Leaving God for God: The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul in Britain, 1847-2017

Leaving God for God: The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul in Britain, 1847-2017 by Susan O'Brien.

(London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 2017).

A study of five generations of Daughters of Charity in Britain charting their changing ministries and analysing a distinctive way of life focused on serving people in poverty.

With 64 pages of colour photographs, maps and an appendix providing a pen portrait of every house opened by the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul in Britain from 1847 to 2017.

Reviews

'From their founding in 1633, the Daughters of Charity have occupied an unusual place in the Catholic world. They have never been nuns, despite the famous white-winged headgear (ditched in 1964) …. [they] continue to combine their Vincentian identity with a rare talent for responding to the shifting social needs of Britain. They have found a sympathetic but rigorous historian in O'Brien.' The Catholic Herald Dr Jonathan Wright author of The Jesuits.

'The work…is a major contribution to the research on women's religious institutes… It will be, without any doubt, a formidable model for others to follow. Sixty pages of visual essays…make this book a pleasant and stimulating experience to read.'

Matthieu Brejon de Lavergnée, Professor of History, De Paul University, USA, author of The Streets of the City: History of the Daughters of Charity

'A tour de force…Thanks to this book we are that bit closer to understanding just how foundational women, lay and religious, were to extending the mission of the Catholic Church.' Karly Kehoe, Professor of History, St Mary's University, Novia Scotia, Canada, author of Creating a Scottish Church.

The Daughters of Charity launched 'Leaving God for God' on 1st May 2017. Owing to a surplus number of books in stock they can offer this book free of charge upon request to order from their website for only the cost of postage and packing - £5 (UK only).

Please click on the following link and scroll down: www.daughtersofcharity.net/our-history