RENDU, JEANNE-MARIE (in religione SOEUR ROSALIE). - Daughter of Charity, born at Confort (Ain) on 8 Sept. 1787, died at Paris on 7 Feb. 1856.
Having entered the Daughters of Charity at a very young age, she devoted herself for more than fifty years to the relief of every form of misery, carrying out her work chiefly among the ragpickers of the suburb of S. Marcello (Paris). Her charitable work shone forth especially during the cholera epidemic of 1832 and during the two bloody revolutions of 1830 and 1848, in which, through her very great influence and popularity, she contributed greatly to calming minds. Federico Ozanam, the viscount Armando de Melun, who was the first to write her biography, and the other members of the nascent male Conferences of S. Vincenzo de' Paoli, regarded her as an incomparable inspirer, counsellor, and teacher in all their bold charitable initiatives. Shortly before her death she was awarded the cross of the Legion of Honour. The diocesan informative process concerning her virtues has been concluded.