Mary of Saint Euphrasia, Saint

MARY OF SAINT EUPHRASIA, Saint. - Rose Virginia Pelletier, foundress of the Institute of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, b. at Noirmoutier (Vendée) on 31 July 1796, d. at Angers on 24 Apr. 1868. She entered in 1814 the Institute of Our Lady of Refuge at Tours, founded by St. John Eudes, and had the opportunity to gain a lived experience of that work of redemption for fallen and abandoned young women.

Elected superior in 1825, she immediately founded there the Work of the Magdalens, a true congregation of strict enclosure, consecrated to prayer and penance. But she wanted a Work whose houses would not be autonomous and whose religious could therefore spread throughout the whole world, and the opportunity presented itself at Angers. Sent there to restore the Work called that of the Good Shepherd, which received girls to be rehabilitated or preserved, and made prioress there in 1831, she succeeded despite endless contradictions to transform that refuge into the radiating and directing center of a distinct religious institution, and in 1835 it received pontifical approval. The fruits gathered were admirable, and so was its spread in civilized territories and in the missions. At her death she left 2,376 sisters in 120 houses, populated by 962 Magdalenes, 6,272 girls in danger, 8,433 among orphans and preserved girls, boarders, and externs. She was beatified on 30 April 1933; canonized on 2 May 1940. Feast day 24 April 1933;

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