OUR FOUNDRESS

 
Saint Marie Eugenie of Jesus

Anne Eugenie Milleret de Brou, later to become Sr. Marie Eugenie of Jesus, the future foundress of the Religious of the Assumption, was born in Metz in northern France in 1817. Her family was privileged, wealthy, politically involved but irreligious. She was baptised, however, and her first communion at the age of twelve was an extraordinary spiritual experience.

"...but I shall be for you more than a mother ..."

During her First Holy Communion at the Church of Saint Segolene, as she returned from the altar rails, worried that she would not find her mother in the crowd, she heard a voice within her saying: "You will lose your mother, but I shall be for you more than a mother. A day will come when you will leave everything you love in order to glorify me and serve this Church that you do not know."

                     

          Church of Saint Segolene

 
And that was how it was.

When she was thirteen a reversal in family fortunes saw her father's bankruptcy, the separation of her parents and the transfer of Anne Eugenie to Paris with her mother. Two years later her mother died of cholera after only a few hours of illness and at the age of fifteen Anne Eugenie was alone. She was made to live with different families and although outwardly she seemed alright, inwardly she was miserable.

   

         Church of Notre Dame of Paris

 
"Each one of us has a mission on earth."

Then God intervened. It was the custom in those days to attend special sermons during Lent and she chose to go to the cathedral of Notre Dame, where the young, famous Lacordaire was preaching. He spoke to her heart. She realised that she must give her life to God. As she said later, "My vocation dates from Notre Dame." What was she to do? She wrote to Lacordaire: "Each one of us has a mission on earth."
But what was hers? He advised her to wait in patience, to read and to pray. It was only the next year that chance - or the hand of God - brought her into contact with Fr. Combalot. And the rest, as they say, is history.

 

         Fr. Henri Lacordaire

 
She was helped by two great friendships. The first was with one of the very first sisters, Kate O'Neill, who as Sr. Therese Emmanuel, co-foundress of the Congregation, was her constant help and support.

The second was a priest, Emmanuel d'Alzon, just a few years older than her. Marie Eugenie had been introduced to him by Combalot before the Congregation started. So when the relationship with Combalot became very difficult, she was able to turn to him for help. He agreed to help and support her and thus began a friendship and partnership that was to last until his death nearly 40 years later.		  
In the beginning it was he who supported her, but as time went on she would be just as likely to be giving him advice. She encouraged him to found a Congregation of men: the Augustinians of the Assumption. But above all they helped each other to become holy. As he said of her: "If I have given anything, I have also received a great deal". And when he died in 1880 this is what Sr. Marie Eugenie had to say of him: "What I shall see eternally in Father d'Alzon is his love for Jesus Christ, his devotion to the Church, his zeal for souls."
 
"I am looking at my Lord. It is in looking at Him that we learn how to love."

Marie Eugenie led the Assumption for fifty-five years. Her life was full. Her first priority was for her sisters: their happiness, their formation, their work. She was concerned for their health. More than two hundred sisters were to die before she did, often young and of tuberculosis.

She was constantly travelling from community to community, encouraging, consoling and challenging. As the Congregation became known, she was invited to start more and more communities. She saw her work as being always in and for the Church, and her loyalty to it was absolute.

The last few years of her life were spent in increasing retirement. Gradually her health failed. Those around her were struck by her gentleness and patience. One day she managed to say: "I am looking at my Lord. It is in looking at Him that we learn how to love." She died, surrounded by her sisters, on the 10th of March 1898.

Marie Eugenie was beatified on the 9th of February in 1975 by Pope Paul VI and since then the10 March has been her Feastday.

She was raised to the altar and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on June 3rd, 2007 at Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City, Rome!