Mary Magdalene Postel, Saint

MARY MAGDALENE POSTEL, Saint. - Julie Françoise Catherine Postel, foundress of the Sisters of Christian Schools and of Mercy, b. at Barfleur (La Manche) on 28 Nov. 1756, d. at St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte (diocese of Coutances) on 16 July 1864.

She dedicated herself to the service of God and of neighbor from the time of her first Communion and soon opened a kind of boarding school for poor girls and orphans. In the storm of the Revolution she became, in place of the parish priest, the "Virgin Priest," keeping the Blessed Sacrament in her house, preparing the children for first Communion, instructing them in the catechism, comforting the dying and bringing them the Viaticum. At the age of 49 (1805) she opened a school at Cherbourg; two years later, on 8 Sept. 1807, with four companions she pronounced her first religious vows and began her new Institute, which was to represent the female branch of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, whose rules were adopted and adapted. At first the foundation went forward with difficulty and found itself in desperate conditions; but it soon recovered, recruits increased, and the ancient ruined abbey of St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte was purchased, which from 1832 became the mother house. The beautiful maxim of M. M. is: "A teaching sister must save at least a thousand souls during her career: one third by means of her pupils and two thirds through the influence of devout daughters upon their parents." At her death she left 32 houses.

She was beatified on 7 May 1908, canonized on 24 May 1925. Feast on 17 July.

Celestino Testore