Euphrasia Pelletier

Rose Virginia Pelletier was born in 1796 in the island of Noirmoutier off the coast of Brittany; her parents had been forced to seek shelter there in the war of La Vendee. Having been sent to school at Tours, Rose came to learn something of the Convent of the Refuge. This belonged to a religious congregation founded in 1641 by St. John Eudes for the rescue of "fallen" women and the protection of those in danger. It was known as the Institute of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge, and it had a house in Tours. Rose joined the noviceship there in 1814, and some eleven years later, when she was still only twenty-nine, was elected superior. In this office she was prevailed upon to make a new foundation at Angers and she herself went temporarily to take over a house of refuge which had existed there years before under the invocation of the Good Shepherd. Her success was marvellous, but there was a sad reaction when she was compelled to leave Angers and return to her own proper community at Tours. In the end, after much negotiation and rather painful controversy, Mother Pelletier was made prioress of the new foundation. Coming before long to realize the difficulties which would hamper their work if each house, as was the case with the Institute of Our Lady of Charity, stood alone, Mother St. Euphrasia (as she was now called) became convinced that a centralized organization was necessary, having one common noviceship, and a superior general who could transfer subjects from one house to another as need required. In spite of strong opposition and the anguish of mind entailed by taking so independent a line, Mother Euphrasia stood firm in what she clearly saw to be a wiser policy to promote the great cause they had at heart. While deeply humble and respectful of authority, the young prioress succeeded, God's providence helping, in creating at Angers what was virtually a new institute "of the Good Shepherd". Papal approbation was obtained in 1835, and the developments were rapid, immense good being visibly effected wherever new foundations were made. When Mother Euphrasia died in 1868, the Good Shepherd nuns numbered 2760 and were known all over the world. In all her manifold trials and difficulties, including charges of rash innovation, personal ambition and impatience of authority, St. Mary Euphrasia displayed heroic fortitude, cheerfulness and trust in God; "Having brought to birth all our young sisters in the Cross", she said once, "I love them more than life itself. And the root of that love is in God and in the knowledge of my own unworthiness, for I realize that at the age at which they are professed I could not have supported such deprivations and hard work." She was canonized in 1940.

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19th-century French Roman Catholic nun and saint

Mary Euphrasia Pelletier (July 31, 1796 in Noirmoutier-en-l'Île – April 24, 1868 in Angers), born Rose Virginie Pelletier, was a French Roman Catholic nun, best known as the foundress of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd.

Pelletier was born on an island off the coast of France where her parents had been exiled by the French Revolutionaries. She was christened Rose Virginie Pelletier and at the age of eighteen joined the Order of Our Lady of Charity who cared for girls and women in difficulty. Some of the girls were abandoned by their families or orphaned, some had turned to prostitution in order to survive. The Sisters of Our Lady of Charity provided shelter, food, vocational training and an opportunity for these girls and women to turn their lives around. Pelletier formed the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd to expand this apostolate to wherever needed.

Pelletier died in Angers, France, in 1868 and was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1940. Her feast day is 24 April.

Biography

Mary Euphrasia Pelletier in her youth.

Pelletier was born on 31 July 1796 on Noirmoutier a small island off the northwest coast of France. Her parents had fled there thinking that they could escape the violence of the French Revolution. She was the 8th child of Julian and Anne Pelletier. Her father died when she was ten years old. In 1810 her mother placed Pelletier in a boarding school in Tours. Her mother died in 1813.

Near the boarding school was the convent of the Order of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge, a religious Congregation founded by John Eudes to provide care and protection for women and girls who were homeless and at risk of exploitation. Despite her guardian's reservations Pelletier was allowed to join the sisters provided that she not make her vows before she turned 21. She made her profession in 1816, taking the name of Mary of Saint Euphrasia. The sisters of the community had been dispersed at one point during the revolution; the majority had been imprisoned. Pelletier joined what was a community of elderly weary sisters. A short time after her profession, she became first mistress of the penitents, and about eight years later was made superioress of the house of Tours. She founded a community, the "Sisters Magdalen" for women who wanted to lead a contemplative and enclosed life and would support, by their ministry of prayer, the different works of the Congregation. It is now known as the Contemplatives of the Good Shepherd.

Sisters of the Good Shepherd

Mary Euphrasia Pelletier as Mother Superior of the Good Shepherd Sisters.

The city of Angers asked that Pelletier establish a Convent of Refuge there. She established a house in an old factory and called it "Bon Pasteur" (Good Shepherd). In 1831 she was appointed as Mother Superior of the house in Angers. The congregation in Tours did not wish to expand to Angers, nor did the house in Nantes. Eudes had established his houses as separate and autonomous. Pelletier came to believe that if the work was to grow, that each house should be under the direction of a generalate. She founded additional convents in Le Mans, Poitiers, Grenoble and Metz.

In April 1835, Pope Gregory XVI granted approval of the Mother-House at Angers for the institute known as Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd of Angers. Convents that developed for Angers would be part of the institute while those houses that did not attach themselves to the General Administration would remain Refuges. The development of the Generalate made possible the sending of the sisters to wherever they were needed. Convents were also established in Italy, Belgium, Germany, and England. The institute is directly subject to the Holy See; Cardinal Odescalchi was its first cardinal-protector.

For some time, Pelletier had to deal with the opposition of the Bishop Angebault of Angers, who wished to exercise the authority of Superior General, although the constitutions of the Order did not provide for this. She was accused of ambition, of innovation, and of disobedience. Sometimes she was put in the position of addressing conflicting instructions from Rome and the bishop. Although she had the support of Rome, the local clergy tended to keep their distance from someone who had incurred the bishop's displeasure. According to Sister Norma O'Shea, the bishop's opposition, coupled with the deaths of a number of sisters and longtime supporters, made Pelletier's last years very lonely.

Pelletier devoted herself to the work entrusted to her. By 1868, she was Superior General of 3,000 religious, in 110 convents, in thirty-five countries. She died of cancer on April 24, 1868. She is buried on the property of the Motherhouse of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Angers, France.

Canonisation

The Abbey of Saint Nicholas in Angers is the Mother-House of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd.

On 11 December 1897, Pope Leo XIII declared Pelletier "Venerable." She was beatified on 30 April 1933 and canonised on 2 May 1940 by Pope Pius XII.

Quotations

"Though old stars burn out and die, look to the new and even beyond."
"Go after the lost sheep without other rest than the cross, other consolation than work, other thirst than for justice."
"You have to adapt to all circumstances. Do the best you can, while remembering that, according to the spirit of our calling, we must be everything to everyone."
"Do well all that you do."