The Congregation of St Joseph’s Sisters

Villa Garnier is owned by the Sisters of St. Joseph, in particular by the Congregation of Aosta.

The Congregation was born in 1650 in France, in Puy en Velay from the meeting of the project of the Jesuit Father Jean-Pierre Medaille with the desire of six young women to live a radical Christian life in the middle of the world and not in seclusion, as was customary at the time.

This new way of living religious life among the people responded so much to the spiritual needs of the time that very soon small communities arose.

In 1831 Monsignor Evasio Agodino, Bishop of Aosta, also became aware of the work of the Sisters and urged Mother Saint Jean to send some of them to Italy: four Sisters left Lyon for Aosta. Since then, the activity has extended first throughout the Aosta Valley, then outside the region, also reaching Bordighera, where the nuns managed Villa Garnier and the elementary school of the Oasis, which unfortunately no longer exists.

A missionary life

Since 1965 the Congregation of Aosta has extended its borders; the sisters are present in Italy, Madagascar, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, where they have opened numerous missions, working for evangelization and human solidarity. In particular, schools, dispensaries, clinics, rehabilitation centers for prisoners, adult schools, professional sewing and carpentry schools have been opened.

At the Villa, the nuns are like a "little family" that welcomes guests with special care.

To learn more about the history of the nuns visit the official website