Charles Louis Carton

Charles Carton was ordained priest in Mechelen on 17.08.1825. He was coadjutor in Maldegem and Ichtegem (22.10.1825), chaplain in Wielsbeke (1826) and Ardooie (1829-1835). Carton was the driving force behind the education for deaf and blind children and even developed his own teaching methods in this field. As such he established the Spermalie institute for the deaf and blind in Bruges (July 1835) as well as the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Childhood of Mary in that same year. He travelled abroad on several occasions to study the education of blind children. As a historian he participated in the founding of the Historical Society of Bruges (Société d’émulation). In 1840 he founded the first nursery school.