COUDERC, MARIE-VICTOIRE-THÉRÈSE, venerable. - Co-foundress of the Institute of Our Lady of the Retreat at the Cenacle (v. CENACOLO), b. at Weiler-Le-Mas (Viviers) on 1 Feb. 1805; d. at Fourvière (Lyon) on 26 Sept. 1885. A teacher at Le Vans, then at Aps among the Sisters of the Presentation (1826), she soon moved to La Louvesc to assist the missionary preacher Stefano Terme in the work of spiritual exercises. The latter founded the aforementioned institute with her the following year, 1827, and she was its superior general for ten years.
When the Institute was divided into two distinct branches (1838), one for education (Sisters of St. Francis Régis) and the other for the conduct of retreats (Sisters of the Cenacle), C. continued to direct the latter, amid severe trials, until, urged to resign, she did so, thereafter living for almost fifty years as a humble subject in obscurity. The decree concerning her heroic virtues was promulgated on 12 May 1935.