September 18, 1908

Five French-speaking nuns from Ottawa, Canada, arrived in Hot Springs (Garland County) after Bishop John Baptist Morris inquired about the possibility of members of the order of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge opening a home for underprivileged girls. The sisters established and operated several schools, including a private school, a school for African-American children, and a junior high school, and, for more than fifty years, supplemented their income by operating a laundry. The group received notoriety in 2007 when the diocesan administrator announced that six of the ten sisters had been formally excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church because of their association with a Canadian group called the Army of Mary, whose founder claimed to be a reincarnation of the Virgin Mary.