Record Staff Report
The Little Sisters of the Poor will mark 150 years of service in the Louisville area in 2019.
In preparation for the sesquicentennial celebration, the Little Sisters are inviting people to submit stories about how “your life has been touched by a Little Sister of the Poor.”
These stories will become part of a display to be shared during the sisters’ year-long celebration.
The Little Sisters’ origins date to 1839, when their foundress, St. Jeanne Jugan, began caring for the elderly poor in France. A decade later, she and those who joined her took the name the Little Sisters of the Poor.
The Little Sisters came to the United States in 1868, serving first in Cincinnati and a year later established a ministry in Louisville on 10th Street.
They resided there until 1977, when their home was “deemed unlivable,” according to the Little Sisters’ website, www.littlesistersofthepoorlouisville.org.
In 1991, after a capital campaign raised funding, the sisters opened St. Joseph Home for the Aged.
They continue to operate St. Joseph Home for the Aged, located at 15 Audubon Plaza Drive, where they care for about 80 elderly residents. The Little Sisters accept residents who are 65 or older without the means to maintain independence.
The sisters have supported themselves — for all 150 years here — by begging, a tradition established by their foundress.
Submissions about how the Little Sisters have touched your life, may be emailed to Tina Contreras at dvlouis
ville@littlesistersofthepoor.org or mailed to Little Sisters of the Poor, 15 Audubon Plaza Drive, Louisville, Ky., 40217.
