Saint of the Day Online - St Rose Philippine Duchesne
Saint of the day online, Saturday, November 18, 2017
18-11-2017
Saint Name: St Rose Philippine Duchesne
Place: France
Birth: 1769
Death: 1852
Feast: November 18
St Rose Philippine Duchesne who was born on August 29, 1769 was a French Religious Sister and educator. Along with the foundress, Madeleine-Sophie Barat, she was a prominent early member of the Religious Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and founded the congregation's first communities in the United States.
She spent the last half of her life teaching and serving the people of the Midwestern United States, then the western frontier of the nation.
She was born in Grenoble, then the capital of the ancient Province of the Dauphiné in the Kingdom of France, the second of seven daughters, along with one son. Her father, Pierre-François Duchesne (1748-1797), was a prominent lawyer during the Day of the Tiles. Her mother, Rose-Euphrosine Périer (1743-1814), was the sister of Claude Périer, an industrialist who later helped finance the rise to power of Napoleon. Claude Périer's son, Casimir, later a Prime Minister of France, was the grandfather of Jean Casimir-Perier, a President of France. The Duchesne family lived in the Château de Vizille, the Périer family home outside of the city, as did Claude and his family. Together, the two couples had 20 children.
After surviving a bout of small pox which left her slightly scarred, in 1781 Rose Duchesne and her cousin Josephine were sent to be educated in the Monastery of Sainte-Marie-d'en-Haut (known for the social status of its members), located on a mountainside near Grenoble, by the community of Visitandine nuns. When she began to show a strong attraction to the monastic life, her father withdrew her from the monastery school the following year and had her tutored with her cousins in the family home. In 1788 she made the decision to enter the Visitation of Holy Mary religious order, despite her family's opposition. She convinced an aunt to accompany her on a visit to the monastery, where she immediately requested admission, leaving her aunt to return home without her and to tell her father what happened.
Her biographers have also stressed her courage in frontier conditions, her singlemindedness in pursuing her dream of serving Native Americans, and her self-acceptance. This holy servant of God was beatified by Pope Pius XII in 1940 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988.