Others work in the infirmary, community services and in providing hospitality to a prayer group and visitors. One Sister is active in parish ministry with elderly and sick persons in their homes.

BEAUPRÉAU (1904 - )
In 1831, Abbot Michel Rabouan, assisted by a pious layman, Victor Brevet, and Miss Louise Voisine, founded the community of Saint Martin of Breaupréau, inspired by the Constitutions of the Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph, a copy of which they had borrowed from the Baugé Sisters. This young institute consecrated itself to the care of the sick, elderly, orphans, handicapped persons and sick priests. At the end of the century, the future of this community worried the superior, Mother Voisine, who asked and obtained, in 1904, affiliation with the Congregation of the Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph.
The work of Beaupréau, known today under the name of “The Private Hospital of Saint Martin,” is flourishing and the Hospitallers of Saint Joseph are still there to support and encourage; Sisters Gisèle Jaguelin and Louisette Lelièvre are President and Vice-President respectively, of the Board of Directors.

Today, the Sisters of Beaupréau live in two communities. That of Marie de la Ferre is formed of Sisters still active and giving service, whether in the infirmary or pastoral ministry in the hospital. The Saint Joseph Community is organized around the Infirmary of the Sisters.

Lobbes, Belgique
(1907-1947)
Obliged to leave Avignon, the Hospitallers of Saint Joseph, went to open a hospital in Lobbes, Belgium in 1907. They were still there when World War II began; the hospital was too damaged by two bombardments to be rebuilt. The 15 Sisters returned to France in 1947 and were dispersed among the existing communities.

Paris
(1967-1994)
In 1965, the communities in France united under the large RHSJ Generalate and formed the religious province of Holy Family. For two years the Provincial Administration lived in some rented apartments in Angers. In 1967 the Provincial Council moved to Paris to a purchased house in a working class district. The community welcomed the RHSJ. missionaries from Africa and other Sisters passing through France. This house was closed in 1994, because it no longer responded to the needs.