MARIA di SANT'EUFRASIA, Saint. - Rose Virginia Pelletier, foundress of the Institute of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, born at Noirmoutier (Vendée) on 31 July 1796, died at Angers on 24 April 1868. In 1814 she entered the Institute of Our Lady of Refuge at Tours, founded by St. John Eudes, and was able to gain first-hand experience of that work of redemption for fallen and abandoned young women.
Elected superior in 1825, she immediately founded the Work of the Magdalens, a true congregation of strict enclosure, dedicated to prayer and penance. But she desired an institute whose houses would not be autonomous, so that the sisters could spread throughout the world, and the opportunity presented itself at Angers. Sent there to restore the Work known as the Good Shepherd, which welcomed the repentant and preserved them, and granted an extension in 1831, she succeeded in having it transformed despite initial opposition. The portrait of this transformation dates to 1835, and she obtained papal approval. The fruits gathered were remarkable, as was the spread of the institute in civil territories and in the missions. At her death, she left 2,376 sisters in 120 houses, with 662 Magdalens, 6,272 young women at risk, 8,433 orphans and those preserved, boarders, and externs. She was beatified on 30 April 1933 and canonized on 2 May 1940. Her feast is celebrated on 24 April.