Sainte Marie-Euphasie Pelletier
Saint Marie-Euphrasie Pelletier was a nun. She never came to Canada. None, from here can therefore claim their lineage.
As we will see, as founder and superior general of the Sisters of the Good Council of Angers, she sent one of her nuns to establish a monastery in Montreal in 1844. If she has no biological descendants among us, she does. However, one of a spiritual nature: our Good Shepherd nuns. As such, it is part of our history. His biography appears in the hagiographic sections of our libraries.
Moreover, his surname alone deserves the Pelletiers' attention. In genealogy, it is not only the community of origin that generates family associations, but also the surname community. Thus the Pelletier association brings together members who share the same name, but who are of diverse origins. All the Pelletiers who have illustrated our name deserve our attention. We are proud to note that our name has been honoured by celebrities from all fields: by politicians, by people of the Church, by artists, etc. This surname which is dear to us. Saint Mary Euphrasia illustrated it in her own way. Thanks to her, our surname has made its place among the saints of heaven. With Brother Didace, only son of Georges Pelletier, who at the beginning of New France died in the odour of holiness, our saint has the merit of having honoured our common name with her exemplary virtues.
That said, our purpose is not to give an elaborate account of the life of our saint here. There are excellent works on the subject. Let us cite those we consulted: Blessed Mother Pelletier, by Henri Joly; Sainte Marie-Euphrasie Pelletier, by Emile Georges, Eudist;
Saint Marie-Euphrasie Pelletier, by Denise Pezzoli. We just want to summarize the main stages of his life and career. Enough, we hope, to arouse the desire to know her better.
Childhood of Rosé-Virginie Pelletier Her baptismal name was Rosé-Virginie. She was born on the island ofNoinnoutier, off the coast of Brittany, on July 31, 1796. Her father Julien, a surgeon, fleeing the Vendée, cruelly ravaged by the after-effects of the French Revolution, took refuge there with his family. When her father died in 1806, Rosé-Virginie was 10 years old. Her mother, a widow, therefore had to place her with the Ursulines. As a little girl, her personality was already asserting itself. Mischievous, turbulent and unpredictable, her educators judged her capable of the best and the worst: “You will be an angel or a demon.” “I will be nun,” she replied. After returning to her original Vendée, with her children, Madame Pelletier (who soon died) put Rosé-Virginie, aged 14, to board in an institution in Tours, La Maison de l'Association Chrétienne.
Religious vocation.
Near the boarding school, there was a monastery called the Refuge. It was the work of the Notre-Dame de Charité nuns, the foundation of S. Jean Eudes. The nuns there committed themselves by a special vow to welcoming and accommodating public sinners known as thePenitentsas well as the little orphans who needed to be protected. Rosé-Virginie, who had already promised herself to be a nun, undoubtedly presented that her vocation would be of this order: to work of mercy and protection among the weak and the abandoned. Unbeknownst to everyone, especially her guardian (her mother was dead), she went to the Mother Prioress of the Refuge and asked to be admitted as a novice. When informed, her guardian, who found her too young for such a commitment, initially refused. Then, in 1815 (Rosé-Virginie was 19 years old) he allowed her, but on the condition that she did not take perpetual vows before the age of 21. Indeed, she did not make her profession until September 9, 1917, under the name of Marie-Euphrasie.
Her Ascendancy
We would be tempted to say: “her ascension”. Her qualities, and undoubtedly her virtues, were quickly noticed. It was not long before he was given positions of responsibility. As soon as she professed, she was named the mistress of the Penitents.
And in 1925, she was named superior of her institution, which required the request for a dispensation, since she was only 29 years old, an age below the regulatory age. She also did not take long to take initiatives which foreshadowed the creations that she would accumulate to her credit. Inside her own house, she founded another true religious community, the Madeleines, which she recruited among the Penitents who had taken refuge in her monastery in Tours. In 1831, she was appointed superior in Angers, where she hastened to found another community of Madeleines.
Creation of the generalate, in Angers.
Her rapid promotions and the success of her initiatives did not fail to arouse suspicion in those around her: it was whispered that she was only motivated by ambition. The reality was quite different. Apostolic, she dreamed of conforming to the testament left by Christ to his apostles:
“Go, evangelize all the earth.” “I want the land,” she declared, “I want the world.” She communicated with the same spirit which had inspired other religious orders, such as that of the Jesuits, who had given themselves, by their constitution, a superior general, under the immediate jurisdiction of the pope, so as not to limit their work of evangelization to a country, to a diocese. Like the universal Church, they wanted a universal field of action (we would say today: “international”). Like these religious orders. Mother Marie-Euphrasie dreamed of freeing her congregation from its local and diocesan limits. She dreamed of uniting all the houses under a single direction: a superior general, under the immediate jurisdiction of the pope. To understand the difficulties of carrying out this project, let us recall that the Church of France was then tempted by what was called Gallicanism: defending the administrative autonomy of the national and local Church against the central authority of Rome. Mother Marie-Euphrasia's actions therefore aroused opposition from both certain nuns and bishops. In Rome, the Jesuit Holman championed his cause. New constitutions were drawn up accordingly. And Rome finally acquiesced. The requested generalship was decreed. From that moment, Angers becamethe true capital of the Good Shepherd. Hence the new name of the order: The Sisters of the Good Shepherd of Angers.
The universal expansion of order.
Quite naturally. Mother Marie-Euphrasia was named the first Superior General of the order. From then on, under the leadership of the most dynamic, foundations multiplied at an accelerated pace, first in Rome (1838), then throughout Europe: France, England, Belgium, Germany. For France only, let us mention: Saumur, Poitiers, Grenoble, Metz, Nancy, Amiens, Lille, le Puy, Reims, Arles, etc., then outside Europe, the United States: Louiseville, Saint-Louis, Philadelphia , Latin America: Chile, Africa: Algeria and Egypt, India, Australia, Burma. Etc. At the death of Mother Marie-Euphrasia on April 24, 1868, the order had more than 2,000 professed women in 110 monasteries, 384 novices, 309 tour sisters, 962 Magdalenes, 6,372 penitents. Its main achievements were, among others: hospitals, dispensaries, childcare schools, homes for orphans and abandoned girls, schools of all levels, detoxification homes, etc.
Montreal Foundation
At that time, Mgr Bourget was bishop of Montreal, diocese of Montreal, a diocese in the midst of an organizational phase. The gaps were numerous. To fill them, Mgr Bourget increased his trips to Europe in order to recruit religious congregations: men and women. Father Léon Pouliot, SJ. in fact the story in his work:
Monseigneur Bourget and his times. We borrow the following information from him. In Rome, he visited the house run by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd; he decided to go to the mother house in Angers. He had no difficulty getting along with Mother Marie-Euphrasie Pelletier. He accepted the prudent conditions placed on the founding of Montreal. After his return to Montreal, he continued, through his letters, his entreaties to the Mother General. Mgr Provencher's visit to Angers at the beginning of 1844 put an end to all the hesitations of the Mother House. On June 7 of the same year, 4 Good Shepherd Sisters arrived in Montreal. Mgr Bourget kept the Mother General informed of the progress of the work, and, careful not to intervene in the internal management of the community, he had the General inform the nuns of Montreal of the advice dictated by her prudence and his charity.
The Saint We will not enter into the intimate spiritual life of Saint Marie-Euphrasie Pelletier. Her numerous letters and interviews reveal the virtues that earned her canonization. If one virtue were to sum up all the others, it would be the devouring charity which guided her in her relationships with her inferiors: "How happy I am to see the affectionate charity, the peace, the spirit of union which reign among you...Ah! yes, this work is truly the work of God." Likewise, in the foundation of his works in the service of people in difficulty:
“According to the spirit of our vocation, we must be all things to all people.”
Like its foundations, the stages of the process of its canonization followed one another at a relatively rapid pace. Eighteen years after his death, in 1886, his case was introduced in Rome. On December 11, 1887, Leo XIII declared her venerable. In 1933, Pius XI declared her blessed. And, in 1940, Pius XII solemnly declared that we could invoke Mother Marie-Euphrasie Pelletier: the Church added Saint Marie-Euphrasie to its hagiographic catalogue.
Maurice Pelletier, S.J.
