Les Religieuses de Notre-Dame-Du-Sacré-Coeur

Les Religieuses de Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur is based in Dieppe, and is a member of the Sisters of Charity Federation.

The order was founded in 1924, after many years of trying to create a French-speaking novitiate within the Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception of Saint John.

From the beginning, French speaking women who entered the Sisters of Charity had to pray and teach in English. Many parishes were completely French and the Sisters were continually asked by parishioners to provide education to their children in French. As a result, many women chose to enter other French speaking convents in and the United States.

Sister Suzanne Cyr, (known as Mere Marie-Anne) and 52 Acadian Sisters wrote a letter to the Pope in 1922, asking for a separation from the Sisters of Charity. In 1923 a message arrived from the Holy Father confirming the separation and asking to legally separate property. It was decided that the new congregation would receive the convents of St. Joseph of Bouctouche, , St. Anselm and Petit-Rocher.

The name of the new congregation of nuns comes from this statue of the Madonna. It is credited by many with the miracle of their survival from exile. In 1755 when British control of the Acadian region of replaced the French, thousands were deported from the Maritimes, many of whom returned years later. This statue of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart was brought from Montreal by Sister Cyr and would eventually be the name-sake of the new order of Sisters and grace their motherhouse in St. Joseph of Bouctouche.

Final approval from Rome came and the new Order was officially established February 17, 1924 when they held their first chapter. Sister Marie-Anne was elected Superior General, position she held until 1936.

Over the years, the Sisters were called and established communities in New Brunswick, and . They taught school in both English and French and opened homes for the poor in , NB and for 1200 displaced Acadians in Plate City Louisiana. They fed and clothed these families, taught their children, prepared them for the sacrament and taught catechesis.

In all, 35 sites were opened between 1924 and 1967 in the Maritime Provinces, three in Latin America, one in Haiti and one in Ottawa. 40 additional communities were established between 1967 and 2003.