JARICOT, PAULINE-MARIE. — Foundress of the Work for the Propagation of the Faith. Born in Lyon on 22 July 1799, died there on 9 January 1862. She belonged to a well-established family of industrialists and had a somewhat worldly youth. She changed her way of life after a serious illness. Enlightened and encouraged by her brother Fileas, later a missionary, she began, among young working women, that movement of prayers and collections of offerings which on 3 May 1822 expanded to become the great work of assistance for the Catholic missions.
J.’s organizational spirit was also manifested in the foundation of the Living Rosary. Anticipating her times, she undertook a grandiose initiative for workers by purchasing the Rustrel workshops, in the Basses-Alpes, to be managed cooperatively. It was a disastrous undertaking because of people who deceived her, and, as a result of that collapse, J.’s entire life was embittered. Sustained by superhuman faith, she embraced the cross with love, immolated herself for the missions she loved and for the good of all souls. The cause of her beatification is in progress.