{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_32165/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_32165","id":"gutenberg_32165","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32165","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: French Literature","Category: History - American","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Duchesne, Philippine, Saint, 1769-1852"],"text":"Produced by Michael Gray\n\n\n\n\n[Frontispiece: MOTHER PHILIPPINE DUCHESNE]\n\n\n\n  Venerable Philippine Duchesne\n\n  BY\n\n  G. E. M.\n\n  A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE LIFE\n  AND WORK OF THE FOUNDRESS\n  OF THE SOCIETY OF THE\n  SACRED HEART IN AMERICA\n\n\n\n  NEW YORK\n  THE AMERICA PRESS\n  1914\n\n\n  NIHIL OBSTAT\n  ANGELUS MARIANI, S.C., ADV.\n  _Sacr. Rit. Congregationis Assessor_\n\n  NIHIL OBSTAT\n  REMIGIUS LAFORT, S.T.L.\n  _Censor_\n\n  IMPRIMATUR\n  JOHN CARDINAL FARLEY\n  Archbishop of New York\n\n\n  COPYRIGHT 1914\n  BY\n  THE AMERICA PRESS\n\n\n\n_In accordance with the decrees of Urban VIII. and other Sovereign\nPontiffs, we hereby declare that the terms holy and saintly, as applied\nto the Venerable Philippine Duchesne, or other personages mentioned in\nthe following pages, are used merely in their ordinary and untechnical\nsense, without any thought of anticipating the decision of the Church\nwhich alone is empowered to pronounce authoritatively in such matters._\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\nThere have been many heroic figures in the history of American\nCatholicity. The sowing of the faith in our beloved land was not\naccomplished lightly. Anguish of soul and weariness of body were\nrequired of our pioneers, no less than of those of other lands. Our\npredecessors in this portion of God's vineyard left home and kindred and\nfriends and cast themselves on a strange shore, wanderers for God's\ncause, giving their lives in labor and anguish of spirit, that the glad\ntidings of salvation might be spread far and wide.\n\nSome of these folk were martyrs in very truth. Through the mercy of\nChrist their heart's blood has sanctified our soil. Others by living\ntheir length of days in the midst of privations and sorrows, that Christ\nmight be known and glorified, fell little short of the martyrdom of\nblood itself. The memory of these still lives, enshrined in hearts that\nlove them for their tireless zeal and their dauntless courage. Of such\npioneers was the Venerable Philippine Duchesne, a truly valiant woman,\nto whom the American Church owes a debt of gratitude too great for\npayment.\n\nThe following pages are too few to give more than a glimpse of her\nheroic labors, but they have caught inspiration from their subject, and\nsomething, too, of her fragrant piety. No one will read them without\nadmiration for one who was so weak and yet so strong, so humble, and yet\nso daring in work for God.\n\nMother Duchesne has a lesson for this age of softness and indolence. She\nhas shown us the way to heroism and offers us motives for entering\nthereon. For this gratitude is due. This sketch is conceived in a spirit\nof thankfulness, a tribute of appreciation that will speak a clear,\nforceful message to sad hearts and selfish hearts and timorous souls,\ninspiring all with great ideals and holy ambitions to do a mite for the\nleader, Christ.\n\nR. H. T.\n\n\n\n  CONTENTS\n  CHAPTER\n  I    Volunteers for American Missions\n  II   First Schools in New World\n  III  Trials at Florissant\n  IV   St. Michael's Established\n  V    Serious Crosses\n  VI   Mission to the Pottowatomie Indians\n  VII  Affection for Mother Barat\n  VIII Last Days\n  IX   Some Fruits of Mother Duchesne's Work\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nVOLUNTEERS FOR THE AMERICAN MISSIONS\n\nIn the early annals of the Catholic Church in this country, no name\nstands more preeminent than that of the Venerable Philippine Duchesne.\nShe was one of the first, and altogether the greatest, among the\nspiritual daughters of the Blessed Madeleine Sophie Barat, so well known\nas the Foundress of the Society of the Sacred Heart. The pioneer of that\nInstitute in the New World, it was in the midst of sorrow, and penury,\nand strenuous toil, that she cast the seed of the harvest whose\nplentiful sheaves are carried with joy by those who have come after her.\nShe was a valiant cooperator in the work of the Catholic missionaries\nduring the early part of the last century, and American Catholics can\nscarcely fail to be interested in her story.\n\nShe was born in Grenoble, France, August 29, 1769, the same year as\nNapoleon Bonaparte. Her father, Pierre Francois Duchesne, was a\nprosperous lawyer, practising in the Parliament, or law court of\nGrenoble, the capital of the Province of Dauphiny, while her mother,\nRose Perrier, belonged to a family of wealthy merchants of the same\ncity. Pierre Francois Duchesne had adopted the false teachings of\nVoltaire and his school, but his wife was very pious, and carefully\nbrought up her children in the love and fear of God. Philippine was the\nnext to the last in a family of six. From her earliest years she was\nnoted for her serious turn of mind. One of her chief pleasures was\nreading, but even this had to be of a serious kind. Roman history was an\nespecial favorite, but what she loved most of all was the lives of the\nsaints, particularly the martyrs. Another of her pleasures was to assist\nthe poor. All of her pocket money, with everything else that she could\ndispose of, went to them, and she loved to distribute her alms with her\nown hand.\n\nAt the age of twelve she was placed as a pupil at Sainte Marie d'en\nHaut, the Visitation Convent of her native city, to be prepared for her\nfirst Holy Communion. The remarkable spirit of prayer, of which she had\ngiven very early evidence, developed itself here, and her happiest\nmoments were those she was permitted to spend in adoration before the\nBlessed Sacrament. A diligent and conscientious student, so ardent was\nher piety, that she was allowed by the kind nuns the privilege of making\nher morning meditation and reciting the Office in choir with them. The\nyear after her admission into the school she made her First Communion,\nand it was on this happy occasion that she heard the call to a perfect\nlife. Her parents, suspecting what was in her mind, removed her from the\nConvent. She silently acquiesced in this decision, keeping her own\ncounsel, and continuing her studies with great success, in company with\nher cousins, the young Perfiers, who were afterward at the head of a\ngreat banking business in Paris, under the rule of the first Napoleon.\n\nAfter four years of patient waiting, in the hope of obtaining her\nparents' consent, and convinced at last that they never would grant it,\nshe decided that it was time to act, and entered the novitiate of the\nVisitation. Her family became somewhat reconciled to her choice, after\nstriving in vain to induce her to return home; but when the time for her\nprofession came, her father absolutely forbade her to make it, on\naccount of the dangerous political conditions of the time.\n\nFour years later, in 1792, when the revolutionary storm was at its\nheight, religious communities were being everywhere expelled from their\nhomes, and Monsieur Duchesne withdrew his daughter from her convent,\nwhich was soon converted into a prison, and went to reside with his\nfamily in the Chateau of Granne, situated in a retired part of the\ncountry. By this time all her sisters were married, except the youngest,\na child in her 'teens; and when her mother was overtaken by her last\nillness, she it was who cared for her with devoted affection, and\nfinally closed her eyes in death. After this the family possessions were\ndivided among the children, and Philippine surrendered her share to the\nothers, reserving only a small pension, barely sufficient for her needs.\n\nThis business being settled, she removed to a modest apartment in\nGrenoble, in order to be able to devote herself to works of mercy. Her\nardent charity and intrepid energy found a wide field of action in those\ncalamitous times. She visited and succored the unfortunate victims\ndoomed to the guillotine, with whom the prisons were crowded. She\nministered to the sick, and sought in their hiding places, the devoted\npriests who would not abandon their posts, to bring them to the bedside\nof the dying. She did all this at the constant risk of her life, often\nhearing sounds and witnessing sights that made her shudder with horror.\nAs soon as the revolutionary storm had spent its fury somewhat, she was\nenabled to turn her attention to the neglected boys she found in the\nstreets, assembling them in her own lodgings to teach them to read and\nwrite, and above all, to prepare them for the Sacraments.\n\nAt last, when the advent of Napoleon to power restored political and\nsocial order, Philippine Duchesne who, during all these years, had\nconsidered herself as irrevocably consecrated to the service of God,\nobserving the rules and customs of the Visitation as closely as the\nadverse circumstances of the time would permit, resolved to reestablish\nin their old home the surviving members of the community of Sainte Marie\nd'en Haut, and resume a religious life with them. She obtained\npossession of the convent through the influence of her cousins, the\nPerriers, but her attempt to reorganize the community was not\nsuccessful. In the meantime, however, several companions had gathered\naround her, forming a little community with the title of \"Daughters of\nFaith,\" under the direction of the Vicar General of Grenoble, the Abbe\nRivet. This was in 1803 and the following year.\n\nIn the meantime, Madame Duchesne had heard, through the Abbe Rivet, of\nthe Society of the Sacred Heart recently founded by Mother Madeleine\nSophie Barat, under the guidance of Father Joseph Varin. It was through\nthe latter that she applied for admission into the new Society. Father\nVarin, in reporting the case to the holy Foundress, declared that Madame\nDuchesne was a soul worth seeking for even to the end of the world. Lack\nof space does not permit us to dwell upon the beautiful humility,\nsubmission and childlike docility this valiant woman displayed in her\nintercourse with her new superior, who was ten years younger than\nherself, or her joy at finding herself under religious discipline and\nobedience. Nor can we stop to describe her heroic devotedness, zeal and\ncharity toward all; her incredible activity, her self-immolation, the\nwonderful spirit of prayer that held her motionless the livelong night\nbefore the Tabernacle, when holy obedience allowed her the privilege.\n\nThe ten years that followed her profession were spent at Sainte Marie\nd'en Haut, toiling with an unflagging energy vivified and made fruitful\nby her intimate union with God. It was during that interval that the\ndeath of her father occurred. In his last illness, she surrounded him\nwith the most loving care, and had the consolation of bringing him back\nto the faith of his baptism, and seeing him atone for the errors of a\nlifetime by a sincere repentance and an edifying end.\n\nIn the depths of her heart, Mother Duchesne had felt from the first an\nintense longing to devote herself to the evangelization of the barbarous\ntribes still sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death; but\nhitherto she had not seen any opening in that direction. So she was\npatient and put out her hands to all the strong things that Divine\nProvidence placed in her way. One day, however, the illustrious Dom\nAugustin de Lestrange, Abbot of La Trappe, visited Sainte Marie d'en\nHaut, on his return from a tour among the North American missions. It\nwas on the feast of Pentecost, a circumstance that did not escape the\npiety of Madame Duchesne; and the account he gave of the labors, dangers\nand fatigues endured by the missionaries in the New World, communicated\na new and almost uncontrollable intensity to her apostolic yearnings.\nAfter this, she was possessed by one thought and one desire, that of\ndevoting herself to the conversion of the savages of America. A few days\nlater, she wrote to Mother Barat to tell her of Dom de Lestrange's visit\nand of the ardent desires his discourses had aroused in her heart for\nthe missions of America in particular. Mother Barat was delighted, but\ninsisted that she must school herself to patience, until some\nprovidential opening should offer. For this she waited twelve long\nyears, but with what burning desires, what tears and prayers! It would\ntake too long to relate the circumstances which led to the visit of Mgr.\nLouis Valentin Dubourg, the newly consecrated Bishop of Louisiana, and\ndescribe the touching scene, when Mother Barat, in presence of the\nhumble yet ardent entreaties of her strong-souled daughter, recognized\nthe will of God, and gave the consent she implored, to let her have a\nshare in the missionary labors of the zealous prelate in the far-off\nregion of Louisiana.\n\nIn the hearts of God's saints, joy and sorrow are in close alliance.\nMother Duchesne was overwhelmed with joy on seeing the realization of\nher ardent and long-cherished desires; but a midnight blackness settled\nupon her soul, when she found herself about to sail away from the shores\nof sunny France, leaving behind her all that her loving heart held so\ndear, and with the conviction that the parting was final, as far as this\nlife was concerned. But her strong spirit did not flinch for an instant,\nand the world would never have known how keenly she felt the sacrifice,\nwere it not for a few lines in one of her letters to Mother Barat. Her\ncompanions were Madame Octavie Berthold, a fervent convert, whose father\nhad been secretary to Voltaire; Madame Eugenie Aude, a young lady whose\ngrace and elegance had been admired at the court of Savoy, and two lay\nsisters of tried virtue. After a tedious voyage of ten weeks in a small\nsailing vessel, they reached New Orleans on the Feast of the Sacred\nHeart, May 29, 1818, and as soon as it was possible, they set out for\nSt. Louis in one of the primitive steamboats of the time, a trip of six\nweeks, with numberless inconveniences and a very rough set of\nfellow-passengers.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nFIRST SCHOOLS IN THE NEW WORLD\n\nMgr. Dubourg cordially welcomed them to his Episcopal city, but the best\nhe could do for them was to assign to them a log-house, which he had\nleased for their use at St. Charles, a village on the Missouri River, at\na distance of thirty miles from St. Louis. Here they opened a boarding\nschool which at first was only very scantily attended. They also opened\na school for poor children, which immediately gathered in twenty-two\npupils. As the nuns could not afford to keep a servant, they themselves\nhad to cultivate the garden which, when they arrived, was a wilderness\nof weeds and briars. They also had to care for their cow and milk it, to\nchop wood for their fires, to bake their bread, to do the cooking and\nwashing, besides teaching the two schools. For their supply of water,\nthey were compelled to depend upon the muddy current of the Missouri\nRiver, brought to them in small bucketfuls, for which they had to pay an\nexorbitant price. The summer was very hot, and the cold of winter was so\nintense, that the clothes, hung up to dry near the kitchen stove, froze\nstiff. They had to be careful in handling the tin plates, etc., which\nserved for their meals, lest their hands should adhere to them. The\nwhite fingers of Mesdames Aude and Berthold soon became hard and grimy.\nAs for Mother Duchesne her hands had become rugged and horny long ago,\nfrom the hard, rough work to which she had devoted herself, especially\nafter her reentrance into Sainte Marie d'en Haut. Indeed, it had always\nbeen her custom to reserve to herself, as much as possible, every kind\nof work that might be most painful or fatiguing for others. These\nparticulars offer but a faint idea of the sufferings and privations\nendured by these refined and accomplished ladies, during those hard\nbeginnings of the Society of the Sacred Heart in the New World.\n\nDuring this trying time, Mother Duchesne's desolation of heart was\nextreme, and her sense of loneliness indescribable. Whatever labors and\nausterities she had imposed upon herself hitherto, she had always had a\ncircle of friends of the choicest kind and spiritual directors with whom\nshe felt at her ease, but now all this was a thing of the past. Neither\ndid she find any consolation in prayer. Her soul seemed dead within her,\nand yet, besides keeping up her own courage, she had to sustain that of\nher young companions, less inured to suffering and without her granite\nendurance. Still they were very brave and Bishop Dubourg could not but\nadmire the valiant spirit and the cheerfulness of all.\n\nBut the establishment at St. Charles was only a temporary arrangement to\nlast for one year; and, as the house that was building at Florissant was\nnot yet ready when the lease expired, Bishop Dubourg gave them the use\nof his farm near that village during the interval of waiting, with the\nlog house upon it built by the consecrated hands of the bishop himself\nand of his heroic fellow missionaries. Toward the middle of September,\n1819, followed by the intense regrets of the Abbe Richard, Cure of St.\nCharles, and by the tears of the children of the free school, Mother\nDuchesne moved to the farm which had been thus placed at her disposal.\nThe boarders, now increased to about twenty, accompanied them to their\nnew home. Here one room and a garret was all that the nuns had for\nthemselves and their pupils; but they had also a poor little chapel,\nwhere they were able to keep Him, who was the source of all their\nstrength, and whose presence among them sweetened their life of toil and\nprivation.\n\nMother Duchesne's presence and supervision had hastened the work upon\nthe new home, that was going up on a piece of ground given to them by\nthe bishop; and by the end of December, it was sufficiently advanced to\nbe habitable. Before leaving the farm, a great consolation was granted\nto the devoted nuns, in a retreat given by Father de Andreis, the\nsaintly Lazarist missionary, who in 1900 was placed on the list of\ncandidates for canonization. He cleared up Mother Duchesne's\nperplexities on various points, and between those two kindred souls,\nthere sprung up a holy friendship, which was for her a consolation and a\nsupport. Unfortunately, less than two years later, a malignant fever\ncarried away this great servant of God, in the midst of his fruitful\napostolic labors.\n\nOn Christmas Eve, the removal to the new house took place. Mother\nDuchesne and Aude were the last to leave the farmhouse, and it was late\nwhen they reached their destination, for they had made the entire way on\nfoot, through deep snow, and in the face of a freezing wind. The little\ncommunity set at once to the work of preparing their small and humble\nchapel for Midnight Mass, at which nuns and pupils, and also the workmen\nemployed on the house, assisted and received Holy Communion. With regret\nwe find ourselves compelled to pass over many interesting and touching\nparticulars, such as the blessing and encouragement sent by the\nSovereign Pontiff then reigning, the saintly Pius VII, and the gift of\nseveral relics and pictures from Bishop Dubourg, among the latter one\nthat Mother Duchesne had greatly longed for, that of St. Francis Regis,\nher special patron, whose name is so intimately connected with her own.\n\nAt Florissant, a new field was opened to her charity. Bishop Dubourg's\nfarm was intended by him as a quiet and healthful retreat, where his\nmissionaries might, for a while, rest and refresh themselves after their\ntoilsome apostolic journeys, or when their health required particular\ncare. Madame Duchesne was a mother to them, furnishing them with their\nmeals at any hour of the day, as they dropped in, often three or four at\na time, washing and mending their clothes, and replacing them when\nneedful, giving them the best of everything she had in the house. This\noccasioned a great deal of work and no small expense, and money was very\nscarce with her, to say nothing of the debts which had been incurred for\nthe building of the house. But this valiant woman counted upon the\nProvidence of God which never failed her, though its gifts were usually\nbestowed upon her so sparingly, as barely to keep her afloat. It was a\ngreat joy to her to help and serve the missionaries, and she declared\nthat she would consider her life happy and well-spent, could she do\nnothing more than cook their meals for them. This generous hospitality\nwas all the more heroic from the precarious condition of her own\nfinances. Besides the debts, very heavy for the time, which were\npressing upon her, and which she had been obliged to incur for the\nbuilding of her house, a great business depression throughout the\ncountry reduced the number of her pupils, thus diminishing the small\nreturns from the school, and, in 1820, a prolonged drought dried up the\nwells and compelled her to send to the river for all the water they\nneeded.\n\nToward the end of 1820, when matters began to improve, the community was\nvisited by sickness. Mother Duchesne's turn came last, and so serious\nwas her illness that it brought her to the verge of the grave. She\nrecovered, however, and was able to resume her work at the end of two\nmonths.\n\nIt was just after this that vocations began to come in. The first were\nEmilie Saint Cyr, one of her pupils, and the sisters Eulalie and\nMathilde Hamilton, of a very distinguished family related to the\nFenwicks of Maryland, and also two lay sisters, Mary Layton and Mary Ann\nSummers. These five formed the nucleus of a novitiate whose numbers\nincreased by degrees.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTRIALS AT FLORISSANT\n\nIn 1821, the little community of Florissant sent out its first offshoot.\nWith the consent and approbation of her Superior General, Mother Barat,\nMother Duchesne made her second foundation in Lower Louisiana, as it was\nthen called, at a place known as Grand Coteau, in the Opelousas region.\nMother Eugenie Aude and Sister Mary Layton were sent to begin it. A\nlittle later, Mother Duchesne was able to send them valuable help in the\nperson of Madame Xavier (Anna) Murphy, who had just arrived from France\nwith Madame Lucile Mathevon, another valiant woman, who had a notable\npart to play in the early history of the Society of the Sacred Heart in\nAmerica.\n\nThe school at Grand Coteau had soon filled up, but ere long Mother\nDuchesne heard of the distressing condition to which the new community\nwas reduced, through sickness and overwork. With the uncalculating\ncharity that characterized her, she at once determined to go in person\nto their assistance, though it was in the middle of summer and the\njourney must necessarily be long and painful, as well as expensive. She\ntook with her Madame St. Cyr and a lay novice to leave at Grand Coteau,\nand Therese Pratte, whose family had so hospitably entertained her and\nher companions during their two weeks' stay in St. Louis, after their\narrival. The young girl was one of her pupils, who had obtained her\nfather's consent for a visit to Mother Aude.\n\nThe voyage was long, full of difficulties and endless interruptions and\ndelays, and marked by very dramatic and even tragic incidents,\nespecially on the return trip, of which alone we will give a brief\naccount. Among other particulars, she had to go from Plaqumine all the\nway down to New Orleans to find a boat for St. Louis. In New Orleans she\nwas stricken with malarial fever, still the physician advised her\ndeparture by the first steamer, because at the time yellow fever was\nepidemic in the city. Scarcely, however, had the steamer started on her\nvoyage, before the dread disease broke out on board, the captain being\nthe first to die of it. Mother Duchesne, though reduced to a state of\ngreat prostration, gathered up the remnant of her strength to take care\nof one of the yellow fever patients on board, to whom no one else seemed\nto give any attention. She not only ministered to his needs, but\nconverted and baptized him before he died.\n\nWeak and exhausted as she was, foreseeing that under the existing\nconditions the steamer would scarcely be able to reach her destination,\nshe determined to trust in Providence, and land with her young companion\nat Natchez. But the quarantine excluded her from the town, nor would any\none in the neighborhood take them in, for fear of the prevailing\nepidemic. Providence came to their assistance, for, as they sat by the\nriver bank upon their trunks, alone and friendless, a young man chanced\nto pass by, and seeing them so forlorn, offered his services and went in\nsearch of shelter for them. Soon he found an honest German who willingly\ntook them in, but he had no bed to offer them, except the one in which\nhis wife had died of yellow fever a fortnight previously, and of which\nnot even the sheets had been changed. From this place Mother Duchesne\nfound means of making her distress known to the Abbe Maenhaut, Cure of\nthe church in the town, and in later years Rector of the Cathedral of\nNew Orleans. He came promptly to her assistance, and had her removed to\nthe hospitable home of a family of the name of Davis. Complete rest and\nchange of air restored her health, and in a few weeks she reembarked for\nSt. Louis on the steamer Cincinnati. On their way up they passed by a\nsteamboat tied up and partially wrecked, in charge of three men. It was\nthe Hecla, the boat from which she had landed at Natchez. Then it was\nthat she could see how providential had been the change she had made.\nThe yellow fever had continued its ravages on the unfortunate boat, and\non a little island nearby could be seen the graves of thirteen of its\nvictims. Moreover, the boilers had exploded and several men had been\nseverely injured. At last, after another delay of two weeks, caused by\nthe grounding of the Cincinnati, Mother Duchesne and her companion\nreached St. Louis, after an absence of five months. The account of this\nterrible journey contained in Mother Duchesne's letters to Mother Barat\nis such as might come from the pen of a saint. There is not a word of\ncomplaint, and no regrets for herself, save for the Communions and\nMasses she had lost.\n\nOn her return to Florissant she found the school greatly diminished and\nin a state of insubordination; this latter condition prevailed not only\namong the pupils, but also among the orphans, of whom she always had\nseveral in the house, and whom she educated and provided for entirely.\nHer firm hand soon reestablished order, but it was not in her power to\nremove what had been the cause of the state of disturbance, in which she\nhad found the school. The times were very hard; there was little money\nin circulation, and Bishop Dubourg had been obliged to borrow in order\nto finish his new cathedral, which the rapid increase of the population\nrendered necessary. The great bishop's administrative ability was above\nquestion, but the resources he had counted upon failed him, through the\ndishonesty of an agent, and this, with the difficulty of the times, made\nit impossible for him to meet his obligations; while his creditors,\nfinding themselves in much the same situation, were clamorous against\nhim, breaking out into abuse and menaces. They were even threatening to\nseize his residence and have it sold for their benefit.\n\nAs a matter of course, Mother Duchesne and her community shared largely\nin the odium that had fallen upon Bishop Dubourg. She was afflicted, but\nchiefly on account of the indignities offered to the great missionary\nprelate, and the harm done to religion by the nature of the difficulties\nin which he found himself involved. After a time the storm subsided,\nleaving, however, in the public mind a feeling of rancor and resentment,\none of whose effects was a settled enmity with regard to Mother Duchesne\nand her community. Soon, of the pupils left to her, there were only two\nwhose schooling was being paid for. Still her courage and her reliance\nupon God never wavered, and her confidence was rewarded. She does not\nsay how it happened, but she affirms that she was never less pinched by\npoverty than at this time. She met this crisis in her usual heroic\nfashion. Disregarding the idle talk of which she was the subject, she\nrefused to dismiss any of the boarding pupils who were being educated\ngratis. She already had a free school for girls, and she opened another\nfor boys, as also two classes, one for the poor women of the village and\none for the grown-up girls.\n\nAnd how, with such scanty resources, did she manage to make both ends\nmeet? By her own thrift and ingenious industry, which enabled her to\nturn the least trifle to account, with an occasional remittance of a few\nhundred francs from her relatives, and such assistance as Mother Barat\ncould spare out of her own penury. But her surest asset was her\nconfidence in Divine Providence, which always came to her assistance,\noften in the most remarkable manner. With these she covered the expenses\nof her convent, extinguished by degrees her indebtedness, and at the\nsame time was prodigal in her charity toward the missionaries, and very\nliberal toward the poor.\n\nIn the situation above described, St. Louis was no place for Bishop\nDubourg. Leaving in charge there his newly-consecrated coadjutor, Bishop\nRosati, he took up his residence at a short distance above New Orleans.\nThe last of the many benefits he had conferred upon Missouri was a\nfoundation for a little company of Jesuit Fathers and scholastics, to\nwhom he donated his farm at Florissant. They arrived just at this time,\nand on account of their connection with the prelate met with a cool\nreception from many of the people. This was another heavy affliction for\nMother Duchesne, who felt that, in view of the good they could surely do\nin the country, neither she nor any one else could do too much for them.\nTheir poverty was very great, and she did not hesitate to beg for them.\nThe friends she still had left in St. Louis responded generously to her\nappeal, and sent her whatever they could afford to give. From others,\nhowever, to whom she had recourse, she met with harsh refusals. She\ndespoiled herself and her community of all she could manage to do\nwithout. She took care of the altar linen and vestments for their\ndomestic chapel, and spent part of her nights mending and making clothes\nfor them. In the beginning she sent them their meals already prepared,\nand later on she supplied them with many articles for their missionary\noutfit. In fact, the Jesuit Mission of Missouri might have perished at\nits birth had it not been for her fostering care. It was to her an\nimmense joy to see the abundant fruits the zeal and devotedness of the\nFathers soon began to reap in the country around, to the distance of a\nhundred miles and more. She considered it a priceless benefit to have\ntheir Superior, Father Van Quickenborne, as chaplain, and above all, as\nconfessor for the community.\n\nAfter the coming of the Jesuit Fathers, Bishop Rosati's missionaries\nseldom made any stay at Florissant, but they were constantly passing\nthrough it to and from their missions, and Mother Duchesne continued to\nkeep open house for them as heretofore.\n\nHer apostolic longings for the work of the evangelization of the Indians\nhad never died out, and great was her delight when, one day, Father Van\nQuickenborne brought her two little Indian girls, shyly hiding under his\ncloak, and asked her to take them and educate them. This was the\nbeginning of the Indian school which, while it lasted, was the joy of\nher heart. However, it never counted more than twenty children, and came\nto an end in two years, the Indians being driven back further and\nfurther by the inflowing tide of white immigration.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nST. MICHAEL'S ESTABLISHED\n\nIn 1825, Mother Duchesne was called upon for another foundation. Father\nDelacroix, the predecessor of Father Van Quickenborne, as pastor of\nFlorissant, was a holy and learned Belgian priest, whom Bishop Dubourg\nused to call his angel. He had the highest opinion of Mother Duchesne's\nsanctity, and became a lifelong friend of hers. After leaving\nFlorissant, he was stationed upon the Mississippi River, at a\nconsiderable distance above New Orleans. Before long, with the\napprobation of Bishop Dubourg, he asked for a foundation of the\nReligious of the Sacred Heart in his neighborhood. His petition was\nreadily granted, and a location was chosen in the Parish of St. James.\nTo meet the first expenses of the building, the zealous pastor handed\nover eighteen thousand dollars, which he had collected for the purpose.\nThis was the house known as St. Michael's. Mother Aude was its first\nSuperior, and soon it was in as flourishing a condition as that of Grand\nCoteau.\n\nTwo years later, 1827, Father Neil, one of the resident pastors of St.\nLouis and director of the college founded by Bishop Dubourg, asked for\nand obtained a foundation in that city. This was what Mother Duchesne,\nas well as Mother Barat, had been wishing for from the very beginning.\nMoreover, though Mother Duchesne had no idea of giving up Florissant, it\nwas too distant from the city for convenience, and besides various other\ndrawbacks, every rain flooded the convent grounds, greatly adding to the\nhardships endured by the nuns. She applied to Mr. John Mullanphy, a\nwealthy capitalist, asking him to sell her one of the houses he owned in\nSt. Louis, and he gave her one, with twenty-four acres of ground on the\noutskirts of the city, together with some assistance in money, on\ncondition that she would, in perpetuity, keep twenty orphans. The house\nhad the name of being haunted on account of the strange, unearthly\nnoises heard in it, especially at night. That circumstance did not\nfrighten Mother Duchesne, who soon discovered that the ghosts were\nnothing but cats that dropped down the chimneys to hold their nightly\nassemblies in the vacant rooms. On the first of May of that same year\nshe took possession of the house with one companion, and remained there\nas Superior, leaving Mother Lucille Mathevon in her place at Florissant.\nThe following year she had in her charge twelve boarders, ten orphans\nand forty day pupils, most of the latter having been received gratis.\n\nHere, as elsewhere, her life was one of extreme poverty, privation and\nunremitting toil, to which, as she had always done, she added fasts,\nvigils and bodily penances, such as have rarely been equalled in the\nlives of the greatest canonized saints. She was often without a cent in\nthe house, but this did not prove a bar to her charity. The poor never\nleft the convent door empty handed, and the priests, most of whom were\ndoing missionary work, and were as poor as herself, became the objects\nof her particular care. She supplied them with clothes, especially\ncassocks, that they might make a suitable appearance at the altar, and\nalso altar linen and vestments, which she embroidered and made herself.\nDuring the first year of her stay in St. Louis, her greatest privation,\nfor herself and her community, was the lack of spiritual assistance. On\nweek days they were often without Mass, and on such occasions Mother\nDuchesne would remain fasting until noon, in the hope that some priest\nmight drop in to offer the Holy Sacrifice at a later hour, as it\nsometimes happened, or who at least, might give her Holy Communion.\n\nIn the meantime, the Jesuit Fathers had been making great headway, and\nthey acquired a firm footing in St. Louis, when Bishop Rosati handed\nover to Father Van Quickenborne, the head of the newly-organized Mission\nof Missouri, the college founded several years previously by Bishop\nDubourg, and which, in the course of time, developed into the present\nSt. Louis University. But Father Van Quickenborne was replaced some\nmonths later in the office of Superior by Father Verhaegen, who had come\nwith him from Maryland in 1823. In this same year, 1827, the latter\nfounded a permanent mission at St. Charles, and made it his\nheadquarters. He also established, at the same place, a school for boys,\nand applied at once to Mother Duchesne to found one for girls. It seemed\na rash undertaking to make two foundations in the same year, with such\nscanty resources in subjects and money; but what tempted her was the\nspiritual destitution of the people, who were all Catholics, and among\nwhom the Protestants were busily at work. Mother Barat, tempted in the\nsame way, gave her consent, and Mother Lucille Mathevon was placed in\ncharge of the new house. It did a great deal of good, in spite of a long\nstruggle with poverty and adversity.\n\nJust a little before this time, at Bishop Rosati's desire, Mother\nDuchesne, with Mother Barat's approbation, had taken charge of the house\nof the Daughters of Charity, founded by the Father Nerinckx, near the\nhead of the Bayou Lafourche, in the present State of Louisiana, and now\nthreatened with extinction for want of vocations. The devoted prelate's\nearnest request could not be refused, but the foundation was an\nunpromising one from the beginning, and a few years later it had to be\nclosed.\n\nThe following year, 1828, as there were already six American houses,\nMother Barat directed Mother Duchesne to assemble their superiors in a\nProvincial Council, in order to take measures for securing uniformity of\naction among them; and, to spare them the trouble of coming to her,\nMother Duchesne went down to meet them at St. Michael's. After the\nCouncil she visited the houses in Louisiana, and was able, in her report\nto the Mother General, to give a very favorable account of them all\nexcept that of Lafourche where, to say nothing of other obstacles to\nsuccess, the directions given by her in accordance with the intentions\nof Mother Barat, had not been understood or carried out.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nSERIOUS CROSSES\n\nGod's saints have never been spared the cross of contradiction, and\nMother Duchesne was no exception to the rule. Mother Barat heard from\nvarious persons that she was too austere, too narrow, too unwilling to\nadapt herself to the requirements of the times; and this, it was said,\nwas why the houses in Missouri were not progressing. By these critics,\ntheir backwardness was contrasted with the flourishing condition of the\nSouthern houses. There were numerous reasons for this difference.\nLouisiana had been colonized a century earlier; its people were wealthy\nand prosperous; nearly all spoke the French language, and as yet there\nwas little or no competition; whereas entirely opposite conditions\nprevailed in Missouri. Mother Barat, however, heard these charges so\noften that she began to fear they were true, and to consider that it was\ntime to place the government of the St. Louis house, at least, in the\nhands of a younger superior, who would have a clearer understanding of\nthe needs of the times. But before taking a step which was very much\nagainst her inclination, she consulted Bishop Rosati, in 1832. His\nanswer was that the removal of Mother Duchesne from her office would\nresult in the collapse of the houses in Missouri, as there was no one\nelse capable of bearing the burden of governing them; that the slowness\nof success for which she was blamed, was due to difficulties inherent in\nthe situation, while her recognized sanctity gave her an influence for\ngood that no one else would wield. This was not Mother Duchesne's\nopinion of herself. On the contrary, she thought herself an encumbrance\nand a drawback upon God's work; and again and again, ever since she had\nbeen in America, she had begged to be replaced by some one who would\npossess the virtues and abilities in which she thought herself entirely\nlacking. Bishop Rosati's reply was a great relief to the heart of Mother\nBarat, and Mother Duchesne remained in office for the time being.\n\nThe years immediately following brought the holy Mother many crosses, of\nwhich we can only name the most notable. Mother Regis Hamilton, the\ndearest of her American daughters, had to undergo a severe operation,\naccording to the rude surgical methods of the time. The ravages of the\ncholera in France filled her with anxiety for the fate of the French\nhouses, as also for that of her own relatives and friends, and letters\nwere long in coming.\n\nThe cholera broke out with great violence in St. Michael's, where it\ncarried away five of the community, and finally it reached St. Louis.\nOne morning, after her brief rest, she arose to find every one in the\ncommunity ill except herself. Happily the disease had appeared among\nthem in a milder form, known as cholerine. No one died, but during three\nmonths all the sick suffered from continual relapses. The devoted Mother\nseemed to multiply herself to be able to attend to them all, and at the\nsame time to look after the house. Often she was up the whole night with\nthose who were the more seriously affected. Fortunately, the orphans\nwere spared, and so were the houses of Florissant and St. Charles, but\nMother Duchesne heard, with great desolation of heart, that besides the\nfive religious already mentioned, the pestilence had carried off her old\nfriends, the Abbe Martial, Mgr. de Neckere, first Bishop of New Orleans\nafter the division of the diocese, and twenty priests--an immense loss\nto the Church and to souls.\n\nShe had been compelled to dismiss all her pupils except the orphans, and\nwas consequently obliged to borrow from the bank to meet ordinary\nexpenses. Under the pressure of so many sorrows and trials, Mother\nDuchesne determined to appeal to Heaven by a day of fasting and penance,\nending with an expiatory procession. She and the older orphans made it\nbarefoot and with a rope around their necks, in the old medieval\nfashion. A few days later all the sick were well, and the following week\nshe was able to reopen the school. Another great sorrow was the intense\nsufferings of Mother Octavie Berthold, one of her first companions, whom\na cruel malady was now hurrying to the grave, and who died a holy death\nin November of that same year. During these years, likewise, she heard\nof the closing of her beloved convent of Sainte Marie d'en Haut, in\nGrenoble, while at the same time there was question of closing those of\nFlorissant and St. Charles. Under the weight of these crosses and many\nothers, her affliction was indescribable. In a letter to Mother Barat\nshe gives vent to the anguish of her soul, and with touching humility\nexpresses the fear that her sins are the cause of so many calamities.\n\nBut Mother Duchesne was too heroic a soul ever to be discouraged. She\nset herself to work anew with unflinching fortitude, and went on with\nthe building of an addition to her house. The next year, 1834, had\nopened prosperously with thirty-two boarders, when the cholera broke out\nafresh, and the bankruptcy of several business houses in St. Louis\nreduced their number to one-third. Just at this time Mother Aude was\ncalled to France, and received orders to visit all the houses before\nleaving, that of St. Louis included. A few months later Mother Duchesne\nwas removed to Florissant, while Mother Thieffry took her place at St.\nLouis. We may mention here that the new Superior did not find a way of\novercoming the difficulties of the situation, and several years more\nwent by before the St. Louis house entered upon an era of prosperity.\n\nMother Duchesne resumed her old life at Florissant--a life of prayer,\ntoil and self-immolation. She could be seen engaged in the hardest labor\nof the house, the stables and the grounds, cooking, washing the dishes,\nscouring the kitchen utensils, chopping wood, working in the garden with\nhoe and spade, like an industrious field laborer, sweeping and cleaning\nin the house, and, in fact, taking upon herself, according to her\ninvariable custom, all that was hardest and most repulsive to nature.\nShe took care of the sick herself, and would let no one else sit up with\nthem at night, on the plea that the others needed their rest more than\nshe did. She took entire charge of the sacristy, which, like the care of\nthe sick, was for her a labor of love. She made the morning call and\nnight visit, directed the different schools, and took a share in the\nteaching. Her correspondence was usually done at night, and it was also\nat that time she made up her accounts and prepared the church for great\nfeasts. During the night, likewise, she spent long hours in prayer, in\nher usual motionless attitude before the Tabernacle. Her thoughts were\nall upon God, and her prayer was unceasing. When returning from Holy\nCommunion a nimbus of light was sometimes seen around her head. The mere\nsight of her recalled the presence of God; her intercessory power was\nuniversally recognized, and her words had a wonderful efficacy for\nstrengthening, consoling and enlightening souls.\n\nHer hands were rough and hard, like those of an old farm laborer, and in\nwinter time they were swollen, cracked and bleeding with chilblains. To\navoid offending the eyes of the children, she used to wear, during the\ncold season, mittens which she made of scraps of calico or other stuff,\nsewed together so as to cover them only on the backs, and thus leave\nthem free for work. She wore the same clothes in winter as in summer;\nher habit was so patched with different shades of black, that the\noriginal material could not be distinguished; her shoes were made of\npieces of old carpet, and everything that she made use of for herself\nbore the stamp of her love of poverty, and gave evidence of her contempt\nfor all that the world loves and seeks after. In fact, she presented an\nappearance which, in others, would have seemed grotesque, but which in\nher inspired veneration and awe. The pupils wondered and looked upon her\nas a supernatural being. They were very fond of her, and when they\ncaught sight of her during their recreation hours, they flew to meet her\nlike a flock of birds, and were delighted when they could offer her the\nleast service.\n\nFor her scanty meals she gathered up the scraps and leavings from the\nchildren's refectory; and wherever she lived at any time, she would have\nno other cell than the closet under the stairs. Her mattress was barely\ntwo inches thick, and she was never known to have any other covering for\nher bed but an old funeral pall. She ruled the children with a firm\nhand, but with the affectionate solicitude of a loving and prudent\nmother. She trained them to be strong Christians and lovers of duty.\nThose of her pupils who were called to move in the higher ranks of\nsociety, were noted, not only for their prudence and Christian reserve,\nbut also for their refinement and distinction of manners and language.\nThe poorer children came in for an equal share of her kindness and care,\nand her motherly solicitude followed them after they had gone forth into\nthe world. She had warm friends among the most notable families of St.\nLouis, but Mother Duchesne was no respecter of persons, and the poor\nwere equally welcome, even more so, perhaps, to her time, her counsels,\nher prayers, her sympathy, and her services.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nMISSION TO THE POTTOWATOMIE INDIANS\n\nShe had been six years at Florissant when Mother de Galitzin arrived as\nVisitatrix of the American houses. One of Mother Duchesne's first\npetitions to her was to be deposed from her office of Superior, on her\nusual plea of her total unfitness for it. To the sincerity of her\nestimate of herself, her letters to the Mother Foundress bear ample\ntestimony. In one of them, for instance, she affirms that she was of the\nnature of a servant, \"and,\" she adds, \"it takes more than that to make\none fit to govern others.\" Mother de Galitzin granted her request, and\nsent her to St. Louis to take her place in the ranks as a simple\nreligious. The Superior of the house, Mother Eleonore Gray, was one of\nher former novices. Here, for the first time in her life, and to her\nintense mortification, one of the best private rooms in the house was\nassigned to her, and she was treated with all the respect and deference\ndue to her. It was a heavy trial to her to be waited upon so continually\nand attended to so carefully, especially as it interfered with her dear\npractices of poverty and penance. However, her stay in St. Louis was not\nlong. Early in the year 1841, she had a visit from the great Jesuit\nmissionary, Father de Smet, whom she loved as a most dear son, while he\nrevered and loved her as a mother. One of the first things he always\ndid, when the needs of his missionary work brought him to St. Louis, was\nto visit his holy friend; but this time he had a special object in view.\nHe wanted a foundation of the Religious of the Sacred Heart among the\nPottowatomie Indians, whom the Jesuits had lately taken under their\ncare. This was for the heroic Mother Duchesne like the blast of a\ntrumpet for a warhorse. Her apostolic zeal was ablaze in a moment, and\nher longing to work among the Indians was as ardent as when she listened\nto the discourses of Dom de Lestrange, just thirty-five years\npreviously, day for day; for the Father's visit took place on the Feast\nof Pentecost.\n\nMother Duchesne's eloquent appeals, with those of Father de Smet,\nprevailed with Mother de Galitzin and the Superior General. The\nfoundation was decided upon; and likewise, though after much hesitation,\nMother Duchesne, in compliance with her eager desire, was allowed to be\none of the foundresses. She was seventy-two years old at this time, and\nsuffering from many and painful infirmities, but nothing could dampen\nher ardor; and Father Verhaegen, when consulted about her going had\nsaid, \"Let her come, even though we should have to carry her upon our\nshoulders. Her prayers, her mere presence, will draw down the blessing\nof Heaven upon our Mission.\" The four foundresses were Mother Duchesne,\nMother Lucille Mathevon, who was to be the Superior, another choir\nreligious, and a Canadian lay Sister, who had had some experience in\ndealing with Indians. The whole party was under the leadership of Father\nVerhaegen.\n\nThe Pottowatomies testified their joy at the arrival of the little\nmissionary band by going out to meet them in gala attire and in all\ntheir war paint. The great red circles around their eyes gave them so\nferocious an expression that the nuns were seized with terror, except\nMother Duchesne, who was beaming with joy, like a mother meeting her\nbeloved children after a long separation. The task of the nuns was not\nan easy one. They had to live at first in a hut which one of the Indians\nhad vacated in their favor, and to manage without the most elementary\nconveniences of civilized life; for, grateful as their new charges were,\nthey had not yet been reclaimed from the ways and habits of savage life.\nHer companions experienced a certain revulsion of feeling during the\nfirst few days; but Mother Duchesne herself was in the joy of her soul,\nbecause she was among her dear savages, and because of the poverty and\nexceptional hardships and repulsiveness of her surroundings, which\nresponded to one of the most powerful attractions of grace in her soul.\nIn fact, she had never before enjoyed so much sensible consolation,\nexcept, perhaps, at the time of her admission into the Society of the\nSacred Heart.\n\nShe had hoped to take her share in the work of the little community, and\nshe even set herself courageously to the task of acquiring the language\nof the Pottowatomies, but she only succeeded in learning a few words and\nphrases. These, however, served her in good stead during the winter,\nwhich was severer in those days than it is now. The poor Indians were as\nheedless and as lacking in foresight as children, and did not know how\nto take care of themselves. Many of them fell sick of throat and lung\ndiseases, and nearly one hundred of them died, in spite of the best\nefforts of the Fathers and the nuns. During this time Mother Duchesne\nwas very assiduous in her care of them, visiting them in their miserable\nhuts, assisting and consoling them in their sufferings, and helping them\nto die piously. At the same time she prayed ardently for these dear\nchildren of her heart. They were touched beyond measure and would have\nlaid down their lives for her. To give expression to their gratitude and\nadmiration, they offered her the best things they could find--living\nbirds, which they trapped, meat from their hunting, dried pumpkin, ears\nof new corn, when it was in season, and eggs from the nests of the\nprairie hens. They were delighted when they could offer these gifts to\nthe \"Great Queen of the Great Spirit,\" as they called her. The other\nnuns were \"Queens of the Great Spirit,\" she was the \"Great Queen.\" But\nthey also had another name for her. They were struck with her appearance\nin prayer, and impressed by her intense recollection and the length of\ntime she devoted to it. As her weakness increased so that she was\ncompelled to give up her active work by degrees, she prolonged her\nprayer, spending many hours every day before the Blessed Sacrament, in\nher well-known motionless attitude. The Indians seeing her thus were\nfilled with awe, and looking upon her as a being more than human, they\ncalled her by a name which meant \"the woman who always prays.\" They\nwould steal up to her, and kneeling down they would reverently kiss the\nhem of her dress, and then withdraw as noiseless as shadows, fearing to\ndisturb her communings with the Great Spirit. Mother de Galitzin found\nher very much prostrated when she visited the mission, in the spring of\n1842, but seeing her so happy where she was, she had not the heart to\nremove her. Four months later, however, Bishop Peter Richard Kenrick,\nCoadjutor of St. Louis, having arrived there for his pastoral\nvisitation, and finding her so exhausted, declared that to leave her\nthere would be to condemn her to a speedy death, and resolved to take\nher back with him. This was the matter of a heroic sacrifice on her\npart, especially as she herself did not realize its necessity; but\nseeing that his mind was made up, she obeyed with a good grace. He took\nher to St. Charles, where she was welcomed with great rejoicings; but\nher Indians never forgot her, and the religious who went later to share\nin the labors of the mission, could bear testimony to the veneration in\nwhich she was held among them. Nor did she lose any of the interest she\nhad always felt in them. She continued to pray for them, appealing\nespecially in their favor to her great patron, St. Francis Regis.\nMoreover, she used all her influence in obtaining supplies for the\nmission, sending them clothes and bed quilts, which she made herself, as\nalso whatever suitable articles of piety were given to her by her\nfriends.\n\nAt St. Charles, Mother Duchesne had the consolation of finding the\noffice of Superior held by Mother Regis Hamilton, the dearest of the\ndaughters she had trained in the way of perfection. She could no longer\ndo any hard work as of old, but she employed her remaining strength in\nthe service of God and of the community. She presided at the studies of\nthe children preparatory to their classes; she taught the catechism to\nthose of the servants who were without proper religious instruction, and\nprepared them for the sacraments. She was often seen engaged in the\nlighter household labors, and even in the garden when the weather was\nfavorable. Long after her death the nuns could point out the trees she\nhad planted with her own hands. We have already mentioned her occupation\nin making quilts for the Indians, and the same service she rendered also\nto the orphans of the St. Louis house. Her spirit of mortification\nshowed no decrease as she grew in years. Indeed, it seemed to have\nreached the limit of possibility even from her youth, and Mother\nHamilton wisely refrained from interfering with habits which, through\nlong practice, had become a second nature. Many pages might be filled\nwith touching anecdotes illustrating her regularity, humility,\nobedience, zeal, and all the religious virtues she practised in so\nheroic a degree. She spent, as usual, long hours in the chapel in\nprayer; and on Sundays, Feast-days, First Fridays, and all Exposition\ndays, she scarcely left it at all. So notable was her assiduity that the\npeople of the town designated her as the \"Sister of the Blessed\nSacrament.\" Here also she was sometimes seen with a supernatural light\nforming a halo around her head, or shining upon her face.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nAFFECTION FOR MOTHER BARAT\n\nHer life, to all outward appearances, flowed on quietly enough at St.\nCharles, but it was marked by several heavy crosses. The one which\ncaused her the bitterest affliction, and weighed upon her longest was\nthe suspension of Mother Barat's correspondence. It began at the time of\nher return from the Pottowatomie Mission, 1842, and lasted until 1847.\nHer letters, all but one, reached Mother Barat; but the first two\nwritten after her arrival at St. Charles having remained unanswered, she\nthought herself in disgrace with her Mother General, to whom she had\nalways been so tenderly united, and did not venture to write again\nexcept on one or two important occasions. The silence of Mother Barat,\nor the suppression of her letters to Mother Duchesne, if it really took\nplace, is a mystery which will probably never be explained. The Superior\nGeneral had no reason for displeasure against her old friend and one of\nher dearest daughters; nor was there any one, either in the Mother House\nor in St. Charles who could have any motive for intercepting her\nletters, or was capable of conduct so unworthy and so cruel. The motive\nwhich led Mother Duchesne to write to Mother Barat in 1843, and again in\n1846, was to save the houses of St. Charles and Florissant from the\nsuppression with which they were threatened. The former escaped, but the\nlatter was closed, to the great sorrow of the holy mother, who grieved\nnot from personal motives, but because of the loss it would entail upon\nthe poorer people of the town, since it was the only Catholic school in\nthe place. From the beginning the house of Florissant had been scarcely\nsupporting itself; and Reverend Mother Cutts, the Vicar, thought it\nbetter to close it, and so strengthen the other two communities.\n\nIn 1847 a business affair required Mother Duchesne to write to the\nMother House. This time, not venturing to address Mother Barat in\nperson, she directed her letter to one of the Assistants General, who\nwas well known to her; but her anguish of soul was too keen not to find\nexpression in it. The kind heart of the Mother General was filled with\nsympathy and compassion; and as she was about to send to America, Mother\nAloysia Jouve, a niece of Mother Duchesne, she directed her to go to St.\nCharles immediately on arriving, in order to comfort her aunt by her\npresence. At the same time she made her the bearer of a letter full of\nthe warmest affection. Mother Duchesne's joy and gratitude were in\nproportion to the bitterness of her past sorrow, and for the remaining\nyears of her life, her correspondence with her beloved Mother General\nwas all that her faithful heart could desire. The latter often sent her\npresents, which she knew the aged Mother would be happy to bestow upon\nthe other houses, or upon the Indians, or upon the poor.\n\nDuring the latter years of her life, many of her most valued friends,\nboth in France and in America, passed into their eternity, among others\nFather Van Quickenborne, and Bishops Dubourg and Rosati, with whom,\nduring so many years, she had borne the heat and the burden of the day,\nin the harvest field of her Missouri mission. Several times, also,\nduring those years, she was tried by severe illness, to say nothing of\nthe infirmities which overtook her after her arrival in America, and\ncaused her a great deal of suffering without impairing her wonderful\nactivity or inducing her to relax either in her austerities or in her\ndevotions. As she advanced in years, though growing naturally weaker,\nshe was never idle for a moment. When not on her knees in the chapel,\nshe was busy knitting, seated with a prayer-book open before her, in her\nnarrow cell, which to her great consolation, was separated from the\nchapel only by a partition wall. Sometimes, when the weather was fine,\nshe would go and sit under an old pear-tree in the garden with her\nknitting. This she would lay down now and then to take up her French\nhymn book, and with a weak and quavering voice, she would sing the\nbeautiful hymns she had always loved. One of them, entitled \"Beau Ciel,\"\nwas her favorite, for it gave expression to the longing of her soul for\nher eternal home.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nLAST DAYS\n\nHer dear Mother Regis Hamilton, whom she had found as Superior at St.\nCharles, on her return from the Pottowatomie Mission, was replaced three\nyears later and sent to Canada. The aged Mother missed her greatly, and\nwhen Mother Barat asked her at a later period, what she could do to give\nher pleasure, she begged for the return of Mother Regis, though, with\nher usual disinterestedness, it was for the benefit of the community\nrather than her own, that she desired it. Her petition was granted, and\non New Year's Day, 1852, it was with great joy and consolation that she\nwelcomed back her beloved daughter. Mother Regis was pained to find her\nvenerable Mother so worn and weak; but the joy of the latter on having\nher dear Mother Regis with her again, together with the tender and\ntactful care with which she was surrounded, restored her strength to\nsome extent and probably prolonged her life for a while.\n\nTwo other consolations were given her at this time. She learned that\nMother du Rousier was coming to the United States as Visitatrix, and\nthat Father Verhaegen, who for twenty years had had all her confidence,\nwas come to St. Charles as resident pastor. During the following summer\nshe was seized with a violent fever which, though soon broken, left her\nso debilitated that it was thought prudent to anoint her. The next\nmorning, with her usual energy and fortitude, she wrote three letters;\none to Mother Barat, another to her sister, and a third to Father de\nSmet. She realized that her end was now very near, and she longed for\nthe moment that would unite her to the God she had so ardently loved,\nand so faithfully served during the whole of her long career. But she\nawaited the call with the utmost patience and serenity of soul. She\nstill spent a great deal of time on her knees, after her usual fashion,\nbefore the Tabernacle, where she was now and then taken with a spell of\nweakness. Those who happened to be at hand would help her out, but as\nsoon as she had recovered she would return to her prayer as before.\n\nTo the last Mother Regis Hamilton was a ministering angel to her,\nrendering her all the personal services, that nothing but her weakness\nand exhaustion would have induced her to accept. She lived, as it were,\nin an atmosphere of peace, gratitude and love, humble, simple and docile\nas a little child. Faithful to her habits of mortification, she would\nnot consent to have a fire lighted in the little stove that had been\nplaced in her room, even when the chilly autumn days had come.\n\nOn the 17th of November, Mother du Rousier arrived, after traveling in\ngreat haste over a long distance, and by very bad roads. Their meeting\nand the long and intimate communication that took place between these\ntwo holy souls was a great consolation to both, and a source of light\nand strength for Mother du Rousier in her great mission of foundress of\nthe Society of the Sacred Heart in South America. A little combat of\nhumility terminated the interview, each claiming a blessing from the\nother, and considering that it was not her place to give hers to any one\nso far above her. The touching contest ended in a compromise, and\ntogether they blessed each other. Then after exchanging their profession\ncrosses, they parted, looking forward to a future meeting in the realms\nof the Blessed. Twenty-eight years went by before that happy meeting\ntook place.\n\nMother Duchesne had taken to her bed only the day before the greatly\ndesired visit, and no one thought that her release was so immediately at\nhand. For this reason it was that Mother du Rousier, who had interrupted\npressing business to hasten to her bedside, left the same day, November\n17. The following night the venerable patient was very restless. She\ncould not sleep, but kept repeating prayers with acts of faith, hope,\ncharity and contrition. Early in the succeeding forenoon, Father\nVerhaegen came to give her the last Sacraments and the indulgence _in\narticulo mortis_. She continued to sink visibly from hour to hour, but\nkept again and again repeating her prayers with the greatest ardor until\nexhaustion would compel her to stop. Then she would murmur expressions\nof gratitude for the charity of Mother Hamilton and the community.\nFinally, she remained for a considerable time perfectly calm and united\nto God, whispering once in a while the ejaculation, \"Jesus, Mary and\nJoseph, I give you my heart, my soul, and my life.\" At last, at noon\nexactly, on November 18th, 1852, her pulse ceased to beat, and all was\nover.\n\nThe Religious felt that in her they had lost a treasure of holiness, a\nshining model of the most heroic virtues, and they could find\nconsolation only in the thought that, in her also, they had henceforth a\npowerful protectress in Heaven. The news of her decease spread rapidly\nthroughout St. Charles and the surrounding country, profoundly stirring\nall hearts. \"The Saint is dead!\" \"Oh, what a loss for us!\" were the\nexclamations heard on all sides. The Religious and pupils who, with\ngreat emotion, knelt in prayer about her remains were struck with the\nlook of celestial serenity and happiness upon her features. Mother\nHamilton, convinced that she would one day be canonized, wished to\npreserve her portrait for posterity. The only artist in the place was a\nMr. Le Faivre, who was in the last stages of tuberculosis and confined\nto his bed; but such was his veneration for the holy Mother, that he had\nhimself dressed and carried over to the convent in an armchair. There he\ntook the ambrotype picture of her which is still extant, and then he was\ncarried home again to die a few days later.\n\nThe funeral took place on the 20th, and was attended by a vast concourse\nof people from St. Louis, St. Charles, and all the country around.\nMother Hamilton, having still in view her future canonization, buried\nher, not in the common cemetery, but quite near the church adjoining the\nconvent, and upon the slope of the low hill on which it stands. Some\ntime after the crowd had dispersed, a poor woman whom Mother Duchesne\nhad often assisted in many ways, came running to the house full of\njoyful excitement. Her story was soon told. She had lingered weeping and\npraying near the new-made grave, when suddenly she had thought of asking\nMother Duchesne to intercede for her, that she might be freed from an\ninveterate and incurable malady that had been tormenting her for years.\nNo sooner had she uttered her petition than she was instantaneously and\ncompletely cured. Many other cures and graces of various kinds similarly\nobtained, contributed to confirm Mother Duchesne's reputation for heroic\nsanctity, and to inspire confidence in her intercession.\n\nThree years after her death, there was question of opening a street\nthrough the convent grounds. This would have separated from the house\nthe spot where the holy religious was buried. Mother Jacquet, who was\nthen Superior, determined to remove the precious remains to a little\noratory to be built quite close to the entrance from the street in\nfront. When the grave was opened, the lid of the cedar coffin was found\nto be in a decayed condition, and the coffin itself was full of mud and\nwater; but the body was so perfectly preserved that every feature was\nrecognizable, and an ambrotype could again be taken, October 23, 1855.\nThis first exhumation was rendered more memorable by a signal\noccurrence, which caused a great sensation in the general public. This\nwas the cure of a Mrs. Anne King, who was suffering from a cancer that\nhad already eaten away a considerable part of her face. The application\nof a relic of Mother Duchesne caused it to disappear completely, leaving\nher face in its natural condition. Mrs. King was from Portage des Sioux,\na village thirteen miles from St. Charles, and the story of her\nwonderful cure is one of the traditions connected with the name of the\nholy Mother.\n\nTwenty years later, the little oratory needed repairs, and it was\nthought advisable to ascertain the condition of the remains. This time,\nnothing was found but a considerable part of the bones, and a quantity\nof ashes. These were transferred with all the ceremonies appointed by\nthe Church for such occasions, to an iron coffer, about a yard in\nlength, which was placed in the vault under the floor of the oratory,\nJune 13, 1876.\n\nThe third exhumation took place on January 28, 1896, on the occasion of\nthe canonical authentication of the remains, which was to close the\nOrdinary Process, begun in St. Louis, in May, 1895. They were found just\nas they were when placed in the iron coffer twenty years previously,\nexcept that the latter was full to the brim of water as pure as if it\nhad been distilled. This water was drained off and carefully kept; and\nby the use of it several cures were obtained, one of them a case of\ntuberculosis in its last stage. After the ceremony, the remains were\nrestored to their resting place as before. A fourth exhumation will take\nplace at the close of the Apostolic Process begun at Rome in April of\n1911.\n\nBy the approbation of the Ordinary Process, and the regular introduction\nof her cause, December 8, 1909, Mother Duchesne became entitled to the\nappellation of the Venerable Servant of God, Philippine Duchesne.\n\nA few words before closing, concerning the work of Venerable Mother\nDuchesne. We have seen that she had personally founded six houses, three\nin Missouri and three in Louisiana, and also that the mission among the\nPottowatomies, was due in a great measure to her prayers and exertions.\nJust at the time of this last foundation, the Society of the Sacred\nHeart entered upon a period of rapid expansion, and when the venerable\nMother died, ten years later, it already counted sixteen houses in the\nUnited States and Canada; while now, there are twenty-seven in the\nformer country, and five in the latter. But the great tree, of which\nMother Duchesne was the vigorous root, spread its branches still\nfurther. For she it was who had enkindled the sacred fire of the\napostolic spirit in the heart of Mother du Rousier who, in the designs\nof God, was to be the pioneer of the Sacred Heart in the vast regions of\nSouth America.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nSOME FRUITS OF HER WORK\n\nWhen Mother Duchesne with her companions, was on her way to Bordeaux to\ntake passage for the New World, she stopped at the convent of Poitiers.\nThere, as everywhere, her enterprise excited the deepest interest and\nadmiration. The children were, of course, eager to see and hear her;\nand, in the youthful crowd that gathered around her full of expectancy,\nthere was one child, not yet in her 'teens, broad-browed, and with eyes\nfull of earnest thoughtfulness. As she listened to the burning words of\nthe missionary, she caught the glow of her holy enthusiasm, and felt\nthat she too would one day be called to follow in her footsteps. This\nchild was Anna du Rousier. When next she saw Mother Duchesne, it was at\nthe deathbed of the latter, as already related. When she came to\nAmerica, it was with the understanding that, after giving a year to the\nvisitation of the houses of the Society, she would proceed to South\nAmerica, and see how conditions were in various places of that part of\nthe world, where foundations had been asked for. It can not be doubted\nthat she earnestly recommended her future mission to Mother Duchesne,\nand received from her a fervent promise that she would intercede for it.\nThe year following her deathbed interview with the saintly Mother she\nreceived orders to set out for Santiago de Chili under the guidance and\nprotection of a small company of Chilian priests bound for that city,\nand to begin a foundation there. When this order reached her, God\npermitted that she should be seized with so violent a repugnance for\nthis mission that, though she did not for a moment think of offering any\nobjections, it was only after spending an entire night on her knees\nbefore the Blessed Sacrament, in agonized struggles and supplications to\nher Divine Master, that He stilled the tempest of temptation, and gave\nher the victory. Mother du Rousier was a character of heroic type,\nworthy of a place beside even such women as Mother Barat and her great\ndaughter, Mother Duchesne. It was after a long and dangerous journey,\nwith Mother Mary McNally, an American professed from the New York\nVicariate, and one lay sister, that she reached her destination, and\nbegan the foundation at Santiago in 1853. At her death in 1880, two\nyears after celebrating its silver jubilee, she left five houses, four\nin Chili and one in Peru, while a sixth was in preparation in the city\nof Buenos Aires. At the present time there are two Vicariates on the\nSouth American continent, and a house at Bogota, in the Republic of\nColombia.\n\nWe have still to speak of two other offshoots, sprung from the same root\nas the North and South American Vicariates. These are the Vicariates of\nMexico and Oceania. The former is due, under the direction of the\nSuperior General of the Society, to the enterprise and devotedness of\nthe then Vicar of Louisiana, Reverend Mother Elizabeth Moran, at that\ntime residing in Grand Coteau, Mother Duchesne's second foundation, of\nwhich she had been a pupil. With a few companions from her own\nVicariate, she began the foundation of Mexico in 1882. About seventeen\nyears later when she was removed to another field of labor, she left\nbehind her a fully organized Vicariate comprising eight houses,\nincluding two in Havana and one in Puerto Rico, all founded by herself\nexcept the boarding-school of Havana, which was the work of that other\ngreat religious, Mother Aloysia Hardey, who was herself a pupil of Grand\nCoteau, and the foundress of most of the Eastern houses of the Society.\n\nPerhaps the most remarkable of the Religious of the Sacred Heart trained\nby Mother Duchesne in person, was Mother Anna Shannon, who was such a\npower in Louisiana, especially during the Civil War. She was then in\ncharge of the Vice-Vicariate of Louisiana and resided in St. Michael's,\nwhile not far away, also fronting the Mississippi River, stood the\nold-time Jefferson College, which the calamities of the time had closed.\nThe war was not yet over when it was reopened by a band of French Marist\nFathers, invited by Bishop Odin, and Madame Shannon, as she was\ngenerally called, with the warmhearted liberality that characterized\nher, gave them every assistance in her power. They became the chaplains\nof the convent, and were the kindest of neighbors. Ten or twelve years\nlater, Father Chataignier, one of the Fathers who had reopened the\ncollege, was engaged in missionary work in New Zealand. Having been\nconsulted by Archbishop Redwood of Wellington, as to the religious\nCongregation to which it would be advisable to entrust the academy for\ngirls he wished to found in his diocese, the good Father at once\nproposed the Society of the Sacred Heart. The negotiations which\nfollowed resulted in the foundation of Timaru, made in person by\nReverend Mother Suzanna Boudreau, who had also been educated at Grand\nCoteau, and had succeeded Reverend Mother Anna Shannon as Vicar of\nLouisiana. At this time, however, she was in charge of the Vicariate of\nthe West and toward the end of 1879 she set out with a little band of\nher own daughters, for the first foundation of the Society of the Sacred\nHeart in Oceania. Mother Boudreau was to have returned to St. Louis as\nsoon as it was organized; but early in the following year, an acute\nlaryngitis carried her off in a few days. This sorrowful event placed\nthe stamp of the cross upon the new-born foundation, which has since\ngrown into a Vicariate of ten houses, including the two recently\nestablished day schools in Japan, at Tokio and Kobe.\n\nSixty years have gone by since Venerable Mother Duchesne was laid away\nto rest, close to the old \"Rock Church\" adjoining the convent of St.\nCharles; but she still lives in the memory of the people among whom she\ntoiled, and prayed, and suffered. In the convent, the staircase that cut\noff a large corner of her cell has been removed to another place; and\nthat narrow little room, still known as \"Mother Duchesne's Cell,\" has\nbeen converted into a sanctuary in which are kept all the mementoes of\nthe holy mother, which have not found their way elsewhere. Conspicuous\namong those remaining at the convent, is the picture of St. Francis\nRegis, which in fulfillment of a vow, she had placed above the altar of\nthe Church at Florissant. In the community, her virtues are still\nrecalled, and her actions recounted. The little oratory in the front\ngarden, often sees the religious on their knees in prayer, beside her\ntomb, and it is likewise piously frequented by people of the town, and\nof the neighboring country, as also by pilgrims from St. Louis and\nelsewhere. Her name is a household word among the Catholics of Missouri,\nand her pupils and their descendants have borne it with them, wherever\nthe vicissitudes of life have carried them. Even the remnants of the\nPottowatomie tribe, now located in the Indian Territory, still speak\nwith veneration of \"The woman who prays always,\" whom it was the\nhappiness of their grandfathers to have known. She is one of the\ntraditions of the country, and has left a stamp upon it so strongly\nmarked that even the casual traveler, if at all observant, can not fail\nto notice it. Catholic France has had a very considerable share in the\nupbuilding of the Catholic Church in this country, through the labors of\nso many heroic missionaries whom she sent out to us, even in the midst\nof her struggles against persecution at home. And among the many gifts\nby which she has acquired a title to the gratitude of American\nCatholics, one of the greatest was the Venerable Philippine Duchesne.\n\n\n\nTHE FRANK MEANY CO., PRINTERS. INC., NEW YORK","title":"Venerable Philippine Duchesne: A Brief Sketch of the Life and Work of the Foundress of the Society of the Sacred Heart in America","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":13505}