Born in Grenoble, France, of a family that was among the new rich, Rose learned political skills from her father and a love of the poor from her mother. The dominant feature of her temperament was a strong and dauntless will, which became the material—and the battlefield—of her holiness.
She entered the Visitation of Mary convent at 19, and remained despite family opposition. As the French Revolution broke, the convent was closed, and she began taking care of the poor and sick, opened a school for homeless children, and risked her life helping priests in the underground. When the situation cooled, Rose personally rented the former convent, now a shambles, and tried to revive its religious life. The spirit was gone, however, and soon there were only four nuns left. In a short time Rose was a superior and supervisor of the novitiate and a school.
But since hearing tales of missionary work in Louisiana as a little girl, her ambition was to go to America and work among the Indians. At 49, she thought this would be her work. Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne, R.
She spent the last half of her life teaching and serving the people of the Midwestern United States. She was born in Grenoble, France and died in St. Charles, Missouri. When she was 19 years old, she joined the convent of the Visitation, which her family did not know.
The convent shut down in She was educated by the Visitation nuns, entered that order, saw its dispersion during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, vainly attempted the reestablishment of the convent of Ste-Marie-d'en-Haut, near Grenoble, and finally, in , accepted the offer of Mother Barat to receive her community into the Society of the Sacred Heart. In St. She arrived in New Orleans, and traveled the Louisiana territory and ended up in St.
Charles, Missouri which was close to St Louis, Missouri. Louis, finally settling her colony at St. At the time of the Revolution in France, the community was dispersed and Philippine returned to her family home, spending her time nursing prisoners and helping others who suffered. After the Concordat of , she tried with some companions to reconstruct the monastery of Ste. Marie but without success. Mother Barat visited Ste. Marie in and received Philippine and several companions as novices in the Society.
Even as Philippine's desire deepened for the contemplative life, so too her call to the missions became more urgent - a call she had heard since her youth.
In a letter she wrote to Mother Barat, she confided a spiritual experience she had had during a night of adoration before the Eucharist on Holy Thursday: "I spent the entire night in the new World I had all my sacrifices to offer: a mother, sisters, family, my mountain! When you say to me 'now I send you', I will respond quickly 'I go"'. She waited, however, another 12 years. In Philippine's dream was realized. She was sent to respond to the bishop of the Louisiana territory, who was looking for a congregation of educators to help him evangelize the Indian and French children of his diocese.
0コメント