FAGE, MARIE-ANTOINETTE. – In religion Sister Maria of Jesus; b. in Paris on 7 Nov. 1824, d. there on 19 Sept. 1883. After a sorrowful childhood, orphaned at fourteen, she was taken in by relatives, where she lived giving examples of fortitude in adversity and suffering.
In 1864, her meeting with Fr. Stephen Pernet decided her future. With him she indeed founded the Institute of the Little Sisters of the Assumption (q.v.), nurses of the poor and home visitors, of which she was the first Superior General. At Pernet’s side she worked indefatigably for the expansion of the Institute, enduring privations and overcoming opposition. The cause of her beatification was introduced before the Sacred Congregation of Rites.
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BIBL.:** Anon., *Il. Stefano Pernet*, trans. it., Rome 1906; id., *La madre Maria di Gesù*, 1914.