Presentation

This website gives access to the biography, the writings and the correspondence of Pierre-Bienvenu Noailles (1793-1861), founder of the Holy Family of Bordeaux.
Pierre-Bienvenu Noailles was born in Bordeaux, at the height of the French Revolution. Having been employed in various positions, he entered the St. Sulpice seminary in 1816 and was ordained priest three years later. In 1820 he founded the Association of the Holy Family whose members, lay or religious, were called to imitate the virtues of the Holy Family of Nazareth in all the works where they would be employed. The Association expanded and Father Noailles founded different branches for different apostolates.
At his death in 1861, he left a large and structured association. Today, the Holy Family is established in Europe, Africa, Asia and America, with more than 4,000 members, consisting of Lay and Priest Associates, Consecrated Secular Women, Contemplative and Apostolic Religious.

Biography

The biography here presented in an electronic version is the following: Father Noailles and the Association of the Holy Family: The Story of a Charism, by R. Darricau, and B. Peyrous, Rome, 1995, translated from the French by Sisters Marie Bernard Flanagan, Catherine Moran and Síle McGowan, of the Religious Institute of the Holy Family of Bordeaux.

Writings

At the beginning of the 1980's, the Sisters of the Holy Family edited, in the form of index cards, all the essential texts of Pierre-Bienvenu Noailles. These cards have been typed and gathered in volumes entitled "Sources". These volumes are here published in an electronic version.
Apart from a few texts, most of the documents are unpublished.
This website and the data base are also edited in French and Spanish.