Charity without borders: nuns, caregiving and humanitarian aid (1850-1920)

This paper considers the narratives of religion, caregiving and humanitarianism based on a case study of a transnational community of Catholic sisters. More often studied through the lens of charity and mission work, do nuns also belong to humanitarian culture and practices? Using the example of the Daughters of Charity, also known as the Sisters of St Vincent de Paul, we will adopt different perspectives to support our argument: cultures of war in Crimea and during the American Civil War; humanitarian emotions in China and caused by disasters such as the Great Chicago Fire; and to finish with, we will discuss the transnational dimensions of a community of religious women and the causes they defended, such as the fight against tuberculosis after the First World War.