Monday, August 30, 22nd Week in Ordinary Time
ST. MARIE DE LA CROIX (JEANNE JUGAN)(France, 1792-1879), Founder of the Little Sisters of the Poor
Jeanne was one of eight children in a family in Brittany who lost their father at sea. They were so poor that Jeanne learned to read and write from religious women belonging to the Third Order of St. John Eudes. She was a shepherd until at age 15, she was hired to be a maid with a wealthy family. She went on to become an assistant nurse at a local hospital but she had to resign because of health problems. By then, she had joined the Eudes lay order, one of whose wealthy ladies hired her to be her companion. She worked with her and in their common apostolate until the lady died 12 years later. In 1837, Jeanne found herself sharing rooms with two companions aged 72 and 17. An encounter with a blind old lady to whom she gave her own bed crystallized her mission to attend to abandoned old people who were numerous in post-revolutionary France. Begging for everything they needed, her work soon attracted other women. They banded into a community for which she wrote the rules. She took the name Marie de la Croix (Mary of the Cross). Ironically, even if Jeanne had been elected, the local bishop named a 21-year-old to be the Superior of the new order - a rebuff that Jeanne accepted humbly and did not deter her from carrying on her organizing work away from the motherhouse. The Little Sisters of the Poor would not be formally recognized by the Vatican until 1852, but meanwhile, Jeanne's work won for her a national prize in 1845 awarded yearly to a 'poor man or woman for meritorious social work'. The prize money seeded the order's first house and soon she had set up four more in other French cities. When the order was formally recognized, Jeanne, now 60, was recalled to the motherhouse where she worked with younger members who never realized she was the foundress of the community until after her death. She would live for another 27 years. By the time of her death, her Congregation numbered 2,400 Little Sisters in 177 homes on three continents. The Little Sisters, a semi-contemplative order, have remained faithful to Jeanne Jugan's original mission. She was beatified in 1982, and canonized by Benedict XVI on Oct. 19, 2009.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/083010.shtml
No OR today.
The Vatican announced that yesterday, 8/29, the Holy Father gave a private audience to Mons. Kurt Koch,
emeritus Bishop of Basel and President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Mons. Koch
was the principal lecturer at the seminar-reunion of the Ratzinger Schuelerkreis held in Castel Gandolfo
this weekend.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/08/2010 13:31]