MARIA della PROVVIDENZA, Servant of God. – Eugenia Maria Josefa Smet of Monthiver, founder of the Helpers of the Souls in Purgatory, born at Loos-le-Lille on 25 March 1825, died in Paris on 7 February 1871.
On 2 November 1853, struck by the thought that there were religious for every need of the militant Church, but none for the Church suffering in Purgatory, she felt called to fill that void. In the meantime, she founded an association of persons who offered prayers and good works for the souls in Purgatory; this association received many approvals and spread widely. Then, in 1856, inspired by St Charles Borromeo, a fourth vow was added to the three religious vows: to pray, suffer, and work for the souls in Purgatory. On 27 December 1857 she made her vows with five companions; from that moment, though she did not lack crosses, she never lacked an extraordinary trust in Providence, which corresponded to her with even extraordinary help and interventions. She used to say: “Five things I feared would happen to me: separating from my family, founding a religious institute, suffering poverty, being burdened with debts, and suffering from cancer; and all five, by the grace of God, befell me.”
Mother Rondò left several houses in Europe and one in China, at Shanghai. Her cause of beatification was introduced in 1936.