Abstract
It is difficult to believe that an organization that counted thousands of members and has lasted continuously from the mid-nineteenth century until the present could have left so little trace in Mexican history books. Although the religious order of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul is well known, the voluntary association of charitable laywomen, the Ladies of Charity ofIt is difficult to believe that an organization that counted thousands of members and has lasted continuously from the mid-nineteenth century until the present could have left so little trace in Mexican history books. Although the religious order of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul is well known, the voluntary association of charitable laywomen, the Ladies of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, is not. Established in Mexico City in 1863 and quickly becoming a vibrant national organization, the Asociación de Señoras de la Caridad de San Vicente de Paul is invisible in standard histories of nineteenth-century Mexico. The Ladies of Charity are also invisible in most histories of the church, perhaps because as lay volunteers they were only loosely tied to it. They are largely invisible in histories of charity and social welfare, despite their central purpose of assisting the poor. And they are invisible in histories of women, even though they may have been the largest female organization of nineteenth-century Mexico.