Marie-Thérèse did not have in mind the creation of a simple Carmelite Third Order nor even of a new Congregation. Her objectives were much wider. She had seen “a new people arise in the midst of Christians. Men or women, from all conditions of life with nothing to distinguish them apart from their great sanctity”... “The time has come,” she wrote, “for God to raise up a people to adore him in spirit and in truth, that is to say without the obligation of a structure and means which would not be suitable for all”. She certainly felt she was doing something very new: “Contemplatives without cloister, a society living a life of prayer in the world seemed certain to do away with the current ideas of spirituality”. On this point she was firm and clear: “The exterior branches are as dear to my heart as the regular houses. I even felt, at the time of the first inspiration, that the regular houses were founded to give support to the evangelical Society that the Lord wishes to have in the world”. Basically, the Work was to include three Branches: cloistered religious, sisters living in their families with vows of chastity and obedience and, finally, the simple associates. Here we are close enough to the Holy Family.

In this way, Marie-Thérèse Dubouché wanted to establish, not just a religious community, but a new people living adoration. It included lay people living a life like that of others in the world, lay people living a kind of religious life in a hidden way, and also religious who were their support. The religious themselves led a very simple life. The Rule of Carmel taken as a basis, was mitigated and simplified; even those of poor health could practise it. A little revolution consisted in the fact that there were no lay sisters. All the sisters were to be involved in both adoration and work. The Religious did not have a purely contemplative life: they exercised an apostolate by means of retreats.

The community began in Paris and then in Lyon with the help of Cardinal de Bonald and St. Pierre-Julien Eymard. Marie-Thérèse had much difficulty in ensuring the integrity of the original project. The Carmel disturbed her; she had to separate herself from it. Certain people, or certain sisters, wanted a more monastic life, others a more apostolic life. There were crises due in part to ill-advised counsellors. She succeeded, however, despite many struggles, in founding and maintaining houses in Paris, in Lyon and in Châlons-sur-Marne. She attempted to establish a branch for men which did not develop. She died in Paris on 30 August 1863. Her process of canonisation has been introduced.

After her death Rome requested changes in the initial project. The notion of Society disappeared as well as the equality of the sisters and certain lay forms of the Work. It remained a Congregation of Religious so the Foundress’s idea was destroyed. The houses of adoration remained, however, and fulfilled their role. That of Ulm Street in Paris is well known in the capital. For some years now, reflection, better information, and evolution in Canon Law have led to the rediscovery of the initial intuitions of Marie-Thérèse Dubouché.

With her we find ourselves before a mystic adventure. This is much more obvious than in the case of Pierre-Bienvenu Noailles who was reserved about his interior life. The initial project broke with the customs of the 19^th century in a way which is somewhat reminiscent of Fr. Noailles. It was a matter of creating something very new under the form of a family. Fr. Noailles called it an Association uniting in a common spirituality all states of life, but the realisation was only partially achieved. The need to rely on the houses of cloistered religious made the work vulnerable at first. The lay branch was not able to get the strength which would have allowed it to continue. The canonical realisation did not help the charism, so that up to the present day at least the primitive intuition has not attained its full measure.