Our Name

The Congregation was founded in France by Fr Theodore Ratisbonne in 1848. The story goes that after when he was thinking of the name for the new congregation, he opened the Bible and the word that inspired him was SION, the biblical name for Jerusalem.

So the congregation became known as the Congregration of Notre Dame de Sion, hence our initials NDS after our names. In English speaking countries we are known as Sisters of Our Lady of Sion. Our congregational medal has a cross on one side and NDS on the other side.