The foundation and source of our life in the religious community is a living relationship with God. We draw strength and joy for our life and work from the daily celebration of the Eucharist, communal and personal prayer, and contemplation of God’s Word.

In the morning and evening, we pray the Liturgy of the Hours, participating in the worldwide praise of God by the Church. Our daily schedule includes times for silence and private prayer.

Eucharistic adoration, various forms of prayer in the liturgical year, and the traditions of our religious community deepen our relationship with God and strengthen our unity.

For us, work is more than just earning a living. Through our activities, we participate in God’s creative mission and the charitable service of the Church.

Our community was founded with the aim “to alleviate and heal the suffering and misery, the pain and distress of our fellow human beings not only through intercession with God, but also through corporal works of mercy and active help” (cf. founding address by Cardinal Joseph Freiherr Othmar von Rauscher, 10.5.1857).

Our purpose, as stated in the statutes of 1868: “The purpose for which God has called the Daughters of Christian Charity and united them into a society is: to honor Jesus Christ our Lord as the source and model of all love, and to serve Him bodily and spiritually in the person of the poor, be they children or the sick, prisoners or others who are ashamed to publicly acknowledge their poverty.”

In the Wieden Hospital – a former district hospital in Vienna – the director and the chaplain sought women who were willing to take on nursing care as members of the secular Third Order of St. Francis (today: Franciscan Community). The nurses, who came from Vienna and its surroundings as well as from abroad, formed a community in the secular Third Order. On January 29, 1848, the first reception ceremony for these “Tertiaries” (=Third Order sisters) took place; the second was conducted in secret for political reasons during the revolutionary year.

The “Tertiary Sisters” soon aspired to establish a religious community. They submitted an initial draft of statutes in 1854, signed by Sisters Viktoria Zitta, Lucia Rinerthaler, and Petronilla Müller. Even then, it was their desire to be recognized under the name “Sisters of Christian Love”.

As a religious community was not wanted in the Wieden Hospital, there were many difficulties to overcome. However, the Third Order Sisters had already gained a good reputation among the population. Interior Minister Alexander Freiherr von Bach was also among the supporters of the foundation.

On May 10, 1857, the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Joseph Freiherr Othmar von Rauscher, carried out the constitution and thus the foundation. On this day, 95 Third Order Sisters were admitted to the novitiate and received the habit, belt, and veil as religious dress. The official name of the new community was: “Sisters of Mercy of the Third Order of St. Francis, called of Christian Love”. Three Elizabethan Sisters from the Vienna-Landstrasse convent introduced them to religious life. A year later, the Sisters took their religious vows and elected their own Superior.

After the hospital management terminated the contract without giving reasons in 1861, the now 120 Sisters had to look for work and housing. Their belief in their vocation and in the independence of the religious community gave them cohesion. They found temporary accommodation, among other places, in Vienna’s Laurenzgasse (5th district of Vienna). In addition to home nursing care, they also took on various other activities to ensure the continued existence of the community. After the governorate approved a collection permit, they conducted begging journeys far beyond the city and national borders.

In 1865, the desire for their own mother house and hospital was finally fulfilled through the acquisition of two houses in Hartmanngasse. In 1888, construction of a new building for the mother house and hospital began and was completed with the blessing on September 17, 1890.

The growth of the religious community and the call for Sisters for various services led to the establishment of branches. The Sisters worked in kindergartens, orphanages, sewing schools, and seminary kitchens. From the beginning, the focus of their activity was on the care of the sick and elderly, both in their own facilities and in public institutions.

Outside of Austria, there were branches for a time in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Bavaria, as well as in Poland, where a novitiate was briefly maintained. Candidates from these countries, as well as from Slovenia and Croatia, entered our religious community.

After the first National Socialist measures against monasteries and religious communities, five Sisters were sent to Buenos Aires in 1939 to ensure the continued existence of the congregation. There, too, they initially began working in nursing care. Just two years after arriving in Buenos Aires, on May 10, 1941, a novitiate was established, and young women could be admitted to the community.