The Daughters of Wisdom

In his anguish at getting any effective cooperation in hospital management, he founded “the Daughters of Wisdom”, a new congregation of women. Several girls, from amongst the poorest citizens of Poitiers, were chosen as pioneers of the movement, even though some of them were blind, crippled, or in uncertain health. De Montfort gathered them together in a room of the hospital, which he named “La Sagess” and placed in it a large Cross as their source of inspiration.

The rule of life he gave them was a well-balanced one of prayer and activity. Although he foresaw that he would not live to witness the growth of the congregation, the knowledge that he had at least made a beginning gave him immense consolation. He realized the important role the Daughters of Wisdom was to play in the life of the Church in later centuries and he was pleased that the sick, the blind, and the crippled had been the privileged ones summoned to the service of the King.

The bitter opposition to his work now became so serious and so dangerous that he felt compelled to resign his position.