They were founded by a Frenchwoman, Marie-Adèle Garnier in Montmartre, Paris in 1898. In 1901 the French legislature passed Waldeck-Rousseau's Law of Associations which placed severe restrictions on religious bodies such as monasteries and convents and caused many of them to leave France. Mother Marie de Saint-Pierre therefore relocated the order in London in 1903, at Tyburn Convent, Bayswater Road, near Marble Arch. Near the convent was the site of Tyburn tree where 105 Catholic martyrs—including Saint Oliver Plunkett and Saint Edmund Campion—were executed during and following the English Reformation from 1535 to 1681. The nuns established at Tyburn the Martyrs' Shrine to honour the more than 350 Catholic Martyrs who were executed in England during and after the Reformation. Tyburn Convent is now the Mother House of the Congregation.
Devotion
Mother Mary of St Peter founded the Adorers to carry out Adoration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the exposed Blessed Sacrament, originally in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Montmartre. The religious foundation then moved to enclosure and Adoration in the monastic setting, building up numbers towards Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament by the community. This Adoration was to be made in reparation for offences against the Sacred Heart and the Blessed Sacrament. Mystical experiences in the early Congregation in France confirmed that Adoration was needed to atone for sacrileges and blasphemies against the Blessed Sacrament committed by priests and lay people. The Foundress at this time also discerned a particular charism of prayer for priests. Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament has continued night and day ever since the convent was established in London. Pilgrims and tourists from all over the world visit the shrine.
Rule of Life
The Congregation follows the Rule of St Benedict as its rule of life. This is augmented by norms, a manual and a book of customs of the Congregation. The sisters wear the traditional black Benedictine habit, but with a modernised veil and guimpe. Postulants wear lay dress and a short black veil. Novices wear the habit with a white veil and white choir cloak. Junior professed sisters wear the black veil and Congregation medal and white choir cloak. Perpetually professed sisters wear the black veil, medal, ring, and white choir cowl.
Expansion
The Tyburn community has opened other monasteries in Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and in Rome and France at St Loup-sur-Aujon close to the birthplace of the Foundress, Mother Marie Adèle Garnier. Each monastery carries out Adoration during the day, and shares this with the laity. A new foundation in Africa has recently been initiated. The Congregation has also offered assistance to ageing Benedictine communities in Europe. The Congregation numbers around 80 sisters worldwide in total, including sisters in formation.
