It was at the end of the 19th century when the first Sisters of Charity was coming to the Holy Land. They established an infirmary and a dispensary in the so-called German Colony (Jerusalem). Beyond nursing the sick and old people, the sisters took care of orphans and homeless children by offering them shelter and giving them a good education. The community could move into their new convent building in 1905, the original part of the present German Hospice. During the following years there was an ever-growing need for their charitable and educational work among the poor.

The sisters bought the spacious grounds surrounding the convent building in 1912 in order to protect the children and sick old people from the potential dangers of an open oil tank which an American oil company intended to build there. Over time, new buildings were added to the original one. The first pilgrims were given accommodation and were offered meals in the German Hospice in 1934. With this revenues the school as well as the shelter for old people could be financed.

The Second World War implicated tough times for the convent: All German sisters in Palestine as well as the Benedictines of the Dormition Abbey Jerusalem were interned in St. Charles. In addition, British officers occupied a number of rooms. The territory of Palestine was under British mandate until 1945.

The sisters took over another work of charity after the war: they offered shelter to and nursed German Jews who had survived the Shoa in concentration camps and had emigrated to Israel. In the subsequent years, St. Charles Convent saw an ever-increasing flow of pilgrims who wanted to visit and worship the Lord in Jerusalem, the heart and origin of our Christian faith. The traditional hospitality of the community have made their guests feel at home: in the amicable atmosphere of the house and its comfortable rooms. Among their various activities, the German, Palestinian, and Rumanian sisters run a kindergarten and pre-school class in the building next to the convent.