The congregation of the “Daughters of Charity” (the Usmiljenke) was founded by St Vincent de Paul together with St Louise de Marillac on 29 November 1633 in France. In the founders’ words, the aim of the Company is: “to glorify our Lord Jesus Christ as the source and model of all charity, giving bodily and spiritual help to the poor”.
At the invitation of the bishop of Skopje–Prizren, Dr Janez Frančišek Gnidovec, and of the Skopje physician Dr Pavle Pajč, owner of the “Vardar” sanatorium, the Daughters of Charity of the Slovenian province came to Skopje on 7 April 1927. As many as seventy sisters lived in their convent in Skopje; most of them worked in the hospitals, ran the “Saint Joseph” orphanage at Bit Pazar and took part in parish catechesis.
Today three sisters of this congregation serve in the Skopje parish, actively engaged in parish catechesis and in the care of the poor.