Beyond France

In 1842, Lyons sent a community of Sisters to India, where 12 communities were established, including ones at Bombay, Poona, Lahore, Simla and Agra (see Convent of Jesus and Mary). In 1850, the first house in Spain was founded at Sant Andreu de Palomar near Barcelona; then followed other foundations, at Valencia, Barcelona, Orihuela, Sant Gervasi, Alicante and Murcia. In 1902, Spain sent a colony to found houses in Mexico City and at Mérida, Yucatán.^[4]

North America

The first house of the congregation in the Americas was founded at St-Joseph, Lévis, Quebec, Canada, in 1855.^[5] In 1876, Sillery, Quebec, became the Provincial motherhouse for America. Canada has four other houses, at St-Gervais, St-Michel, Trois-Pistoles, and Beauceville.

By the middle of the 19th century, poor harvests sent many French Canadians to emigrate south to find work in the industrialized towns of the United States. In 1877, several Sisters left Sillery to open houses in the United States. The first foundation was that at Fall River, Massachusetts.^[5] The house at Manchester, New Hampshire, was founded in 1881; then, at Woonsocket, Rhode Island, a boarding school and two parochial schools (1884). At Providence, the religious set up a convent and two parochial schools.

In 1902, several Sisters left the motherhouse in Rome, to establish the congregation in New York City, opening a residence for young working women in lower Manhattan. The foundation of a young ladies' academy at Kingsbridge in the northwest Bronx quickly developed into a century of service at St. John's Parish and School^[6] where more than 200 Sisters of Jesus and Mary dedicated countless years of educational service to thousands of local Catholic boys and girls. Notable educators among the Sisters were Mother Mary Catherine Kenny, Mother Camillus and Mother Regis.

In 1911, the sisters purchased 125 acres in Highland Mills, NY, where they established a novitiate and a summer retreat. In 1914, the sisters opened a boarding school for girls on the Highland Mills property that came to be known as Thevenet Hall. Thevenet Hall educated many young women until its closure in 1971. As Thevenet Hall closed as a secondary school for girls, the sisters opened Thevenet Montessori School, a coed school for young children through early elementary school. After the closure of Thevenet Hall, parts of the former boarding school and the large wooded campus were used as Bethany Spirituality Center, today the mission of the spirituality center continues through the Care for Creation at Bethany ministry. RJM sisters continue to minister in education and other fields in New Yorl.^[7]

In the Southwestern United States, Religious of Jesus and Mary who had been expelled from Mexico due to the repression of the Catholic Church there during the early 20th century began to settle and open new centers of service.

In 1938, Bishop Buddy welcomed the sisters to San Diego, wanting them to open an affordable residence for working women, similar to one they operated in El Paso, Texas. Until its closure in 2022, sisters from the Religious of Jesus and Mary operated Joan of Arc Residence, located at 1510 Third Avenue in Downtown San Diego, CA. It was a three-story residential facility that offered 60 housing units for underprivileged, single, working women for nearly 85 years.^[8]

In 1955, the motherhouse of the US Province moved to the Adelphi section of Hyattsville, MD. That same year, the Religious of Jesus and Mary opened Regina High School (for girls) in Hyattsville. The province's novitiate was located adjacent to Regina High School. In 1958, the sisters opened a new elementary school nearby at St. Mark the Evangelist parish in Hyattsville. Regina High School closed in 1989; prominent alumnae of Regina include actor Mercedes Ruehl and lawyer Fani Willis.^[9] St. Mark School was merged with neighboring St. Camillus School in 2010 to become St. Francis International School, a school primarily serving the children of immigrants.^[10] Over the years, the location of the novitiate moved in Maryland and small communities of sisters were established at various locations around the Washington metropolitan region. The offices of the USA-Haiti Province are now located at the Stuart Center in the Brookland section of Washington, DC.

In 1997, Sr. Mary Bourdon, RJM, partnered with the Society of the Holy Child Jesus and the National Council of Negro Women to found a 100% scholarship school in the Anacostia section of Washington, DC, to prepare girls from underserved backgrounds for high school. Now known as Washington School Girls, the elementary and middle school carries on the RJM legacy of education.^[11]

In 1996, sisters from the USA Province unanimously voted to establish a mission in Haiti. The first sisters (Jacqueline Picard, RJM, and Vivian Patenaude, RJM) arrived in Haiti in 1997 and were soon joined by Sr. Patricia Dillon, RJM. Over time, the American sisters were joined by Religious of Jesus and Mary from other parts of the world including Spain, Ireland, Pakistan, and Peru along with vocations from Haiti itself. The sisters expanded to other locations in Haiti and made many "companions in mission" as they lived and worked among the people. The sisters were joined at various points by volunteers from the USA-Haiti Province's QUEST Volunteer Program and the wider congregation's J.M. International Volunteer Programme as well as other volunteer programs. Sisters, volunteers, and many local lay companions in mission have engaged in pastoral work, education, health care, community organizing, and agricultural and ecological projects in Haiti.^[12]

On September 2, 2016, Isa Solá, RJM, a sister from Spain, was violently killed while serving as a missionary in Haiti.^[13]

In 2020, Sr. Janice Farnham, RJM, published an extensive history of the USA-Haiti Province entitled: Weaving Hope: The Religious of Jesus and Mary in the United States, 1877-2017.^[14]

Currently, while many members of the USA-Haiti Province are in retirement, the sisters and their companions in mission continue working to implement the JM Preferences through various ministries of education, accompaniment of migrants, health, social services, and care for creation and especially through the RJM Haiti Mission.^[15]