The story of the Daughters of Charity and its moral management activities can only begin with Paris and its metamorphoses which gave birth to the Company. The transformation of the capital began in the early seventeenth century when the city ruined by the Wars of Religion (1562-1598) was turned into an elegant capital of political, cultural, and spiritual revival. Along with new residential areas, new districts of religious institutions were born, the Daughters of Charity forming one of these new institutions. Although Paris was never the one and only scene for the activities of the Company which rapidly established communities also outside the capital, the city remained an important location. Of the roughly 70 communities established during the lifetime of Louise de Marillac and Vincent de Paul, 25 were located within the city gates of Paris. Most of the remaining 45 early foundations were established in the vicinity of Paris: in the Parisian territories or in the rural areas of Île-de-France. Furthermore, even the foundations far away from the capital were for the most part the fruit of the founders’ Parisian contacts. The influential Paris-based friends of Louise de Marillac and Vincent de Paul would suggest establishments to be founded in their distant terrains.

Moreover, the contents and direction of the Company and its moral management was always handled from where the founder-directors permanently resided, that is, Paris and the motherhouse.