The story the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Zagreb (Družba sestara milosrdnica sv. Vinka Paulskoga – Zagreb) is one of faith and resilience, of fidelity to the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac, and of creative charity that adapts to new circumstances without losing its roots. Founded in the nineteenth century at the invitation of a visionary bishop, the Congregation grew into one of the most dynamic women’s institutes in Croatia and beyond. Today, with hundreds of members in several provinces across Europe, the Americas, and the Pacific, the Sisters continue to embody a spirituality of merciful love expressed in works of education, health care, social service, and missionary outreach.

Origins and Foundation (1845–1856)

The roots of the Zagreb Congregation are inseparable from the original vision of St. Vincent de Paul (1581–1660) and St. Louise de Marillac (1591–1660). In seventeenth-century Paris, they founded the Daughters of Charity, a community of women called not to cloister but to active service among the poor, the sick, and the marginalized. This revolutionary model of religious life—combining community, prayer, and apostolic dynamism—spread rapidly across Europe.

In Croatia, the story begins with Archbishop Juraj Haulik of Zagreb, who in 1845 invited six sisters from Tyrol to establish a community in his diocese. He envisioned them as educators and nurses who could meet pressing social needs in a city undergoing modernization. To that end, he had a convent and church built to serve as their base. On September 5, 1845, the sisters arrived in Zagreb, and by the following year they were already teaching in a girls’ school and caring for patients in a modest hospital for women. The Church of St. Vincent, consecrated in April 1846, became the congregation’s spiritual home.

Initially dependent on their motherhouse in Tyrol, the Zagreb community soon grew strong enough to stand on its own. On October 22, 1856, the Holy See approved their autonomy, and Sister Ivana Krösbacher was elected the first Superior General. That moment marked the true birth of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Zagreb as an independent Congregation.

Early Expansion and Apostolic Works

From the beginning, the Congregation combined two main lines of service: education and health care. Schools were opened for girls at a time when female education was still rare. Later, teacher-training institutes, boarding houses, and even a women’s gymnasium followed. In health care, the Sisters gradually moved from a small convent infirmary to larger institutions, culminating in the establishment of the well-known hospital on Vinogradska Street in 1893.

The Sisters also extended their charity to orphans, the elderly, and prisoners. Boarding houses for poor children opened as early as 1847, while soup kitchens and shelters became part of their apostolic landscape. Their willingness to serve during wars—caring for the wounded, consoling widows, and supporting displaced families—further cemented their reputation as women of mercy.

This twofold commitment to education and health care, always with a preferential love for the poor, defined the congregation’s identity. They were not content with providing services alone; their goal was to reveal Christ’s merciful love through every gesture of care.

Provinces and Organizational Growth

As the Congregation expanded in numbers and geography, it needed a more effective organizational structure. In 1932, the first provinces were established: Rijeka in January, followed by Zagreb and Split in December. Later, new provinces arose in South America and in Sarajevo, with delegatures in Rome, North America, and Bulgaria.

This federated structure allowed for local leadership while preserving unity. Each province maintained schools, hospitals, and communities adapted to local needs, while the General Government in Zagreb provided overall coordination. The system ensured vitality across borders, linking communities in Europe with those serving Croatian migrants in the Americas and, eventually, missionaries in the Pacific.

Charism and Spirituality

At the center of the congregation’s identity is the Vincentian charism of merciful love. The Sisters profess the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience, and dedicate themselves completely to God in order to serve Him in the poor. Their spirituality is Christocentric and Trinitarian, marked by a spirit of humility, simplicity, and zeal for souls.

The Sisters emphasize that their prayer life and apostolate are inseparable. Prayer fuels action; action, in turn, leads back to prayer. In the words of their tradition, they aim to be “inventive in love,” always attentive to both old and new forms of poverty. They seek not only to alleviate immediate suffering but also to build a world of reconciliation, justice, and human dignity.

Their spirituality draws deeply from the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation, and from a life of community lived in mutual charity. In serving the sick, teaching children, or visiting the elderly, they believe they are encountering Christ Himself.

Apostolic Fields of Service

General Mission

The Sisters articulate their mission as spreading merciful love, with a special concern for the poor. They strive to recognize emerging forms of poverty alongside traditional needs, and they emphasize forgiveness and reconciliation as essential elements of social healing. Apostolic work, they insist, must be permeated by the spirit of the congregation, guided by canon law and the constitutions, and supported by ongoing formation. Professional competence, rooted in ethics and faith, is seen as integral to their witness.

Service to the Sick and the Elderly

Following the example of St. Vincent and St. Louise, who themselves continued Christ’s mission of healing, the sisters devote their intellectual, spiritual, and professional abilities to the care of the sick, the elderly, and the infirm. They affirm the sanctity of life from conception until natural death, and approach every patient with the conviction that in serving them, they are serving Jesus Christ.

Today, the Sisters work in hospitals, nursing homes, and other medical institutions. Their model of care resembles that of the Good Samaritan: attentive, compassionate, and committed to the dignity of the whole person.

Education and Formation

From their earliest days, education has been one of the Congregation’s core apostolates. Inspired by their founders, the Sisters dedicate themselves to the Christian upbringing of children and young people, with special attention to those from poor families.

In South America, they currently run eight of their own schools and manage one diocesan institution. In Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina they operate five kindergartens and a general gymnasium, and many sisters work in state or church schools at primary, secondary, and even university levels. In recent years, the sisters have also opened student residences to provide housing and accompaniment for high school girls and university students.

Education for them is never merely academic. It is an environment of faith, prayer, and sacramental life, where young people are taught to recognize the face of Christ in others and to live in solidarity.

Missions ad gentes

Missionary outreach has always been part of the Congregation’s identity. Soon after becoming autonomous, they responded to appeals from the Church to send Sisters abroad. Their first missionary efforts took them to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1871, followed by Rumelia (European Turkey) in 1881, Albania in 1890, and Macedonia in 1903.

In the 1930s, they went to Argentina, initially to serve Croatian emigrants but soon embracing mission work in poor rural areas of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The Sisters’ readiness to leave their homeland for distant lands is a recurring theme in their history.

The most recent missionary venture came in 2011 with the foundation of a mission station in Bumi, on the Solomon Islands. There, six Sisters—two of them native to the islands—serve in a wide variety of ways: running a health clinic and a school, organizing cooking and sewing courses, visiting the sick at home, catechizing, and working with children and youth. They also opened the St. Louise de Marillac Educational Center, which hosts seminars and retreats for priests, catechists, and lay leaders. This mission testifies to the congregation’s continued vitality and global reach.

Governance and Structure

The Sisters of Charity of Zagreb are an institute of pontifical right, governed by constitutions approved by the Church. The Congregation is led by a Superior General and her council, elected by the General Chapter. Provinces ensure closer governance in different regions, with each province maintaining its own leadership.

Today, the Congregation is organized into six provinces and one delegature: the Province of the Immaculate Conception (Zagreb), the Province of the Annunciation (Split), the Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel (Rijeka), the Province of Our Lady Most Admirable (Sarajevo), the Province of Christ the King (Argentina), the Province of Mary, Queen of Peace (Paraguay), and the Delegature of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Rome). This structure allows them to remain unified while being flexible and responsive to local realities.

Formation for Mission

The Congregation invests deeply in the formation of its members. The path includes candidacy (often during secondary school), postulancy (six months to a year), a two-year novitiate, temporary vows (for five years, known as the juniorate), and finally perpetual vows.

Formation is both spiritual and professional. Novitiates are located in Zagreb, Villa Elisa (Argentina), and Asunción (Paraguay), depending on the province. Ongoing formation continues throughout life, because the sisters insist that fidelity to the charism requires constant renewal. Spiritual depth, academic preparation, and pastoral competence are all integral to their preparation for apostolic service.

The Motherhouse and Memory

The Motherhouse in Zagreb, located on Frankopanska Street, is both the administrative and spiritual heart of the Congregation. It houses the novitiate for several provinces, the church dedicated to St. Vincent, and key educational institutions such as the women’s gymnasium and a kindergarten. It is also a place of memory, where the courage of the first sisters and the sacrifices of generations are remembered and celebrated.

During the communist era, the Sisters faced severe restrictions: schools and institutions were confiscated, and many Sisters were forced into secular work. Yet they remained faithful, serving discreetly in parishes, catechesis, and hidden works of charity. That period, though painful, strengthened their resilience and purified their mission.

International Presence

Today the Congregation has around 570–580 Sisters in approximately 77 communities, present in about eleven countries. These include Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Italy, Austria, Canada, Argentina, Paraguay, and the Solomon Islands. This international presence demonstrates their ability to integrate local roots with missionary openness.

Their communities range from small parish-based houses to large institutions such as schools, hospitals, and formation centers. Wherever they are, the sisters emphasize the same mission: to witness to God’s merciful love through service.

Contemporary Challenges and Creative Fidelity

Like many religious congregations, the Sisters of Charity face the challenges of declining vocations in Europe, secularization, and changing social needs. Their response has been to remain rooted in their Vincentian charism while seeking new ways to serve.

In education, they focus on forming young people to become agents of mercy and reconciliation in society. In health care, they combine professional excellence with pastoral compassion. In pastoral work, they emphasize accompaniment, reconciliation, and building communities of solidarity.

The mission in the Solomon Islands shows how flexible and inventive they remain. By offering not only medical care and education but also vocational training, spiritual retreats, and pastoral formation, the sisters respond to the complex realities of a globalized yet fragile world.— – —

The Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Zagreb are heirs to a tradition of merciful love that began in seventeenth-century France and took root in Croatia in the nineteenth century. Their history is marked by courageous foundations, steady growth, and perseverance through political upheaval. Their spirituality is Vincentian: Christ-centered, practical, humble, and creative. Their works span education, health care, social service, and missionary outreach, all with a preferential option for the poor.

What defines them is not simply the number of schools or hospitals they run, nor the statistics of their provinces, but the daily witness of women who believe that in serving the poor, they serve Christ Himself. In classrooms, hospital wards, mission stations, and parish halls, they continue to reveal the approachable tenderness of God. Their story is not only a historical legacy but a living mission, renewed every day with inventive love.

Contact:

• Address: Frankopanska 17, p. p. 455, HR-10001 Zagreb
• Telephone: (+385 1) 4830 006
• Email: milosrdnicepu@gmail.com
• Web: https://dsm-sv-vinka-paulskoga.hr/