Order of the Wounded Heart

The Order of the Wounded Heart is a minor Ordo Militant of the Adepta Sororitas. It is a daughter congregation of the Order of the Valorous Heart established on Dimmamar in 966.M37 under the protection of Cardinal Edmond Angelis and recognized by the Ecclesiarch Xystes IV and The Abbess Sanctorum Terezia Avile in 981.M37

History: Founding and Early Years
The Order's co-Foundresses, Ss. Fidelia, Esperantia and Caritas, were all former sisters of the Valorous Heart serving in the same squad of Sisters Repentia during the Heavenfall Campaign. The three of them were conducting a survey of a blood soaked battlefield of that war, giving the Emperor's Peace to any surviving combatants, when they experienced a shared vision of the Holy Saint Sebastian Thor. The Blessed Ecclesiarch pronounced a formula of forgiveness over the trembling sisters and laid upon them the duty of spreading the message of salvation in the name of Him on Earth to sinners and offenders everywhere.

The Saints began by preaching their message of hope and redemption to their fellow Repentia swiftly converting their entire band, including the Mistress of Repentence herself. The group then made pilgrimage to Dimmamar, birthplace of the Blessed Sebastian, and presented themselves before Cardinal Angelis begging his permission to preach their message among the pilgrims, which he gladly granted.

The sisters took up again the weapons they had laid aside to purge Dimmamar of the Cult of Holy Suffering a Nurgleite abomination that had infiltrated the many hospices of the Shrine World. Rearmed by Cardinal Angelis they were given the holy task of cleansing the Holy Saint's homeworld which they accomplished with efficiency and an unusually small amount of collateral damage. The Cardinal made further use of the Sisters as a rapid reaction force against the heresies constantly cropping up on the worlds of his diocese and their reputation and numbers grew.

In 971.M37 their fame reached Holy Terra and ears of the Ecclesiarch himself and he summoned the Saints to appear before him. The nine year journey was punctuated by war and other incidents and the Saints' company grew from a mere nine sisters to more than a hundred as converts flocked to join them. Xystes IV recieved the enlarged company graciously and announced his intention to regularize the sisterhood's status as an Order Minor of the Adepta Sororitas. The Founding Saints drew up a consititution and rule of life with the help of Abbess Terezia Avile and the Prioress of the sisters of the Valorous Heart which were formally approved by Xystes IV on his first reading.

The new order continued to grow gaining new members from among the Sisters Repentia and other Adepta as well as recruits from schola progenia and dedications. Their numbers increased rapidly both on Earth and back at the original house on Dimmamar. In 999.M37 the 8th Black Crusade burst upon the Imperium. As the forces of Chaos poured out of the Eye of Terror the Lords of Terra mobilized all forces on the planet for an immediate response, including the Order of the Wounded Heart numbering at that time nine thousand Battle Sisters who were each equipped with the finest artificer armor and the best of master crafted weapons at the expense of the Ecclesiarch himself.

History: Betrayal, Rebellion and Reform
The Sisterhood's victories during the brutally short 8th Black Crusade won them Empire wide fame which in turn brought dedications from the faithful that sorely tested the Sisters' spirit of austerity.