The core of a sister congregation was already made by a group meeting each other before 1830. From 1819 onwards some pious young women joined under the conduct of the canon Henry Crabb, the priest of Sint-Rombouts cathedral. 

 

When he left for a trip to Rome in 1842, he trusted the leadership of his group to his friend V. Scheppers. That contact was the motive for V. Sheppers to found a sister congregation step by step.