The Religious of the Assumption is a Roman Catholic order of nuns. It was founded by St. Marie Eugenie Milleret and Father Theodore Combalot, in Paris, in the year 1839.
The beginnings of the congregation were small and quiet. They were simply a collection of young girls who wanted to dedicate themselves to the Church. Guided by Combalot who had become not only their priest but also their spiritual advisor, Eugenie and the girls worked towards a shared vision of consecrating their lives to a higher purpose. Unfortunately, Father Combalot, for reasons of his own, left the congregation in 1841. The girls took their vows as sisters of the Religious of the Assumption that same year.
In 1842, the girls opened a school in France. By 1848, their zeal had already spread to an apostolic mission in Africa - a mission which would eventually stand as the independent Missionary Sisters of the Assumption, and who are still thriving in South Africa and Ireland today. By 1989, the Religious of the Assumption had already spread to Yorkshire, various European countries, Nicaragua, and the Philippines.
In the first years of the 20th century, the congregation encountered setbacks. Secularization and anti-religious legislation in the sisters' native France prompted the sisters to move the mother house to Belgium. Properties held in the congregation's name were seized and irretrievably lost.
Despite this, however, the congregation continued to grow. Sisters from the Religious of the Assumption found themselves in Denmark, Brazil, Argentina, and the US. By the end of the Second World War, the congregation had also added countries like Japan, Thailand, and India to its Asian base in the Philippines. The congregation also went back to Africa. Little by little, wearing secular clothing, the sisters were also able to bring their mother house back to France.
Today, the Religious of the Assumption is active in 35 countries and is comprised of sisters from over 40 nationalities. They have communities in three continents and continue to espouse the ideals formed by their founders so many years ago.
Additionally, the Religious of the Assumption has not only branched out geographically, but spiritually as well. Nowadays, the Religious of the Assumption is but one congregation in the extended "Assumption family", which includes the Oblates (Missionary Sisters) of the Assumption, the Little Sisters of the Assumption, the Orantes of the Assumption, the Sisters of St. Joan of Arc, the Brothers of the Assumption, the Little Sisters of the Presentation of Our Lady, and the Sisters of the Cross.
