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Bl. Rosalie Rendu
February 7, Blessed


Source: Catholicsaints.info



Daughter of Charity


Roman Martyrology: In the city of Paris in France, Blessed Rosalie Rendu, virgin of the Daughters of Charity, who worked tirelessly in a housing of the poorest suburbs of the city, prepared as shelter for needy , visiting their homes to the poor. In times of civil strife he worked for peace and convinced many young and rich to be devote to charity.
Beatification date: 9 November 2003 by Pope John Paul II.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY


She was born,  September 9, 1786 at Confort, Gex, France as Jeanne Marie Rendu. Eldest of four daughters in a middle class mountain family. When she was three years old, the French Revolution broke out. Priests loyal to Rome were expelled, killed, or chased into hiding. Jeanne’s family hid those who stayed to minister to French Catholics, claiming that they were hired farm hands; the girl made her First Communion in her basement at a Mass celebrated by one of these covert priests. Her father died on  May 12, 1796 when Jean Marie was nine years old, and her baby sister a few months later. She was educated for two years at an Ursuline boarding school in Gex, France.

As a young girl, Jean Marie began working with the Daughters of Charity at the local hospital. On May  25, 1802, at the age of16, she entered the congregation at the motherhouse of the Daughters of Charity in Paris, France, taking the name Rosalie. The intensity of her new devotional life harmed her health, and she was transferred to the house in the Mouffetard District, one of the poorest in 19th century Paris; she worked in the slum for 54 years. She worked with the sick and poor, taught catechism, and taught girls to read. Superior of her community in 1815.



She started a free clinic, pharmacy, school, orphanage, child-care center, youth club for young workers, and a home for the elderly poor. Awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honor by Napoleon III in 1852 for her charitable work; she wanted to refuse, as she sought no personal honor, but was ordered by her superiors to accept it. Blind during the last two years of her life.

She died February 7, 1856 at Paris, France of natural causes.

 








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