It was in 1855 that Theodore agreed to his brother Alphonse's request to have the sisters begin a foundation in Palestine. Alphonse had in the meantime, become a priest taking the name of Father Mary Alphonse.

At that time, Jerusalem was nothing but ruins buried under debris. But in spite of the situation, the two brothers seriously envisaged a foundation in order to create a place of prayer and a few rooms to welcome the pilgrims, to help the poor, no matter what religious confession they belonged to.

 "Of all the movements which lead the Christians to interest themselves in Palestine, the one that seems to me the most mysterious and most providential is the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Up to now trips for sightseers have been organized... what we need are 'genuine' pilgrimages.", Father Theodore wrote in 1856.

In May 1856, the first four sisters settled in very poor conditions in the souk. Meanwhile, Father Mary, who had foreseen the possibility of buying ruins on the Via Dolorosa, situated above the remains of a large pavement and close to the big Arch of the Ecce Homo, was travelling throughout Europe in order to gather the necessary funds.

And as soon as the place was cleared, a convent, an orphanage and a Basilica were built and the sisters began to welcome very poor children and families, Christian as well as Jew or Muslim. 

Not only was it difficult to keep the children attending the classes but they also suffered from serious health problems. This situation urged Father Marie to find a house in the country yard. In 1861, he decided to build a house in the beautiful village called Saint John in Montana (Ein Karem) where the children could enjoy nature and silence during the holydays.

When the house of Ecce Homo happened to be too small, the Sisters bought a couple of old Arabic houses that were around. That is the way they obtained progressively the buildings that you know today.

Over the years the Sisters have always adapted their apostolic presence to the needs of the time. In the early days, the Convent was an orphanage, a school and a dispensary open to Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox. The school welcomed many students coming from neighbouring countries and which was well known throughout the Middle East for its academic excellence.

Since the beginning and till today it has been a guest house for pilgrims. The first group to be welcomes was a group of about one hundred French women in 1882. The Sisters than received more and more request which urged the Sisters to transform a part of the house into a youth hostel.

Later, the sisters decided to run courses in the language of the country, both for young people and for adults. Indeed, with the closure of the school in 1967, the sisters then felt that an ulpan would be of great benefit to both Arabs and Israelis in that this provided each group time to meet the other and have the opportunity to learn their language. These courses were immediately successful. Within two months, five classes of Hebrew and three classes of Arabic were open. Through these courses, the Sisters got really much involved into the judeo-arabic dialogue. This continued for 10 years and then the program was taken over by the University at Mt. Scopus.

It was at this time that the sisters offered a sabbatical program with the focus on the Bible its People and the Land. This two semester study program places a very important emphasis on the fact that Jesus was a Jew, that the Old Testament enlightens our understanding of the Gospels and that there is a wealth of learning for Christians when they study scripture using the Jewish sources. Needless to say such a program with weekly excursions, trips to Sinai and to Galilee is today extremely popular.

(For further information regarding the Biblical Program: www.biblicalformation.com.)

The year 2006 is both the celebration of the anniversary of the arrival of Father Alphonse Marie in Jerusalem on May 6th and the arrival of the Chemin Neuf Community. Indeed, the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Sion asked to the Chemin Neuf Community to collaborate with them in the animation, management and responsibility for the Ecce Homo Convent.