Oct. 6 Bl. Marie Rose Durocher. apostleshipofprayer on Oct 3, 2009 Reflection for 10/6More
patrioteduro
- Report
Change comment
Remove comment
(Quatre-fois-arrière-grande-cousine de Daniel)
Sœur Marie-Rose Durocher baptisée Mélanie-Eulalie Durocher, (dite Mère Marie-Rose), fondatrice et première supérieure des Sœurs des Saints-Noms de Jésus et de Marie au Canada, est née le 6 octobre 1811 à Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, Bas-Canada, (fille d'Olivier-Amable Durocher et de Geneviève Durocher). Elle décéda le jour de sa fête, à l'âge …More
(Quatre-fois-arrière-grande-cousine de Daniel)
Sœur Marie-Rose Durocher baptisée Mélanie-Eulalie Durocher, (dite Mère Marie-Rose), fondatrice et première supérieure des Sœurs des Saints-Noms de Jésus et de Marie au Canada, est née le 6 octobre 1811 à Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, Bas-Canada, (fille d'Olivier-Amable Durocher et de Geneviève Durocher). Elle décéda le jour de sa fête, à l'âge de 38 ans, le 6 octobre 1849, à Longueuil.
Eulalie Durocher était la dixième d'une famille de 10 enfants dont 3 moururent en bas âge. Son père, riche cultivateur, avait fait une partie de ses études classiques, et sa mère avait reçu une formation des plus soignées chez les ursulines de Québec. Tous les deux étaient donc en mesure d'assurer à leurs enfants une éducation de qualité.
Les frères d'Eulalie, Flavien, Théophile et Eusèbe, accédèrent à la prêtrise, et l'une de ses sœurs, Séraphine, devint religieuse chez les sœurs de la Congrégation de Notre-Dame.
Pour sa part, Eulalie ne fréquenta pas l'école de son village; c'est à la maison que son grand-père paternel, Olivier Durocher , milicien distingué et érudit, se constitua son maître. Toutefois, à la mort de ce dernier en 1821, la fillette entra comme pensionnaire au couvent de Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu, que tenaient les sœurs de la Congrégation de Notre-Dame. Elle revint à la maison après sa première communion, soit à l?âge de 12 ans, et bénéficia à domicile d?un nouvel enseignement privé sous la direction de l'abbé Jean-Marie-Ignace Archambault, professeur au collège de Saint-Hyacinthe. Désireuse de se consacrer à Dieu dans la vie religieuse, elle entra en 1827 au pensionnat des sœurs de la Congrégation de Notre-Dame à Montréal dans l'intention d'y faire par la suite son noviciat, à l'instar de sa sœur Séraphine. Mais après deux années d'études, entrecoupées de longues périodes de repos, elle dut renoncer à son projet de vie religieuse à cause de sa mauvaise santé. Elle réintégra son foyer pour attendre alors l'heure de Dieu.
À la mort de sa mère en 1830, Eulalie recueillit l'héritage maternel et devint l'âme de la famille. Douée d'un tempérament ardent, facilement impérieuse, profondément pieuse, elle exerçait un ascendant particulier sur les personnes qui l'entouraient. Son frère Théophile, curé de la paroisse Saint-Mathieu, à Belœil, réussit à convaincre son père de quitter la ferme ancestrale pour venir s'installer au presbytère de Belœil, dont Eulalie sera du même coup la gouvernante de 1831 à 1843. Dans le va-et-vient de ce presbytère très fréquenté, la vocation d'Eulalie se dessina peu à peu. On y discutait aisément des problèmes de l'heure, autant politiques, éducatifs que religieux. La jeune gouvernante, intéressée, prit conscience du besoin urgent de rendre l'instruction accessible aux enfants des campagnes, les pauvres autant que les riches.
En raison de la pénurie d?écoles et de maîtres, la situation était alarmante; elle se mit alors à rêver d'une communauté religieuse qui pourrait facilement multiplier ses couvents. Aussi en 1841, quand le curé de Longueuil, Louis-Moïse Brassard, fit appel aux Sœurs des Saints-Noms de Jésus et de Marie de Marseille, en France, Eulalie s'inscrivit à l'avance, avec son amie Mélodie Dufresne, comme novice de cette congrégation. Cependant, les sœurs de France se désistèrent. L’Évêque de Marseille, Mgr Charles-Joseph-Eugène de Mazenod, fondateur des oblats de Marie-Immaculée, conseilla alors à l'Évêque de Montréal, Mgr Ignace Bourget, d'instaurer, avec les deux femmes désireuses de faire partie du groupe attendu de France, un embryon de communauté religieuse. Dans l'intervalle, un premier contingent d'oblats, dont faisait partie le père Adrien Telmon, arriva à Montréal. Ce dernier vint à Belœil pour y donner des missions populaires; il ne tarda pas à reconnaître en Eulalie une éducatrice d'âmes capable de rassembler des émules et de les guider dans les voies spirituelles. Il l'encouragea sans hésiter à fonder une communauté religieuse typiquement canadienne vouée à l'éducation de la jeunesse. Sous la direction des oblats de Marie-Immaculée, les trois premières aspirantes, Eulalie Durocher, Mélodie Dufresne et Henriette Céré, commencèrent à se former à la vie religieuse en octobre 1843. Elles s'installèrent à Longueuil dans un immeuble qui servait d'école et où Henriette Céré était institutrice.
La Bienheureuse Mère Marie-Rose (Eulalie Durocher (1811-1849) www.snjm.org/French2/historiemileMMRfr.htm
Le 28 février 1844, Mgr Bourget présida la célébration de la prise d'habit des trois femmes. Eulalie devint sœur Marie-Rose dans la communauté qui adopta le nom et les constitutions des Sœurs des Saints-Noms de Jésus et de Marie de Marseille. Le 8 décembre suivant, dans l'église paroissiale, Mgr Bourget reçut les vœux de religion des trois femmes. Sœur Marie-Rose devint alors supérieure, maîtresse des novices et dépositaire. Les épreuves ne manquèrent pas à mère Marie-Rose. Les démêlés de sa communauté avec l'abbé Charles Chiniquy ne furent pas les moindres. Celui-ci, qui était entré au noviciat des oblats en 1846, voulut prendre en main la direction pédagogique des écoles q?avaient établies les Sœurs des Saints-Noms de Jésus et de Marie. Devant les fins de non-recevoir de la clairvoyante supérieure, il discrédita publiquement la communauté. Malgré les orages, mère Marie-Rose tint bon.
Femme d'une exceptionnelle vertu, très unie au Seigneur, éducatrice à nulle autre pareille, elle donna à la communauté une impulsion que le temps n'a pas arrêtée. À son décès, le 6 octobre 1849, le jour de ses 38 ans, la communauté comptait déjà 30 professes, 7 novices, 7 postulantes et 448 élèves réparties dans 4 couvents. Au lendemain des funérailles, Mgr Bourget disait aux sœurs endeuillées : Je vous avoue dans toute la sincérité de mon cœur, que j'ai été tout à fait ému en voyant tant de vertus réunies dans une seule âme. Je l'ai priée de m'obtenir la même ardeur pour gouverner mon diocèse, qu'elle avait pour vous diriger.
En 1880, Bourget affirmait : Je l'invoque en mon particulier comme une sainte et j'?espère que le Seigneur la glorifiera devant les hommes, en lui faisant décerner par l'Église les honneurs de l'autel.
Ce dernier souhait fut exaucé le dimanche 23 mai 1982, lorsqu'en la place Saint-Pierre de Rome, devant une foule immense, Jean-Paul II proclama Bienheureuse Marie-Rose Durocher.
Sœur Marie-Rose Durocher baptisée Mélanie-Eulalie Durocher, (dite Mère Marie-Rose), fondatrice et première supérieure des Sœurs des Saints-Noms de Jésus et de Marie au Canada, est née le 6 octobre 1811 à Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, Bas-Canada, (fille d'Olivier-Amable Durocher et de Geneviève Durocher). Elle décéda le jour de sa fête, à l'âge de 38 ans, le 6 octobre 1849, à Longueuil.
Eulalie Durocher était la dixième d'une famille de 10 enfants dont 3 moururent en bas âge. Son père, riche cultivateur, avait fait une partie de ses études classiques, et sa mère avait reçu une formation des plus soignées chez les ursulines de Québec. Tous les deux étaient donc en mesure d'assurer à leurs enfants une éducation de qualité.
Les frères d'Eulalie, Flavien, Théophile et Eusèbe, accédèrent à la prêtrise, et l'une de ses sœurs, Séraphine, devint religieuse chez les sœurs de la Congrégation de Notre-Dame.
Pour sa part, Eulalie ne fréquenta pas l'école de son village; c'est à la maison que son grand-père paternel, Olivier Durocher , milicien distingué et érudit, se constitua son maître. Toutefois, à la mort de ce dernier en 1821, la fillette entra comme pensionnaire au couvent de Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu, que tenaient les sœurs de la Congrégation de Notre-Dame. Elle revint à la maison après sa première communion, soit à l?âge de 12 ans, et bénéficia à domicile d?un nouvel enseignement privé sous la direction de l'abbé Jean-Marie-Ignace Archambault, professeur au collège de Saint-Hyacinthe. Désireuse de se consacrer à Dieu dans la vie religieuse, elle entra en 1827 au pensionnat des sœurs de la Congrégation de Notre-Dame à Montréal dans l'intention d'y faire par la suite son noviciat, à l'instar de sa sœur Séraphine. Mais après deux années d'études, entrecoupées de longues périodes de repos, elle dut renoncer à son projet de vie religieuse à cause de sa mauvaise santé. Elle réintégra son foyer pour attendre alors l'heure de Dieu.
À la mort de sa mère en 1830, Eulalie recueillit l'héritage maternel et devint l'âme de la famille. Douée d'un tempérament ardent, facilement impérieuse, profondément pieuse, elle exerçait un ascendant particulier sur les personnes qui l'entouraient. Son frère Théophile, curé de la paroisse Saint-Mathieu, à Belœil, réussit à convaincre son père de quitter la ferme ancestrale pour venir s'installer au presbytère de Belœil, dont Eulalie sera du même coup la gouvernante de 1831 à 1843. Dans le va-et-vient de ce presbytère très fréquenté, la vocation d'Eulalie se dessina peu à peu. On y discutait aisément des problèmes de l'heure, autant politiques, éducatifs que religieux. La jeune gouvernante, intéressée, prit conscience du besoin urgent de rendre l'instruction accessible aux enfants des campagnes, les pauvres autant que les riches.
En raison de la pénurie d?écoles et de maîtres, la situation était alarmante; elle se mit alors à rêver d'une communauté religieuse qui pourrait facilement multiplier ses couvents. Aussi en 1841, quand le curé de Longueuil, Louis-Moïse Brassard, fit appel aux Sœurs des Saints-Noms de Jésus et de Marie de Marseille, en France, Eulalie s'inscrivit à l'avance, avec son amie Mélodie Dufresne, comme novice de cette congrégation. Cependant, les sœurs de France se désistèrent. L’Évêque de Marseille, Mgr Charles-Joseph-Eugène de Mazenod, fondateur des oblats de Marie-Immaculée, conseilla alors à l'Évêque de Montréal, Mgr Ignace Bourget, d'instaurer, avec les deux femmes désireuses de faire partie du groupe attendu de France, un embryon de communauté religieuse. Dans l'intervalle, un premier contingent d'oblats, dont faisait partie le père Adrien Telmon, arriva à Montréal. Ce dernier vint à Belœil pour y donner des missions populaires; il ne tarda pas à reconnaître en Eulalie une éducatrice d'âmes capable de rassembler des émules et de les guider dans les voies spirituelles. Il l'encouragea sans hésiter à fonder une communauté religieuse typiquement canadienne vouée à l'éducation de la jeunesse. Sous la direction des oblats de Marie-Immaculée, les trois premières aspirantes, Eulalie Durocher, Mélodie Dufresne et Henriette Céré, commencèrent à se former à la vie religieuse en octobre 1843. Elles s'installèrent à Longueuil dans un immeuble qui servait d'école et où Henriette Céré était institutrice.
La Bienheureuse Mère Marie-Rose (Eulalie Durocher (1811-1849) www.snjm.org/French2/historiemileMMRfr.htm
Le 28 février 1844, Mgr Bourget présida la célébration de la prise d'habit des trois femmes. Eulalie devint sœur Marie-Rose dans la communauté qui adopta le nom et les constitutions des Sœurs des Saints-Noms de Jésus et de Marie de Marseille. Le 8 décembre suivant, dans l'église paroissiale, Mgr Bourget reçut les vœux de religion des trois femmes. Sœur Marie-Rose devint alors supérieure, maîtresse des novices et dépositaire. Les épreuves ne manquèrent pas à mère Marie-Rose. Les démêlés de sa communauté avec l'abbé Charles Chiniquy ne furent pas les moindres. Celui-ci, qui était entré au noviciat des oblats en 1846, voulut prendre en main la direction pédagogique des écoles q?avaient établies les Sœurs des Saints-Noms de Jésus et de Marie. Devant les fins de non-recevoir de la clairvoyante supérieure, il discrédita publiquement la communauté. Malgré les orages, mère Marie-Rose tint bon.
Femme d'une exceptionnelle vertu, très unie au Seigneur, éducatrice à nulle autre pareille, elle donna à la communauté une impulsion que le temps n'a pas arrêtée. À son décès, le 6 octobre 1849, le jour de ses 38 ans, la communauté comptait déjà 30 professes, 7 novices, 7 postulantes et 448 élèves réparties dans 4 couvents. Au lendemain des funérailles, Mgr Bourget disait aux sœurs endeuillées : Je vous avoue dans toute la sincérité de mon cœur, que j'ai été tout à fait ému en voyant tant de vertus réunies dans une seule âme. Je l'ai priée de m'obtenir la même ardeur pour gouverner mon diocèse, qu'elle avait pour vous diriger.
En 1880, Bourget affirmait : Je l'invoque en mon particulier comme une sainte et j'?espère que le Seigneur la glorifiera devant les hommes, en lui faisant décerner par l'Église les honneurs de l'autel.
Ce dernier souhait fut exaucé le dimanche 23 mai 1982, lorsqu'en la place Saint-Pierre de Rome, devant une foule immense, Jean-Paul II proclama Bienheureuse Marie-Rose Durocher.
Eulalie Mélanie Durocher (October 6, 1811 – October 6, 1849), known in religion as Marie-Rose Durocher, was a Canadian Roman Catholic nun, best known for founding the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. In 1982 she was beatified by the Roman Catholic Church.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eulalie_Durocher
Early life
Eulalie Durocher was born in the village of Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, …More
Eulalie Mélanie Durocher (October 6, 1811 – October 6, 1849), known in religion as Marie-Rose Durocher, was a Canadian Roman Catholic nun, best known for founding the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. In 1982 she was beatified by the Roman Catholic Church.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eulalie_Durocher
Early life
Eulalie Durocher was born in the village of Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, Quebec on October 6, 1811. She was the tenth of eleven children born to Olivier Durocher (a wealthy farmer) and Geneviève Durocher. Three of her siblings died in infancy. Her brothers Flavien, Théophile, and Eusèbe entered the Roman Catholic priesthood, and her sister Séraphine joined the Congregation of Notre Dame.[1]
Durocher was home-schooled by her paternal grandfather Olivier Durocher until the age of 10. Upon his death in 1821, she became a boarding pupil at a convent run by the Congregation of Notre Dame in Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu until 1823, where she took First Communion aged 12. After leaving the convent she returned home to be privately tutored by Jean-Marie-Ignace Archambault, a teacher at the Collège de Saint-Hyacinthe.[1] During this time she owned a horse named Caesar and became a competent equestrian.[2]
In 1827, aged 16, Durocher entered the boarding school of the Congregation of Notre Dame in Montreal in 1827, where she intended to undertake a novitiate as her sister Séraphine had earlier done. However, her health proved too poor to allow her to complete her education there and after two years she returned home to Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu.[1] A contemporary of Durocher's from her time at boarding school later wrote: "[Durocher] was wonderful; she alone was unaware of her own worth, attributing all to God that was found favourable in her, and asserting that of herself she was only weakness and misery. She possessed charming modesty, was gentle and amiable; attentive always to the voice of her teachers, she was still more so to the voice of God, who spoke to her heart."[3]
In 1830, Durocher's mother Geneviève died, and Durocher assumed her mother's role as homemaker. In 1831, Durocher's brother Theophile, who at that time was curate of Saint-Mathieu parish in Belœil, persuaded his father and Durocher to move from the family farm in Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu to the presbytery of his parish.[1] At the presbytery, Durocher worked as housekeeper and secretary to Theophile between 1831 and 1843.[1] During the course of this work she was made aware of the severe shortage of schools and teachers in the surrounding countryside (in 1835 Quebec was home to only 15 schools)[3] and discussed with her family and acquaintances the need for a religious community specifically dedicated to the education of children both rich and poor.[1]
Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
Main article: Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
In 1841, Louis-Moïse Brassard, parish priest of Longueuil, entered discussions with Charles-Joseph-Eugène de Mazenod, Bishop of Marseilles, France, for the establishment of a mission to Quebec by a French religious order known as the Sœurs des Saints-Noms de Jésus et de Marie. Durocher learned of the proposed mission through Brassard. Along with her friend Mélodie Dufresne, Durocher applied in advance to join the novitiate of the new congregation upon its arrival in Canada.[3] However, the mission ultimately did not go ahead, and de Mazenod instead advised Ignace Bourget, Bishop of Montreal, whom de Mazenod had met during Bourget's Europe visit of that year, to establish a similar order in Canada based upon the two women who had been eager to be part of the French group.[1]
On December 2, 1841, a mission of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate arrived in Montreal,[4] and in August 1842 opened a church at Longueuil.[3] Among the Oblates was a Father Pierre-Adrien Telmon, who travelled to Belœil to conduct popular missions, where he met Durocher and became her spiritual director.[1] On October 6, 1843, Durocher travelled to Longueuil to witness her brother Eusèbe profess his religious vows, and there she met Bishop Bourget.[3] Together, Bourget and Telmon petitioned Durocher to take a leading role in the foundation of a new religious congregation dedicated to the Christian education of youth. Durocher agreed to this request, and on October 28, 1843, Durocher began postulate training at Saint-Antoine Church in Longueuil under the direction of Father Jean-Marie Francois Allard, a member of the Oblates.[1] Two companions entered training alongside her: Durocher's friend Mélodie Dufresne, and Henriette Céré, a schoolteacher of Longueuil at whose school building Durocher and Dufresne roomed during their postulate training.[3]
On February 28, 1844, in a ceremony conducted by Bishop Bourget, the three postulants began their novitiate, assumed nun's habit, and received their religious names. Durocher took the name Marie-Rose, Dufresne became Marie-Agnes and Céré became known as Marie-Madeleine. Bishop Bourget gave the newly founded community diocesan approval[5] and named it the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, after the French community Durocher had hoped to join.[1] The Sisters took on the rules and articles of their French namesakes, as well as a modified version of their habit. On December 8, 1844, Durocher, Dufresne and Céré professed nun's vows in the church of Longueuil. Bourget named Durocher as superior (leader), mistress of novices, and depositary of the new community.[1]
The new community began teaching out of Henriette Céré's schoohouse, but demand for their services was extraordinary and on August 4, 1844 they were forced to move to larger premises.[3] The number of prospective pupils continued to rise over the following years, with the result that between February 1844 and October 1849 the Sisters established four convents (in Longueuil, Belœil, Saint Lin and Saint Timothée) employing 30 teachers and enrolling (as at October 6, 1849) 448 pupils.[1] The Sisters developed a course of study that provided equally for English and French pupils. Originally the Sisters had planned to teach only girls but their missionary requirements eventually forced them to teach boys in some provinces.[5]
On March 17, 1845 the Sisters were incorporated by an act of the Canadian Parliament.[5] During 1846, Durocher clashed with Charles Chiniquy, an outspoken priest who would eventually leave the Roman Catholic Church and become a Protestant. Chiniquy wished to take control of teaching in the Sisters' schools, and when he was blocked in this aim by Durocher, he publicly disparaged the Sisters.[1]
Death and beatification
Durocher, troubled throughout her life by ill health, died of a "wasting illness"[6] on October 6, 1849, aged 38. Her funeral was held the same day in the church of Longueuil, with Bishop Ignace Bourget presiding. Since May 1, 2004, Durocher's remains have been interred in the Chapelle Marie-Rose in the right transept of the Co-cathedral of Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue, in Longueuil.[1]
In a statement made in 1880, Bishop Ignace Bourget called for Durocher's canonisation, saying: "I invoke her aid as a saint for myself, and I hope that the Lord will glorify her before men by having the church award her the honours of the altar."[1] On November 9, 1927, Alphonse-Emmanuel Deschamps, Auxiliary Bishop of Montreal, appointed an ecclesiastical tribunal to enquire into the possible canonisation of Durocher.[6] The tribunal was empowered by ecclesiastical mandate to collect anything written by Durocher, and called upon Roman Catholics of Montreal to produce any privately held documents in accordance with that mandate.[6] The evidence gathered by the tribunal was collected in a positio, which was then taken to Rome for presentation to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
On October 2, 1972 the cause for her beatification was officially introduced by Pope Paul VI, bestowing upon Durocher the title of "Servant of God". On July 13, 1979 a declaration was made with respect to Durocher's heroic virtues, resulting in Durocher receiving the title "Venerable". On May 23, 1982 she was beatified by decree of Pope John Paul II.[7][8] The decree was made before a crowd in St Peter’s Square in Rome.[1] Beatification is the third of four steps on the path to Roman Catholic sainthood, and bestows the title of "Blessed" upon Durocher. Durocher's feast day is celebrated on October 6.
Several alleged miracles have been posthumously connected with Durocher. In 1946, a Detroit man, Benjamin Modzell, was crushed against a wall by a truck and pronounced dead. He was reported to recover after prayers were made invoking Durocher. This incident was the primary miracle upon which Durocher's beatification was based.[9]
In 1973, nuns of the Spokane, Washington convent of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary claimed to have a stopped a fire at a chapel in Fort Wright College by invoking Durocher through prayer. The fire, which started in Spokane River gorge, was approaching the campus when the nuns tacked Durocher's picture to trees and prayed to her for help.[9] Flames were reportedly within 15 feet of the chapel, with smoke filling the interior, when the fire changed direction.[10] Similarly, in 1979, Frank Carr, the owner of a lake resort in Tonasket, Washington, observed an uncontrolled wildfire to change direction after he tossed a picture of Durocher into the flames. Said Carr, "All I know is that we threw in the picture and the wind changed. There's no question the fire would have taken the orchard, some farm houses and the resort if it hadn't turned."[10]
Durocher is commemorated in a stained glass window in Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral in Montreal, where she is depicted alongside Frances Xavier Cabrini and Andre Bessette. The College Durocher St Lambert, Quebec, is named after Durocher,[11] as is the Eulalie Durocher High School in Montreal.
Notes
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Jean, Marguerite (2000). "Durocher, Eulalie". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Retrieved May 10, 2010.
^ "Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher (1811-1849)". Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Congregational Website. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
^ a b c d e f g Code, Joseph B. (1929). "Mother Mary Rose Durocher". Great American Foundresses. The Macmillan Company. ISBN 1406765759.
^ Sylvain, Philippe (2000). "Bourget, Ignace". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
^ a b c Madden, Marie (1911). "Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary". The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company) 10. Retrieved May 10, 2010.
^ a b c "Beatification of foundress desired". The Montreal Gazette. November 14, 1927.
^ "Beatifications of Pope John Paul II" (in Italian). Vatican: The Holy See. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
^ "Key Moments: Marie-Rose Durocher". Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Congregational Website. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
^ a b Camden, Jim (February 25, 1982). "Nun one step from sainthood: prayers credited in halting fire". The Spokesman Review.
^ a b "Picture said to stop fire". The Ellensburg Daily Record. July 30, 1979.
^ "College Durocher St Lambert" (in French). Retrieved May 11, 2010.
External links
Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eulalie_Durocher
Early life
Eulalie Durocher was born in the village of Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, Quebec on October 6, 1811. She was the tenth of eleven children born to Olivier Durocher (a wealthy farmer) and Geneviève Durocher. Three of her siblings died in infancy. Her brothers Flavien, Théophile, and Eusèbe entered the Roman Catholic priesthood, and her sister Séraphine joined the Congregation of Notre Dame.[1]
Durocher was home-schooled by her paternal grandfather Olivier Durocher until the age of 10. Upon his death in 1821, she became a boarding pupil at a convent run by the Congregation of Notre Dame in Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu until 1823, where she took First Communion aged 12. After leaving the convent she returned home to be privately tutored by Jean-Marie-Ignace Archambault, a teacher at the Collège de Saint-Hyacinthe.[1] During this time she owned a horse named Caesar and became a competent equestrian.[2]
In 1827, aged 16, Durocher entered the boarding school of the Congregation of Notre Dame in Montreal in 1827, where she intended to undertake a novitiate as her sister Séraphine had earlier done. However, her health proved too poor to allow her to complete her education there and after two years she returned home to Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu.[1] A contemporary of Durocher's from her time at boarding school later wrote: "[Durocher] was wonderful; she alone was unaware of her own worth, attributing all to God that was found favourable in her, and asserting that of herself she was only weakness and misery. She possessed charming modesty, was gentle and amiable; attentive always to the voice of her teachers, she was still more so to the voice of God, who spoke to her heart."[3]
In 1830, Durocher's mother Geneviève died, and Durocher assumed her mother's role as homemaker. In 1831, Durocher's brother Theophile, who at that time was curate of Saint-Mathieu parish in Belœil, persuaded his father and Durocher to move from the family farm in Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu to the presbytery of his parish.[1] At the presbytery, Durocher worked as housekeeper and secretary to Theophile between 1831 and 1843.[1] During the course of this work she was made aware of the severe shortage of schools and teachers in the surrounding countryside (in 1835 Quebec was home to only 15 schools)[3] and discussed with her family and acquaintances the need for a religious community specifically dedicated to the education of children both rich and poor.[1]
Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
Main article: Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
In 1841, Louis-Moïse Brassard, parish priest of Longueuil, entered discussions with Charles-Joseph-Eugène de Mazenod, Bishop of Marseilles, France, for the establishment of a mission to Quebec by a French religious order known as the Sœurs des Saints-Noms de Jésus et de Marie. Durocher learned of the proposed mission through Brassard. Along with her friend Mélodie Dufresne, Durocher applied in advance to join the novitiate of the new congregation upon its arrival in Canada.[3] However, the mission ultimately did not go ahead, and de Mazenod instead advised Ignace Bourget, Bishop of Montreal, whom de Mazenod had met during Bourget's Europe visit of that year, to establish a similar order in Canada based upon the two women who had been eager to be part of the French group.[1]
On December 2, 1841, a mission of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate arrived in Montreal,[4] and in August 1842 opened a church at Longueuil.[3] Among the Oblates was a Father Pierre-Adrien Telmon, who travelled to Belœil to conduct popular missions, where he met Durocher and became her spiritual director.[1] On October 6, 1843, Durocher travelled to Longueuil to witness her brother Eusèbe profess his religious vows, and there she met Bishop Bourget.[3] Together, Bourget and Telmon petitioned Durocher to take a leading role in the foundation of a new religious congregation dedicated to the Christian education of youth. Durocher agreed to this request, and on October 28, 1843, Durocher began postulate training at Saint-Antoine Church in Longueuil under the direction of Father Jean-Marie Francois Allard, a member of the Oblates.[1] Two companions entered training alongside her: Durocher's friend Mélodie Dufresne, and Henriette Céré, a schoolteacher of Longueuil at whose school building Durocher and Dufresne roomed during their postulate training.[3]
On February 28, 1844, in a ceremony conducted by Bishop Bourget, the three postulants began their novitiate, assumed nun's habit, and received their religious names. Durocher took the name Marie-Rose, Dufresne became Marie-Agnes and Céré became known as Marie-Madeleine. Bishop Bourget gave the newly founded community diocesan approval[5] and named it the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, after the French community Durocher had hoped to join.[1] The Sisters took on the rules and articles of their French namesakes, as well as a modified version of their habit. On December 8, 1844, Durocher, Dufresne and Céré professed nun's vows in the church of Longueuil. Bourget named Durocher as superior (leader), mistress of novices, and depositary of the new community.[1]
The new community began teaching out of Henriette Céré's schoohouse, but demand for their services was extraordinary and on August 4, 1844 they were forced to move to larger premises.[3] The number of prospective pupils continued to rise over the following years, with the result that between February 1844 and October 1849 the Sisters established four convents (in Longueuil, Belœil, Saint Lin and Saint Timothée) employing 30 teachers and enrolling (as at October 6, 1849) 448 pupils.[1] The Sisters developed a course of study that provided equally for English and French pupils. Originally the Sisters had planned to teach only girls but their missionary requirements eventually forced them to teach boys in some provinces.[5]
On March 17, 1845 the Sisters were incorporated by an act of the Canadian Parliament.[5] During 1846, Durocher clashed with Charles Chiniquy, an outspoken priest who would eventually leave the Roman Catholic Church and become a Protestant. Chiniquy wished to take control of teaching in the Sisters' schools, and when he was blocked in this aim by Durocher, he publicly disparaged the Sisters.[1]
Death and beatification
Durocher, troubled throughout her life by ill health, died of a "wasting illness"[6] on October 6, 1849, aged 38. Her funeral was held the same day in the church of Longueuil, with Bishop Ignace Bourget presiding. Since May 1, 2004, Durocher's remains have been interred in the Chapelle Marie-Rose in the right transept of the Co-cathedral of Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue, in Longueuil.[1]
In a statement made in 1880, Bishop Ignace Bourget called for Durocher's canonisation, saying: "I invoke her aid as a saint for myself, and I hope that the Lord will glorify her before men by having the church award her the honours of the altar."[1] On November 9, 1927, Alphonse-Emmanuel Deschamps, Auxiliary Bishop of Montreal, appointed an ecclesiastical tribunal to enquire into the possible canonisation of Durocher.[6] The tribunal was empowered by ecclesiastical mandate to collect anything written by Durocher, and called upon Roman Catholics of Montreal to produce any privately held documents in accordance with that mandate.[6] The evidence gathered by the tribunal was collected in a positio, which was then taken to Rome for presentation to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
On October 2, 1972 the cause for her beatification was officially introduced by Pope Paul VI, bestowing upon Durocher the title of "Servant of God". On July 13, 1979 a declaration was made with respect to Durocher's heroic virtues, resulting in Durocher receiving the title "Venerable". On May 23, 1982 she was beatified by decree of Pope John Paul II.[7][8] The decree was made before a crowd in St Peter’s Square in Rome.[1] Beatification is the third of four steps on the path to Roman Catholic sainthood, and bestows the title of "Blessed" upon Durocher. Durocher's feast day is celebrated on October 6.
Several alleged miracles have been posthumously connected with Durocher. In 1946, a Detroit man, Benjamin Modzell, was crushed against a wall by a truck and pronounced dead. He was reported to recover after prayers were made invoking Durocher. This incident was the primary miracle upon which Durocher's beatification was based.[9]
In 1973, nuns of the Spokane, Washington convent of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary claimed to have a stopped a fire at a chapel in Fort Wright College by invoking Durocher through prayer. The fire, which started in Spokane River gorge, was approaching the campus when the nuns tacked Durocher's picture to trees and prayed to her for help.[9] Flames were reportedly within 15 feet of the chapel, with smoke filling the interior, when the fire changed direction.[10] Similarly, in 1979, Frank Carr, the owner of a lake resort in Tonasket, Washington, observed an uncontrolled wildfire to change direction after he tossed a picture of Durocher into the flames. Said Carr, "All I know is that we threw in the picture and the wind changed. There's no question the fire would have taken the orchard, some farm houses and the resort if it hadn't turned."[10]
Durocher is commemorated in a stained glass window in Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral in Montreal, where she is depicted alongside Frances Xavier Cabrini and Andre Bessette. The College Durocher St Lambert, Quebec, is named after Durocher,[11] as is the Eulalie Durocher High School in Montreal.
Notes
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Jean, Marguerite (2000). "Durocher, Eulalie". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Retrieved May 10, 2010.
^ "Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher (1811-1849)". Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Congregational Website. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
^ a b c d e f g Code, Joseph B. (1929). "Mother Mary Rose Durocher". Great American Foundresses. The Macmillan Company. ISBN 1406765759.
^ Sylvain, Philippe (2000). "Bourget, Ignace". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
^ a b c Madden, Marie (1911). "Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary". The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company) 10. Retrieved May 10, 2010.
^ a b c "Beatification of foundress desired". The Montreal Gazette. November 14, 1927.
^ "Beatifications of Pope John Paul II" (in Italian). Vatican: The Holy See. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
^ "Key Moments: Marie-Rose Durocher". Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Congregational Website. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
^ a b Camden, Jim (February 25, 1982). "Nun one step from sainthood: prayers credited in halting fire". The Spokesman Review.
^ a b "Picture said to stop fire". The Ellensburg Daily Record. July 30, 1979.
^ "College Durocher St Lambert" (in French). Retrieved May 11, 2010.
External links
Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
Marie-Rose Chapel
www.snjm.org/EnglishContent/mmrchapeleng.htm
Since May 1, 2004, Marie-Rose Durocher has been back in Longueuil, where she founded the Congregation and made her first vows. That is also where her funeral was celebrated with deep emotion after her early death in 1849.
A place of peace
and recollection,
the chapel is open every day
from 7:30 a.m.
until 5:00 p.m.
In the right transept …More
Marie-Rose Chapel
www.snjm.org/EnglishContent/mmrchapeleng.htm
Since May 1, 2004, Marie-Rose Durocher has been back in Longueuil, where she founded the Congregation and made her first vows. That is also where her funeral was celebrated with deep emotion after her early death in 1849.
A place of peace
and recollection,
the chapel is open every day
from 7:30 a.m.
until 5:00 p.m.
In the right transept of Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue Cocathedral (Corner of St-Charles Ouest and Chemin Chambly in Longueuil), the Marie-Rose Chapel was dedicated in her honor. The remains of Blessed Marie-Rose lie under the altar in a rose-colored marble tomb, where parishioners and others gather daily to pray and honor her.
Her presence blesses any person who asks for her help and protection.
To Marie-Rose Durocher
What remains of you,
is a gentle influence
on our milieu,
a protection
for our families
tenderness
for our children,
a presence to invoke,
peace to call upon
for our world.
Ever alive,
Marie-Rose,
intercede for us.
www.snjm.org/EnglishContent/mmrchapeleng.htm
Since May 1, 2004, Marie-Rose Durocher has been back in Longueuil, where she founded the Congregation and made her first vows. That is also where her funeral was celebrated with deep emotion after her early death in 1849.
A place of peace
and recollection,
the chapel is open every day
from 7:30 a.m.
until 5:00 p.m.
In the right transept of Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue Cocathedral (Corner of St-Charles Ouest and Chemin Chambly in Longueuil), the Marie-Rose Chapel was dedicated in her honor. The remains of Blessed Marie-Rose lie under the altar in a rose-colored marble tomb, where parishioners and others gather daily to pray and honor her.
Her presence blesses any person who asks for her help and protection.
To Marie-Rose Durocher
What remains of you,
is a gentle influence
on our milieu,
a protection
for our families
tenderness
for our children,
a presence to invoke,
peace to call upon
for our world.
Ever alive,
Marie-Rose,
intercede for us.
2 more comments from Irapuato
October 6 Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher (1811-1849) www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx Canada was one diocese from coast to coast during the first eight years of Marie-Rose Duroche’s life. Its half-million Catholics had received civil and religious liberty from the English only forty-four years before. When Marie-Rose was twenty-nine, Bishop Ignace Bourget became bishop of Montreal …More
October 6 Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher (1811-1849) www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx Canada was one diocese from coast to coast during the first eight years of Marie-Rose Duroche’s life. Its half-million Catholics had received civil and religious liberty from the English only forty-four years before. When Marie-Rose was twenty-nine, Bishop Ignace Bourget became bishop of Montreal. He would be a decisive influence in her life. He faced a shortage of priests and sisters and a rural population that had been largely deprived of education. Like his counterparts in the United States, he scoured Europe for help and himself founded four communities, one of which was the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. Its first sister and reluctant co-foundress was Marie-Rose. She was born in a little village near Montreal in 1811, the tenth of eleven children. She had a good education, was something of a tomboy, rode a horse named Caesar and could have married well. At sixteen she felt the desire to become a religious but was forced to abandon the idea because of her weak constitution. At eighteen, when her mother died, her priest brother invited her and her father to come to his parish in Beloeil, not far from Montreal. For thirteen years she served as housekeeper, hostess and parish worker. She became well known for her graciousness, courtesy, leadership and tact; she was, in fact, called “the saint of Beloeil.” Perhaps she was too tactful during two years when her brother treated her coldly. As a young woman she had hoped there would someday be a community of teaching sisters in every parish, never thinking she would found one. But her spiritual director, Father Pierre Telmon, O.M.I., after thoroughly (and severely) leading her in the spiritual life, urged her to found a community herself. Bishop Bourget concurred, but Marie shrank from the prospect. She was in poor health and her father and her brother needed her. She finally agreed and, with two friends, Melodie Dufresne and Henriette Cere, entered a little home in Longueuil, across the Saint Lawrence River from Montreal. With them were 13 young girls already assembled for boarding school. Longueuil became successively her Bethlehem, Nazareth and Gethsemani. She was thirty-two and would live only six more years—years filled with poverty, trials, sickness and slander. The qualities she had nurtured in her “hidden” life came forward—a strong will, intelligence and common sense, great inner courage and yet a great deference to directors. Thus was born an international congregation of women religious dedicated to education in the faith. She was severe with herself and by today’s standards quite strict with her sisters. Beneath it all, of course, was an unshakable love of her crucified Savior. On her deathbed the prayers most frequently on her lips were “Jesus, Mary, Joseph! Sweet Jesus, I love you. Jesus, be to me Jesus!” Before she died, she smiled and said to the sister with her, “Your prayers are keeping me here—let me go.” She was beatified in 1982. Comment: The Christian triad has always been and will always be prayer, penance and charity. In our day we have seen a great burst of charity, a genuine interest in the poor. Countless Christians have experienced a deep form of prayer. But penance? We squirm when we read of terrible physical penance done by people like Marie-Rose. That is not for most people, of course. But the pull of a materialistic culture oriented to pleasure and entertainment is impossible to resist without some form of deliberate and Christ-conscious abstinence. That is part of the way to answer Jesus’ call to repent and turn completely to God. Quote: To a novice leaving religious life, Marie-Rose said: “Do not imitate those persons who, after having spent a few months as postulant or novice in a community, dress differently, even ludicrously. You are returning to the secular state. My advice is, follow the styles of the day, but from afar, as it were.”