History of the founder of Infant Jesus Sisters

Blessed Nicolas Barré founder of the Infant Jesus Sisters was born in France on October 21st 1621.
He was the only boy in his family and he had five sisters.

His parents hoped he would take over the family business but Nicolas had a different dream.

He wanted to be a priest and he chose one of the poorest orders in France, the Order of Minims of St. Francis of Paola He was ordained priest in 1645.

The Minims lived and worked among the poor and their spirituality was based on humility and love of the poor

France in 1621 suffered from war, poverty, disease, and in 1662 when the Infant Jesus Sisters were founded in Rouen, over half the children of that city died from the plague. Many people were homeless and children wandered the streets begging. The young girls often fell into prostitution just to make enough money to stay alive.

Nicolas Barre saw the desperate situation of the people and he believed the only way to change things for the poor was to educate them especially the women and girls. There were few schools for boys but none for girls. There was no religious education of any kind. People were Catholic in name only. They knew nothing about God, about Jesus or about the Gospel.

In 1662 Nicolas was asked to preach a retreat/ mission in a small village near Rouen. Two young women, Marguerite 20 and Francoise 18, offered to help him. They would teach the children and youth while Fr Barre ministered to the adults.

Amazing things happened! Many people returned to the practice of their faith. Attending school regularly gave them hope of a better future. The power of God was evident everywhere.

When they returned to Rouen, they continued gathering the children of the poor, teaching them to read and write and to know God. Fr Barre urged them not to wait until the children came to them, they were to go out to the highways and byways, and they were to search out the ones who were most at risk. Fr Barre opened Trade Schools for the ones who needed to learn a trade so they could support themselves and their families.

The “Little Schools”, began to spread all over the city. Other young women joined the work and Fr Barre trained them to be gifted teachers. Unlike the professional teachers at the time, these young women took no money for their work, Everything was free. Each parish gave them just enough to live on and they were happy, as they experienced the power of God blessing their work.

In 1666 Fr Barre visited them and told them he had “a deep desire that they should form a community”. They would have to live a simple life, be free to go wherever they were needed. They would never have any security and they were to rely totally on Divine Providence. God would care for them if they cared for His children.

They answered “Yes, with all their hearts” and so the Sisters of the Infant Jesus Congregation was born.
Fr Barre spent all his energy forming these young women so they would be excellent teachers and committed religious women.

Fr Barre himself led a very austere life, praying and fasting. After some years his health began to fail and he eventually died in Paris on the 31st May 1686.

For 200 years the Sisters lived only in France but gradually God called them to move out to other parts of the world.
They went in the spirit of “total detachment of the first sisters. When they went to Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Thailand etc it was not easy. They did not know the language or culture of the people. The climate was difficult.

Some even died within months of arriving at the mission. But they continued to respond to the call with courage and daring , and now 400 years later the Sisters are in 26 countries around the world.