The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Mexico (Hermanas Josefinas) was founded on September 22, 1872 by Father José María Vilaseca Aguilera, CM and Cesárea Ruiz de Esparza y Dávalos … its members work in building up the Kingdom of God.

José Maria Vilaseca was a member of the Congregation of the Mission and a confessor to the Daughters of Charity. He became concerned about the manner in which the Protestant schools were expanding and decided to establish an institute for religious women. He chose as a co-founder a member of the Daughters of Mary (now known as the VMY), Cesarea Ruiz de Esparza de Dávalos.

In May 1873 the new community found a home in the central house of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. There, when Vilaseca returned, the women began their canonical novitiate. In 1874, as a result of Laws with regard to the reform of the Constitution, the Daughters of Charity were expelled from Mexico and the Josefinas not only took up their apostolate and adopted their organizational structure but they also took charge of some of their houses and several young women who were interested in the Daughters then joined the Josefinas.

The purpose of the Institute is to make holy the life of Jesus (imitating Mary and Joseph) and doing this especially among those persons who are most poor.

In 1985 there were 870 professed Sisters and they were ministering in Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Venezuela, the United States, and Angola. Their ministries are focused on schools, nursing schools, hospitals, psychiatric centers, homes for the elderly and for children, parish missions, out-reach to immigrants.

The Sisters are viewed as members of the Vincentian Family.

Website: http://www.hermanasjosefinas.org/

Other (in Spanish): http://somos.vicencianos.org/blog/hermanas-josefinas-de-mexico/