St. Rose-Philippine Duchesne (1769-1852)
Welcome to INSPIRING LIVES, a series on lives of Saints in the catholic church from around the world. In this series we bring you those saints who are canonized by Pope John Paul II. Saints are holy people who lived ordinary lives in extraordinary ways. Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts. These saints are examples of great holiness and virtue, and they invite us to follow their paths to holiness. Their unique stories inspire us to be rooted in our faith. God calls each one of us to be a saint.
Today we listen to the heroic life of Saint Rose-Philippine Duchesne of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This holy servant of God was beatified by Pope Pius XII in 1940. She was canonized on 3rd July 1988 at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
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Rose Philippine DUCHESNE was born in a merchant family on 29 August 1769 in Grenoble, France. She was baptized in the Church of St. Louis and received the name of Philip, the apostle, and Rose of Lima, first saint of the new continent. She was educated by the Visitation nuns there. Drawn to the contemplative life, she became a novice there when she was 18 years old.
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 1801, she tried with some companions to reconstruct the monastery of St. Marie but without success.
In 1804, Philippine learned of a new congregation, the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and offered herself and the monastery to the Foundress, Mother Madeleine Sophie Barat. Mother Barat visited St. Marie in 1804 and received Philippine and several of her companions as novices in the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
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 ... carrying the Blessed Sacrament to all parts of the land ... 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.
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In 1818 Philippine's dream was realized. She was sent 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. At St. Charles, near St. Louis, Missouri, she founded the first house of the Society outside France. It was in a log cabin - and with it came all the austerities of frontier life: extreme cold, hard work, lack of funds. She also had difficulty learning English. Communication at best was slow; news often did not arrive from her beloved France. She struggled to remain closely united with the Society in France.
Philippine and four of her companions forged ahead. In 1818 she opened the first free school, west of the Mississippi. By 1828 she had established six houses. These schools were for the young women of Missouri and Louisiana. She loved and served them well, but always in her heart she yearned to serve the American Indians. When she was 72 and no longer superior, a school for the Potawatomi was opened at Sugar Creek, Kansas. Though many thought Philippine was too sick to go, the Jesuit head of the mission insisted: ‘She must come; she may not be able to do much work, but she will assure success to the mission by praying for us. Her very presence will draw down all manner of heavenly favors on the work’.
She was with the Potawatomi for a year. Her pioneer courage did not weaken, and her long hours of contemplation impelled the Indians to name her, "Woman-Who-Prays-Always". But Philippine's health could not sustain the regime of village life. In July 1842, she returned to St. Charles, although her heart never lost its desire for the missions: "I feel the same longing for the Rocky Mountain missions and any others like them, that I experienced in France when I first begged to come to America...".
Sincere, intense, generous, austere yet affectionate, endowed with large capacity for suffering and work, Philippine died at St. Charles, Missouri, on 18 November 1852 at the age of 83.
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During the solemn liturgical celebration on 3rd July 1988 at St. Peter’s square in Rome, Pope John Paul II canonized Sister Philippine. During his homily the Pope said:
True to a vision, young Rose Philippine left the safety of her culture and language and began to serve the Church of Christ in the New World. She left no thought to what was left but focused on to those who were under her care, those whom she had been sent.
Throughout her life, Rose-Philippine was transformed and enlightened by love for Christ in the Eucharist. During the long hours spent in front of the Blessed sacrament, she learned to live always in the presence of God and placed her hopes and desires there.
With missionary courage, this pioneer looked to the future through the eyes of her heart, a heart burning with love of God, she was able to see beyond the needs of post-revolutionary France, the needs of the new world of her time. She took upon herself the invitation of the Gospel "go and make disciples of all nations," recalling that the call to holiness is universal and knows no boundaries of nations, political systems, cultures or races.
Sister Philippine was so filled with the love of God, which pushed her forward to serve the needy. Pope John Paul said about her irresistible work for the poor:
Increasingly filled with the same love of God in worship, burning power of the Holy Eucharist, Rose-Philippine Duchesne felt so irresistible push towards the poor children and poor families. She spent her 34 years of life to help educate them. He also attempted a fruitful apostolate among the Indians. Hampered by language barriers, however, she managed to bring something to the poor populations - the tenderness of God.
The radical commitment of Mother Duchesne for the poor and the marginalized is a living source of inspiration for her congregation, and to all religious today. Her example, quite extraordinary, is for all disciples of Christ.P.J. Joseph SJ
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