IHM: Our IHM Founders

Our Co-Founders: Louis Florent Gillet and Theresa Maxis

Louis Florent Gillet

Louis Florent Gillet, Co-Founder Louis Florent Gillet brought the gift of fire to his life work. Born in Antwerp in 1813, Louis, classical scholar and linguist, entered the Redemptorist congregation in 1833. After ordination in 1838, he came to the United States, led a missionary band to Detroit, with a second foundation in Monroe, Mich.

Louis wanted women religious to educate girls. His hope matched that of Theresa Maxis, a member of the Oblate Sisters of Providence in Baltimore. Together the two established the now Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Nov. 10, 1845, in Monroe.

While nurturing the new sisterhood, Gillet served missions in a 60-mile radius, rebuilt the parish church and developed a thriving Catholic community. Falsely accused of wrongdoing and recalled to the provincial house in Baltimore in 1847, Gillet lost contact with the sisters. After 10 years as an itinerant missionary in America, Gillet became a Cistercian in France, ending his years at the Royal Abbey of Hautecombe-Savoy.

Before his death in 1892, he was reunited with the young religious community. The fire of Louis Gillet, who saw so many needs that he desired to be everywhere, continues in the life and mission of now three Immaculate Heart congregations of Monroe, Mich., Immaculata and Scranton, Pa.

Theresa Maxis

Theresa Maxis, Co-Founder Theresa Maxis, in 1845, co-founded the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) in Monroe, Mich. Born in Baltimore in 1810, of a Haitian mother and British father, she was well educated and articulate in both French and English. At 18 she helped found the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first congregation of women religious of color in the world.

While general superior of the Oblates, Theresa met Louis Florent Gillet, CSSR, who was seeking women religious for schools in the still new State of Michigan. After much discernment, Theresa agreed to help Gillet found a new congregation in Monroe.

The congregation grew slowly but was well known for its educational works. A jurisdictional dispute about the congregation arose in 1859 between the bishops of Philadelphia and Detroit. The bishop of Detroit held Theresa responsible, deposed her as General Superior, and sent her to the Pa. foundation, which then became a separate branch of the congregation.

Theresa later spent 18 years in exile with the kindly Grey Nuns of Ottawa, where she kept firm in her faith and love for her IHM congregation. In 1885, Theresa was allowed to return to the IHM community in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where she lived her last seven years.

Loved and admired by her sisters and others who knew her, Theresa's legacy of courage, peace and service to the poor continues in the three IHM congregations.

Art by Nancy Lee Smith, IHM, iconographer. All rights reserved. Text adapted from Rose Matthew Mangini, IHM (deceased).

To learn more about the founders of IHM, see Suggested Readings.

History -

The Monroe IHM community shares a common origin with three other religious communities:

Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Scranton in Pennsylvania

Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Immaculata in Pennsylvania

Oblate Sisters of Providence in Baltimore, Md.

For the past several years, these four communities have made a commitment to reconnect and envision a common future.

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