FATHER JEAN GAILHAC was born in Beziérs, France, and ordained into the Priesthood in 1826. While working as a Bishop in a hospital in his home city he discovered that the majority of the impoverished people in Béziers were uneducated women who had been forced into a life of prostitution. In 1834, he founded the Refuge of the Good Shepherd, a shelter for these women in need, which later grew into a school.