Instead of weakening the Congregation, the persecutions had only strengthened it. Early in the 3rd century Church, Tertullien said, “the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christianity.” It could also be said that the tears of the Sisters and their pupils were the source of vocations. Never had the Novitiate been so flourishing nor the Professions so numerous as around the year 1900. It was then necessary to find appropriate outlets for the energies which sought only to be used for the greater glory of God. Given the hindrances encountered in running schools, the Superiors decided to widen their circle of influence. It was then that certain benefactors of the Catholic Church introduced them to the Marquis of Gouvello, President of the Country Orphanages Committee. Immediately he offered them the Orphanage of Montardoise near Arcis-sur-Aube. The Sisters took up residence there on January 4th 1898. A year later they accepted, on the same terms, the Orphanage of Soufflot, in the Department of Yonne, which opened on March 1st 1899. That same year, and the two years that followed, they were given the management of a number of Orphanages: in Saint Dié in the Vosges, Arrentières near Bar-sur-Aube, Our Lady of Lourdes at Huisseau in the Department of Maine-et-Loire, of Conflans in Haute-Saône, and La Camusière, in Eure-et-Loir.
(Guyot, p. 69)