The Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary took that name as an association of ladies in charge of the home for incurables at Rennes, on their organization into a religious community in 1841.
The home had been in existence since 1700, had withstood the rigours of the Revolution, and had never been without a band of devoted women, bound only by the ties of charity, and tacitly rendering obedience to the oldest of their number.