It was founded in
Dublin, in 1857, by
Margaret Aylward, under the direction of John Gowan from the St. Peter's Vincentian Community in
Phibsboro, Dublin. The founder was called a
Confessor of the Faith by
Pope Pius IX, because of the imprisonment of six months she endured. She was convicted of
contempt of court, but acquitted of a charge of
kidnapping, after having refused to produce and return an abandoned child to its mother. The congregation is especially active in the
Archdiocese of Dublin, the residence of the superior general being at
Glasnevin, where the sisters conducted a boarding-school for young women. The Glasnevin establishment no longer has a boarding school; the order's archives are stored and maintained here, and the order now has a nursing home,
Marian House, on the Glasnevin campus. The original foundation was St. Brigid's Orphanage, Dublin, where over 3000 orphans were accommodated and trained. ==Activities==