During the French Revolution religious practice was banned, churches secularised, seminaries closed, and religious executed. Jacques François Dujarié was ordained in secret on 26 December 1795, and ministered as an "underground priest" in
Ruillé-sur-Loir and the surrounding area. Although the
Concordat of 1801 lifted prohibitions, the effect of the Revolution on French Catholicism and education was severe. In January 1803 Fr.Dujarié was named parish priest of Ruillé. Three miles from the village, there were scattered farm houses of families in need of care. In 1806 Abbe Dujarie was able to recruit two laywomen and had a small house built for them, "The Little Providence". In 1901 the Sisters of Providence were invited by the parish priest of Woodhall Spa, Fr Goddard, a Belgian, to start a house in his parish. The sisters established St. Joseph's School in Lincoln and staffed it from 1911 to 1983. St. Joseph's later merged with the Lincoln Cathedral School and Stonefield House to form the Minster School. Sisters from Lincoln were instrumental in establishing a convent in Sri Lanka in 1948. In 1964 Europeans were expelled from Sri Lanka, so a group of Sisters made a foundation in Madagascar. Sisters of Providence in England carry out various apostolates in London,
Maidstone, Oxford, Witney, Lincoln and Woodhall Spa. ==References==