SANTA MARÍA EUFRASIA PELLETIER: BIOGRAPHY AND WELL-KNOWN QUOTES - HISTORY - 2024

Rosa Virginia Pelletier (1796-1863) was a Catholic nun who developed her life in France at the end of the 18th century and the middle of the 19th century, during which time she founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, which today has more than 20,000 nuns and novices around the world.

Coming from a large and very Catholic family, he grew up in an environment of persecution and war, but with great religious values ​​and with a deep Catholic conviction.

By UnknownUnknown author (Portrait), via Wikimedia Commons

Marked by family and personal losses, she entered a novice convent in the city of Tours in France and before turning 29 she had already been appointed Mother Superior.

In life, he managed to see the advancement of his congregation, with the founding of numerous monasteries guided by their own precepts. He was a highly respected figure in life by the Catholic Church. After his death in 1868, he became a reference figure for religion. She was named a Saint by the Catholic Church in 1940.

Biography

Birth and youth

Rose Virginie Pelletier Mourain was born on July 31, 1796 on the island of Noirmoutier, in northern France.

She was the eighth of nine siblings, belonging to a family with a deep Catholic background, which was settled in Souillers, but had decided to move to a more remote and secure place, due to the persecutions and wars caused by the French Revolution.

His parents were Julius Pelletier, who was a famous and local doctor, and his mother Anne Mourain, who belonged to a wealthy French family. They were married in Souilliers on August 7, 1781. Their first 7 children were born there before they migrated to the island of Noirmoutier in 1793.

Rose Virginie was born on the island, and she was baptized the same day she was born, in a private ritual performed by her own father at home, since there were no priests on the island.

In 1805 his older sister Victorie Emilie passed away and the following year his father passed away, after a short illness at the age of 54. At that time Rose Virginie was 10 years old.

Studies

Initially, her parents hired a governess, who taught Rose and her siblings their first lessons and core subjects at home.

But he formally began his studies at an institution created in Noirmoutier by the Ursuline sisters. She was 12 years old at the time. Rosa Virginia showed keen intelligence and great charity and a vocation to help others.

Anne Mourain, very concerned about her children's education and future, decided to send 14-year-old Rosa to the city of Tours where she entered a Christian educational institution.

Near the new school, there was a Convent of the Order of Our Lady of Charity, which had been founded by Saint John Eudes in 1641 and whose objective was to provide education and shelter homeless women.

She was immediately connected with that Institution.

Religious life

He decided to enter the Tours congregation on October 20, 1814 as a postulant. After regulation time in 1816 he became a novice.

According to the tradition of that congregation, at that time a new name had to be chosen. According to some authors, Rosa Virginia initially chose the name Teresa, inspired by the famous Saint Teresa.

However, the Mother Superior disagreed, because it was a very meaningful name for a mere novice to carry. Rosa decided to change it for Euphrasia.

During her novitiate she demonstrated her great vocation to serve and to be a tireless worker. In 1817 she was appointed teacher of the group of young penitents, who aspired to enter the Convent as novices.

His severity in teaching religion contrasted with his goodness and joy in dealing with the other novices and nuns.

In 1825 she was chosen by the members of her own religious community as Mother Superior, with just 28 years of age.

Major religious achievements

She founded the congregation of Magdalene Sisters now known as the Contemplative Sisters of the Good Shepherd.

In 1829, the Sisters of Tours were invited to create a new Convent and refuge in the city of Angers. At that moment her Congregation of Sisters of the Good Shepherd was born.

His main motivation was to maintain the charitable work of helping others, but without the severity in the treatment and in the principles that governed his original congregation. For St. Mary Euphrasia, this helped increase the entry of novices, improve vocations, and spread the gospel and its works of charity.

In 1833 a monastery was opened in the city of Le Mans. It would be the first of a large number of convents and shelters created under his instructions and provisions around the world.

At first, he had a lot of opposition from local bishops and other church authorities, because they saw his tireless work and innovative ideas as a threat to Catholicism.

He fought vehemently to convince all the bishops and even the Holy See of the true mission of his pastoral work.

On April 3, 1935, Pope Gregory XVI declared Maria Eufrasia Pelletier of Angers as Mother Superior of all the monasteries of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, giving the definitive impulse and general acceptance by the Church catholic.

Last years

His pastoral and educational work continued until the end of his life. At the time of his death his congregation had founded more than 110 monasteries with 20,000 novices and nuns.

In 1867 his health began to weaken. She suffered from severe pneumonia that made her notably weak. She remained in the care of her sisters in the congregation until her death on April 24, 1868 in the city of Angers.

His remains were interred in the main Convent of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Angers.

On December 11, 1897, Pope Leo XIII named her Venerable of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII beatified her on April 30, 1933. Pope Pius XII himself canonized Saint Mary Euphrasia on May 2, 1940.

Known quotes

«Since I gave birth to my daughters on the cross, I love them more than myself. My love has its roots in God and in the knowledge of my own misery, because I understand that at the age in which they make the profession, I would not have been able to endure so many deprivations and such hard work.

"Although old stars burn and die, look to the new and beyond."

"To go after the lost sheep with no other rest than the cross, another consolation that is not work, another thirst that is not for justice."

You have to adapt to all circumstances. Do the best you can, while remembering that, in the spirit of our calling, we must be everything to everyone.

References

1. Good Shepherd Sisters. Province of Singapore-Malaysia (2014). The story of St Mary Euphrasia Pelletier 1796 - 1868. Printed in Malaysia.
2. Clarke AM (1895). Life of Reverend Mother Mary of St. Euphrasia Pelletier. Edited by Benziger brothers. USA.
3. Wikipedia contributors. (2018, October 21). Mary Euphrasia Pelletier. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:14, October 30, 2018.
4. Cawley Boardman Anne. (1955) Good Shepherd's Fold. A Biography of St Mary Euphrasia Pelletier.
5. Pasquier H. (2017) Life of Mother Mary of St. Euphrasia Pelletier. Volume 2. Hansebooks.
6. Sisters of the Good Shepherd. (1961). Conferences and Instructions of St. Euphrasia Pelletier. Newman Bookshop.