Blessed Sacrament, Servants of the

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BLESSED SACRAMENT, SERVANTS OF THE

Societas Ancillarum Sanctissimi Sacramenti (SSS) is a contemplative congregation of women religious founded at Paris in 1858 by St. Pierre Julien (eymard) with papal approval (1871, 1885). The purpose of the community, whose members are cloistered and take perpetual vows, is devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and the promotion of that practice among the laity. Retreats for women are conducted in some of the larger convents. When Marguerite Guillot and a small group of ladies came under Eymard's direction, he was able to realize his intention of founding a congregation of sisters similar in scope to that of his blessed sacrament fathers. The French government's antireligious policy (1903) occasioned the spread of the community to Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada. In 1947 a convent was opened in Waterville, Maine, and a novitiate was established there. From Waterville the sisters established a second convent at Pueblo, Colo.

At the end of 2000, the congregation had communities in Europe (France, Italy, and The Netherlands), North America (Canada and the U.S.), South America (Brazil), Asia (the Philippines and Vietnam) and Australia. The generalate is in Rome.

[j. roy/eds.]