The first Mary Ward sisters came to Romania from Bavaria in the mid-19th century. Up until the advent of communism they ran large schools for girls in Bucharest, Brăila, Craiova and Turnu Severin.
Shortly after the installation of the Stalinist communist regime in Romania the sisters of German and other nationalities, and the Romanian sisters as well were expelled, and some sisters, mostly Romanians were imprisoned for refusing to hand over confidential information to the authorities.
From 1984, with the support of the Archbishop of Bucharest young women seeking religious life worked ‘underground’ in parishes and in factories making church vestments.
With the downfall of communism in 1989 the CJ were able to build on a strong foundation and the number of young women wanting to enter the CJ increased rapidly. This has enabled several new foundations and new educational works, especially Kindergartens, to be established. Besides education ministry, there are sisters working in health care; social projects; pastoral ministry; and spiritual outreach. There are Romanian sisters in mission in Italy, Austria, Cuba and Spain.
On 1 January 2021 the Latin European Province (LEP) was established as a result of the merger of the Province of Romania and the Province of Italy.
To know more, you can visit the Congregatio JESU Romania – facebook page.