DUCHESNE, PHILIPPINE-ROSE, Blessed. — Born at Grenoble on 29 Aug. 1769, died at St. Charles, Missouri, on 18 Nov. 1852. In 1787 she entered the monastery of St. Mary of the Visitation in Grenoble, where she remained as a novice until 1791, when the Visitandines were ordered to secularize or leave the convent. Her father would not allow her to follow the religious outside France, and she remained at home.
During the Revolution she displayed all the qualities of her courageous and tenacious character. She visited prisoners and the sick, kept in contact with proscribed and hidden priests, and led them, amid infinite dangers, to the bedside of the dying. In 1805 D. entered the Society of the Sacred Heart. Her desire was to bring the Society to America, but she could obtain permission only after twelve years. Finally, on 21 Mar. 1818 she was named superior of the Mission and sailed from Bordeaux with four companions. On 21 Aug. 1818 she arrived at St. Louis. The difficulties were unheard-of and discouraging: climate, disease, environment, and almost complete lack of resources; yet nothing could shake the most steadfast faith of D., and by 1829 five flourishing houses had been established in Louisiana, with a total of 64 religious and 350 pupils. In 1840 she asked and obtained release from the office of superior and permission to return as a simple sister to St. Louis. In 1841, at the age of 73, she asked to take part in a new foundation among the Indians and was granted her wish. But after a year her health was so impaired that she was recalled to St. Charles, Missouri, where she spent ten more years, “living no longer save for Him who lives for me in the Sacrament,” as she herself wrote in one of her letters. She was beatified on 12 May 1940.