philadelphia, u.s.a., 1985

Symposium in honor of the 150th Anniversary of the founding of the Congregation of the Good Shepherd

by St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier.

Philadelphia, U.S.A., 1985

Presenting: Saint Mary Euphrasia Pelletier and Her Mission by Sr. Rose Virginie Warnig, R.G.S.

Saint John Eudes by Sr. M. Nora Dennehy, RG.S.

Good Shepherd Spirituality and Charism Alive by Sr. M. Rosaria Baxter, R.G.S.

CONTENTS 1. Saint Mary Euphrasia and her Mmission (1796-1868) page 6 2. Saint John Eudes (1601-1680) page 26 3. Good Shepherd Spirituality and Charism Alive page 37

First Printing 1985 Second Printing 1987

In honor of our One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary this booklet is dedicated in loving gratitude

To, God, Father, Son and Spirit, Author of our rich heritage

To Saint Mary Euphrasia, strong in faith, hope and charity,

for her fidelity to her mission

To the Sisters for living the charism through the years

To Co-Workers and Associates for continuing with us her tradition of care and concern, love and compassion

To those we serve for witnessing together with us to

the power of Merciful Love

Sisters of the Good Shepherd 1835-1985

1. SAINT MARY EUPHRASIA AND HER MISSION (1796-1868)

by Sr. Rose Virginie Warnig

SAINT MARY EUPHRASIA AND HER MISSION (1796-1868)

INTRODUCTION: Our gratitude for celebration today goes to a woman

led by a sense of mission to our world; a citizen of the world, gifted with global vision and sense of oneness with everybody; gifted with deep love for humanity and active preferential love for the downgraded, the helpless, the socially marginalized.

A woman so ardently in love with God and with her neighbor that this love mobilized her totally and made her capable of sustaining the most heart-breaking experiences. The valiant woman of Scripture. An active mystic, who experienced her own selfhood and the Other's personhood in God, who viewed all things and events in the light of God and brought all into God's Will of salvation.

A woman whose compassion for God's hurting ones stimulated her zeal and genius to pioneer in comprehensive services for them, at a time when it was a scandal even to try to help them. A woman who believed that to experience love is the beginning of salvation, to be able to love in return IS salvation.

A woman who astonished the world with the newness of her ideas, her genius for creativity and leadership, her unusual holiness and remarkable knowledge of practical affairs, her immense charity and empathy for people, her gentle unflinching courage and self-possession, her wisdom and true humility, her spectacular accomplishments around the world, her christian heroism.

Mother Euphrasia Pelletier, "the saint who does good to everyone!"

She was born July 31, 1796, to the Pelletier family on the Island of Noirmoutier, in the Vendee Region on the southwest coast of France. Dr. Julien Pelletier and his wife Anne had been apprehended and imprisoned on the island three years earlier as "suspects" and were not permitted to regain their hometown of Soullans when released. Their crime was belonging to a line of doctors and lawyers, harboring the hunted and caring for the wounded of both revolutionary factions (1).

The Pelletiers were esteemed by the islanders for their staunch christian faith, and their charity towards the poor and the sick for whom they cared with their own hands and often in their own home.

Doctor Pelletier baptized his daughter, Rose-Virginie, the day she

was born, for the ministers of the church were still in the catacombs of the Reign of Terror or in exile. Rose, their eighth child - of whom three had died in infancy - was a "ray of light and love" in those times of fear and suffering. They were living in the darkest era in the history of the island. There had been many martyrs during the long resistance (2).

Historians tell us it was fitting Rose should grow up in this at-mosphere of heroism. She too was destined to reach the summits of christian heroism in order to fulfill the arduous tasks to which her vocation would call her. They describe her as filled with the legacy of faith, charity and heroism of her people.

Rose was a lively brunette with luminous dark eyes, full of fun, self-willed and impetuous in her likes and dislikes. She reacted like any child: at three, bathing her little feet in the family milk; balancing herself precariously on a ladder in order to retrieve a jar of jam; spit-ting on fresh strawberries from the home-garden so that her cousin could not enjoy them. He loved them, so did her mother; hanging the wig of a family friend on his door post. . . . (3).

She was blessed with natural gifts, a gracious and charming personality, reflective and sensitive, spontaneous and tenacious. She had a heart of gold. She loved with enthusiasm. As a leader, she was fearless and determined. Her childhood friends eagerly followed her in pranks and pious projects. However, her sensitivity and good heart led her to sincere regret for her pranks and she would discipline herself at her evening prayers (4).

Rose loved the great outdoors. The wide open expanse of her island, its beauty and marvels molded her impressionable soul and endowed her with physical vigor and health. She loved its woods, the ocean with its violent tide, its soothing waves, its sandy beaches, its immense rock formations. Both the land and the sea enriched her soul permanently.

Spiritually, Rose learned from her parents what it is to live the Gospel. With them she nourished her spirit on the Scriptures, and blessed with an excellent memory, she learned much of the Gospel by heart at her mother's knee. She learned we are all "brothers and sisters" of the same heavenly Father; therefore, like her parents, compassion became the key-note of her life. Through them and the faith filled islanders, Rose grew strong in Faith which engendered an optimism not even the Reign of Terror could shake (5).

Early in life Rose faced the sorrows of human living: her loved

sister Emilie died at fifteen, when Rose was nine. And the next year her beloved father, Doctor Pelletier, died at fifty-four years of age. Rose was passionately fond of her parents and now she suffered for herself and her mother.

At school, which opened on the island when Rose was twelve, her teachers soon became puzzled by her mixture of precocious spirituality and boisterous vigor at games, her grave piety and mischievous gaiety. Her strong will which made her head-strong and impetuous. They told her that with her character she could become the worst or the best of humans. Her quick response was: "I know I will have to be broken in, but I am going to be a nun" (6).

Among her adolescent sorrows was her mother's decision to leave the island and return to her home town. It was like a death-blow to Rose now fourteen years of age. The departure from Noirmoutier was the definite parting of ways in her life. Then the Boarding School at Tours, a three days and nights' travel distance from her dear ones. The good-bye to her mother tore her to pieces. Besides completing her education, which was her mother's concern, Rose had to adapt to a collective life and to a regime which shackled and constrained her habitual freedom. She experienced loneliness and bewilderment. Her sensitive nature became timid and fearful. She had always been afraid of the dead, the dark and storms. . . this fear was different. . . .

But Rose had always loved learning. She soon made friends and found a compassionate teacher. She gradually regained her buoyancy. Then, at seventeen, Rose lost her mother in death. She learned of it only after the funeral at Noirmoutier. Her good teacher stood by her in this immense loss.

At eighteen, Rose terminated her education and was ready to teach. But, at a school companion's confidence of her intention to join the Carmelites, Rose immediately responded: "As for me, I want to save souls. How or where I do not know yet." This surprised everyone. It seemed to be a new kind of vocation.

Then, one evening, while listening to a conference on " Zeal for the salvation of souls," Rose had an intimate experience she was never to forget. And, as the speaker indicated a group of girls across the street, in danger of drifting on life's highway, Rose felt within herself an urgency to respond. Thirty years later, she disclosed that "this was the origin of my special vocation" (7).

That same evening Rose applied for admission to the Order of Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, founded by St. John Eudes in 1641. The

Sisters had been dispersed by the Revolution. Just one year earlier they had re-opened their doors to their special guests. A young candidate was rare, and the promise of tomorrow's vitality. Naturally, Rose's family strongly disagreed with her decision and she had to convince them before she could follow it. Under pressure from teachers, peers and family to join the Ursulines or Carmel. if she HAD to be a nun, Rose tenaciously claimed her special vocation. All her life she would be open to the newness of her times and to all that was being born in the chaos of revolutions.

Truly, her Country was in great disarray: her own life would span seven politically different regimes of government, four minor revolutions, innumerable popular uprisings, and two famines (8).

Rose was prepared for a life dedicated to others, such as the Order of Our Lady of Charity required. Through trials and separations, God had "broken her in." One historian tells us:

"Nothing was lacking to her, neither the splendor of a noble and profound mind, nor the strength of will necessary to conceive and to realize vast projects, nor the attractiveness of an incomparable heart" (9).

Invaded by holy zeal. Rose decided to put her gifted nature and talents totally at the service of her great heart which embraced all the suffering in the universe.

Her guardian had consented to her special vocation only on condi-tion that Rose make no public vows before her twenty-first birthday. So, on September 9, 1817, Rose was incorporated in the Order of Our Lady of Charity; she pronounced her solemn vows of religion and the fourth vow proper to the Order. It bound her to dedicate her life to girls and women in moral and spiritual distress who would voluntarily seek conversion. It was customary on beginning a new way of life to take a new name. She requested the name of Teresa, her patron, whom she admired and wished to imitate. Being refused, Rose chose that of Mary Euphrasia, after a princess and virgin venerated by St. Teresa.

Rose was immediately appointed directress of the girls to whom she devoted herself unreservedly. They soon discovered she was a born educator and a rare psychologist. However, her heart anguished for the many others she could not reach.

Eight years later, at twenty-nine years of age, her community elected Mary Euphrasia superior even though at that time the required age was forty years. With their consent, her first move was to found a contemplative community devoted to prayer and penance to

support the active mission of the apostolic community (10).

Then began for her a rapid succession of unexpected events: the Bishop of Angers, France, requested Mary Euphrasia to re-create a Good Shepherd service for girls and women in his diocese. It had existed since 1640 under two programs, both destroyed by the Revolution.

It was with great difficulty that her community accepted the bishop's request. But Mary Euphrasia was enthusiastic about it. She travelled to Angers, arranged the house, and three months later in-augurated it, July 31, 1829, with five Sisters from Tours. Their first guests were nine young girls expelled from a Match Factory for in-tolerable behavior.

Two years later, May 21, 1831, Mary Euphrasia completed her term of office at Tours. She returned to develop her new foundation, the autonomous community at Angers, now languishing and beset by fear and poverty.

However, it was with deep soul-searching and painful detachments that she left her community at Tours. She was overwhelmed by a sudden upsurge of affection for those she left behind. She had a premonition it was final. But she resolved to "leave all for God, lose all for God, and find all in God" (11). She moreover had an inner conviction that great things were to take place at Angers. In fact, this was the turning point of her whole life. An era of uninterrupted activity began for her.

Mary Euphrasia immediately renewed contacts with the financial co-founder of the Good Shepherd, Count de Neuville. He was no ordinary benefactor. He interpreted the Gospel literally and gradually settled his entire fortune on the Good Shepherd congregation (12!. He had faith in Mary Euphrasia's genius and in her holiness (13).

His first suggestion was that she organize a contemplative community at Angers. He sustained the cost of a house and a garden nearby. Three months later Mary Euphrasia initiated this community with two professed Sisters and one novice he himself had obtained from Tours.

Then requests for new services began to multiply: in June 1831, at the Bishop's request. Mary Euphrasia accepted a group of orphans. In 1832, the Bishops of Le Mans, Grenoble and Metz requested centers for girls and women in their dioceses. In 1833 she organized a section in Angers for children in moral danger, and one for black children

pouring in from North Africa through the slave trade - a woe that had touched her deeply as a child.

Later, she organized a model farm for young prisoners whose physical and social exploitation eclipsed that of women in Father Eudes' time, 200 years earlier. She also organized a half-way house for women prisoners.

However, the requests for new foundations created problems for Mary Euphrasia with her Order. She had a formation center rich with ardent young Sisters. The Sisters at Nantes, Tours and Caen needed the young but had older Sisters rich in experience employed in secondary tasks. At a moment of extreme need, Mary Euphrasia had appealed to them for an experienced Sister even on a temporary basis, and had been refused. Each house could be concerned only with its own community (14).

Mary Euphrasia and her Sisters, therefore, began to feel that unless the ancient administrative statutes of Our Lady of Charity be opened to the new apostolic needs according to the movement of the Spirit, there could be no development or expansion, for there could be no sharing of Sisters or goods and no assurance of functions in harmony with the Sisters' aptitudes, training and attractions.

Yet a supernatural force was evident in the almost impetuous speed of events and the numerous candidates at Good Shepherd. In her dilemma, Mary Euphrasia and her Sisters were invoking the Spirit of inspirations with prayer and penance, and were dreaming dreams. ...She herself began to understand that within her special vocation were other missions to be accomplished (15).

In the ANNALS OF ANGERS of 1833 we read that: "At this time several Sisters had the idea of a generalate" and Count de Neuville upheld it wholeheartedly "as the organization for these modern times" - that is, a centralized administration of members and goods so that the mission of the Sisters could develop beyond the confines of an autonomous community and yet provide mutual support and vitality (16).

Mary Euphrasia confessed later that she was convinced the idea of the generalate was an 'inspiration' from heaven and she had an inner conviction Providence would give her the means to succeed in estab-lishing it (17). She wrote several years later:

"You remember I am sure, my dear sister Dositheus, that it was to us two that God first gave the inspiration of the generalate. I will never forget that moment! (18). . .. You believed in the holy work and saw it in its beginnings even when no one else did, so hidden

was it in humility and pain. . . ."(19).

Mary Euphrasia's historian writes: "The inspiration was to gain support and progress in such a way that no one could stop it. . . . It had at its service the most holy, the most tenacious and the most irresistible passion: that of zeal for the salvation of souls" (20).

Mary Euphrasia nourished her 'inspiration' in prayer and intimate suffering. With her Council, she consulted her bishop and other friends among the clergy and religious orders. Father Pasquier, a noted canonist, analyzed the situation in his response: he acknowledged and praised the immense benefits of a generalate. He felt however that not ALL the autonomous communities of Our Lady of Charity would accept it. It would furthermore change the nature of the first Institute founded as autonomous communities (21).

Friends in Rome advised the bishop to proceed to a de facto generalate (22). In January, 1833, the Sisters' Council drew up a diocesan plan, and in March the Chapter signed a collegial act defining the conditions of future foundations: there would be one formation center, dependence on the Angers house, and the possibility of sharing Sisters among houses. In September, 1833, the bishop approved these as temporary additions to the constitutions (23) and immediately applied to Rome for official approval.

The de facto generalate was already in action (24). For, given the urgency of the foundation at Le Mans, its principles had been accepted by the Bishop and adopted when this house was opened April 29, 1833. The same policy was then followed in December for Poitiers and Grenoble (25).

On May 14, 1834, the Chapter body together with delegates from Le Mans, Poitiers and Grenoble, unanimously elected Mary Euphrasia superior general. Concerning her election, she writes:

"Oh my dear Dositheus, you were the first to understand my mission. Oh my God! I was not worthy to be chosen, but now I must fulfil my mission" (26).

Mary Euphrasia was immediately contradicted by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, the Eudist family, and the bishops where these congregations were located. Her motivations were grossly misrepresented. She was accused of ambition. Thirteen letters were sent to Rome against her and her 'inspiration: She did not refute them. She was waiting and praying with her Sisters and girls in enthusiastic expectation of a response to her bishop's request. The 'inspiration' had not been kept secret. Everyone knew about it!

On August 15, 1834, feast of Mary's Assumption, while the Sisters were singing Vespers, Mary Euphrasia felt impelled to write personally to Cardinal Odescalchi, the Pope's Vicar at Rome. She gave her motivations for the generalate, requested him to favor it, and declared herself ready to withdraw her request if it was contrary to the Pope's ideas or his own. Cardinal Odescalchi assured her on September 28, 1834, that he would espouse her cause and he was certain she would soon receive a Brief establishing her congregation (27). On December 3D, the bishop again wrote to Rome strongly advocating approval for the generalate.

Contrary to all expectations and to the usual slow procedure of Rome, the Commission of Bishops and Regulars drew up the Decree erecting the congregation in a general administration, and signed it January 9, 1835. Five days later, January 14, Pope Gregory XVI ap-proved it.

There was great rejoicing and praising God at Angers. The smaller children explained the celebrations to be in honor of "Mr Decree" and "Mr. Generalate" who had just arrived from Rome! The decree was promulgated by a Brief of confirmation on April 3, 1835, even though more letters and memorandums against Mary Euphrasia and her project had been sent to Rome.

Mary Euphrasia sang her Magnificat with Mary. In her many letters of these years she referred to the generalate as the "HOLY WORK," "GOD'S OWN WORK." For, she explained, "1 felt that in spite of myself I had to work for the generalate" (28). She had assured everyone it would come to be, and praised God for it. Therefore, no glory to her for the accomplishment, but to God and the Church. "In fact, it is the Church herself who has founded the Good Shepherd!"

Mary Euphrasia now felt she could get to work for God and souls. A letter of May 12, 1835, from a consultor to the Pope at Rome in this affair, Father Kohlman, S.J., sparked her zeal anew and expressed her own sentiments:

"It seems to me that this Work is exclusively the work of the Most High. I see only miracles in it: miracle in that apostolic spirit that the Good God has communicated to so many chosen souls and which persuades them to consecrate themselves to this beautiful undertaking; miracle especially in the speed with which this affair has been dispatched at Rome. What ordinarily would take two or three years before being terminated, Providence has concluded in the space of two or three months, notwithstanding the strong opposition that you had to surmount. In all of this I see so many motives to forge ahead with a great heart and with complete con-

fidence in Him to whom the Work exclusively belongs."

Saint Mary Euphrasia had harbored no intention of separating herself from the original Order of Our Lady of Charity. She had even taken some stones from the old convent at Tours and placed them in the building at Angers (29). She loved everything about Our Lady of Charity except its limitations. " All pulls at my heart-strings," she wrote, "I will change nothing unless I am ordered to do so. But I do have to do God's Will."

Nor was Mary Euphrasia seeking authority over the existing communities (30). She had hoped in her heart, however, that her Sisters at Our Lady of Charity would recognize God's Providence at work. She had always loved them and continued to love them. She had sought reconciliation with them several times but to no avail. This caused her sensitive heart untold suffering, which she endured to the end of her life. Three years before her death the Eudists became aware God was working through her and were reconciled to the Good Shepherd Congregation.

Apart from the signs of the times, which were numerous, Mary Euphrasia was moved by the Spirit to activate God's Merciful Love. One little corner of France did not satisfy her zeal. She wanted the whole world for God (31). The generalate was the means of proclaiming this love around the world.

The Sisters of Our Lady of Charity rejected the generalate structure and Mary Euphrasia with it. Therefore, from this administrative innovation our congregation was born in the very heart of Our Lady of Charity (32). Mary Euphrasia never intended to repudiate our spiritual heritage from Father Eudes. In fact the Decree of erection stipulated that the new congregation continued to enjoy the privileges and favors accorded by the Holy See to Our Lady of Charity. We remain rooted in Father Eudes' Fourth Vow (33).

When asked to make some significant changes to differentiate us, Mary Euphrasia's concern was to clarify and broaden Father Eudes' charism and spirit with her own. To his title Our Lady of Charity (Refuge) she added: "Good Shepherd," a title the Sisters had adopted from the beginning at Angers in a sensitivity to history. It gives a new biblical orientation to our spirituality and philosophy of service. But it does not limit our dedication to Mary.

Other major changes were inherent in the new administrative concept: the Decree stipulated that the superior of the house at Angers was superior general of all the other houses she had founded or would

found in the future; the role and organization of general government was for expansion of apostolic activity around the world (34).

The Vows were affected: Poverty became sharing of Sisters and goods; the Fourth Vow called for availability and mobility; therefore the vow of Obedience reflected even verbally until 1909 this different emphasis. At the same time, the expression of the Fourth Vow was enlarged to embrace the needs of the times. We have defined it a Vow of Zeal (35). Therefore ZEAL became and remains the characteristic of the Good Shepherd Institute. These principles and broadened vision created a new spirit, which affected the formation of candidates.

With its approval, the Church at Rome became the supporter of the rights and duties of our centralized congregation. It remained dependent on local bishops for certain affairs.

Considering the sweeping changes we are experiencing today in

religious life, these may seem minor ones; but they produced a new creation of the Spirit for the Twentieth Century. A centralized ad-ministration of women's communities was a novel experience. These communities were ordinarily founded and remained autonomous and insulated, with little or no chance of expansion beyond their own walls. That is why Saint Mary Euphrasia's experience was so vital. It was somewhat like a first phase in liberation of women's orders. Canon Law officially endorsed it only in 1917.

The changes were incorporated in the constitutions which were

updated and aligned with the new spirit. They were approved and printed in Rome in 1836, one year after the Decree. Once approved, the Good Shepherd existed on its own, separated juridically from Our Lady of Charity by its own laws (36).

The first chapter of elections after Rome's approval was held May 11,

1837, with eight foundations represented (37). Mary Euphrasia was unanimously re-elected superior general.

In 1852 the French Government gave official legal status to Good

Shepherd. In 1855, given the growth and expansion of the congregation, Provinces were erected. The first seven provincial administrations were organized in Angers, two in Italy, and one each in Germany, Great Britain, Cincinnati for the United States, and Algiers for Africa (38).

Mary Euphrasia's congregation with the generalate enjoyed seven

years of relatively peaceful existence, tremendous development, and unheard of expansion. In ten years thirty new centers were founded. God had called many promising candidates to her ranks in France and in the five other countries in which she was operating through her sisters.

But Mary Euphrasia's way of the cross continued. Her seven peaceful years ended with the death of Bishop Montault des Isles (1839) who had approved, upheld and defended her all along the arduous path. His successor, Bishop Paysan, was equally supportive but died suddenly after only seven months at Angers (1840). A third Bishop, Msgr. Angebault, arrived in Angers, December, 1842. He did not understand women's congregations with a generalate; he did not tolerate them or the support they received from the Church at Rome. After only three months in the diocese, he began to do all he could to undo what Mary Euphrasia had so painfully obtained.

Therefore, for the rest of her laborious life, that is, for twenty-six years, Saint Mary Euphrasia's every activity was questioned, blamed, even impeded when possible. At times she felt the generalate could not survive in Angers, so great was the opposition. This was compounded by the death of her great benefactors, two famines, and political calamities during which nine of her convents were pillaged and destroyed, the Sisters and girls fugitives to Angers. Truly the miracle of suffering accompanied the miracle of activity in her fruitful life! (391.

In spite of all, or perhaps because of it, the Lord continued to work through her heart-breaking experiences to spread His Kingdom of Mercy around the world. In all these trying years, Mary Euphrasia founded one hundred and twenty convents and centers of concern for children, young girls and women, in seventeen countries. That is, an average of three new centers a year (40).

At the same time, she organized contacts and support systems for her foundations through a net-work of communications, besides her personal letters. She herself travelled all over France, to Italy, Belgium, Germany, England, in those days of the "diligence," then the train and finally the steamboat. She made use of them all as soon as they appeared on the scene; as well as the telegraph, the sewing machine, and hand-weaving looms, which provided the means of "professional' training for her girls.

During her thirty-seven years of leadership Mary Euphrasia also took great care to form her Sisters in the true spirit of the Good Shepherd. Her teachings, gathered in the BOOK OF CONFERENCES

by her listeners, are a mine of practical spirituality. We note in them a Jesuit influence, cut off as she was from Our Lady of Charity and the Eudists. Father Eudes' writings had not yet been printed. It is true she had imbibed his spiritual doctrine, and primarily the earlier influence of her parents and milieu. Her historians also tell us: "It is as though St. Paul, St. Teresa and St. Francis Xavier had infused their own spirit in her" (41).

But mostly, Mary Euphrasia shared with her Sisters the fruit of her own contemplation. She was a mystic, unique as all mystics are even though led by the one Spirit. She was an apostolic-contemplative-missionary whose deep union with God and active concern for ALL his children were fused into one. The two great commandments of love brought her whole life into unity.

Her pedagogical principles are collected in a precious booklet enti-tled: PRACTICAL RULES. Mary Euphrasia was a born educator and grace enriched this gift in her. During her early years she had also amassed a wealth of knowledge, experience and understanding of the human person in such a way that her teaching is comprehensive of the physical. psychological, intellectual, spiritual and social dimensions of the person. For her the "salvation of souls" is the whole person and for this life and the next. Her principles are the same for all, the booklet tells us, but are to be adapted to the uniqueness of each child of God.

These principles flow from a theology of love. The essential points in St. Mary Euphrasia's philosophy of service are:

1. God loves each one of us, our happiness is in loving God and one

another. Through God's love each one is a child of God, therefore of infinite value and dignity, worthy of respect and reverence.

Each person is unique and expresses in some way the mystery of God.

Each person is redeemed by Christ Jesus the Good Shepherd.

Each one is potentially good.

2. Optimism and realism are the basis of her teaching: "Look for the good and the positive in each one. Emphasize the good in private and in public. Raise the self-image whenever possible" (42).

3. Each person has the potential to change, to grow, to be converted in the inner self. But we cannot expect radical or immediate

transformations in anyone. Change is slow and an arduous process (43).

4. The aptitudes and strengths of each one are important. We must know how to stimulate each one accordingly. Have confidence in them.

"Offer them high ideals, assure them of success; they can succeed, but let your own expectations be realistic. Be aware and compas-sionate of their weakness and instinctive reactions."

In some it will be more difficult to discern the qualities to develop

and how to reach them. Just consider them already arrived, give them the confidence you would like to have in them before they have fully merited it. This method can give excellent results and it can also miss the point. "It is better however to be victims of too great confidence rather than to wound them through suspicious and precipituous judgments."(44)

5. We do not refer to their past failures, but try to build on the present

and for the future. We know our people have been knocked around by life's sad circumstances; what is important is to lead them to experience the charm of goodness (45).

6. Ultimately it is the individual person who is responsible for change.

Even though persons may be victims of circumstances, on account of young age or inexperience, they ARE endowed with free will. Our task is to help develop this free will and guide them into a sense of responsibility. For they must take their place in the real world with its demands and the rights of others (46).

7. In the matter of religion, nourish their minds and hearts with solid

and basic truths. Make it a happy event. They have a right to know God, to know they are loved by him and can love him in return. As to the morality of the Gospel, "show them the beauty of virtue and vice will become horrible without the necessity to paint its ugliness" (47).

8. We also avoid treating all in uniform manner, for each one is dif-

ferent, each one reacts in a personal way. However, we keep in mind the general good of the group and the particular good of each one and bring them into unity, so that they help one another.

9. We need commitment, caring, and a kind firmness that knows how

to set limits and expectations within each one's pace, and at the same time stimulate to ever higher ideals: "Imitate the eagle," she says,

"as it teaches its young ones to fly and conquer space in the wide open sky" (48).

10. Mary Euphrasia indicates the caring authority figure of Jesus the Good Shepherd in all her methods of treatment. She places great importance on the role of model. Our people need a consistent person with whom to identify and a consistent pattern of values.

11. What is most important however is that we LOVE them, let them know we love them. If they know we love them it will be easier for them to live up to just expectations.

Mary Euphrasia's own passionate attention to peoples' needs came from God and led to him:

"Do as I did, she tells us. . . . I did nothing great. . . I only loved. . . but I loved with all the strength of my soul. . . . Nothing is im-possible to one who loves" (49).

Mary Euphrasia's spirituality is wholistic, incarnational. Some highlights are these:

1. To live IS Christ Jesus the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep. Hence, "we must put on his mind, his heart, his attitudes, his affections, until we become his living reflections" (50). That is, we let Jesus, Good Shepherd, re-live his saving mission through us. It is Jesus who converts and saves.

Hence, the CROSS of redemption is woven all through her life: she lives the paradox of intense pain, anguish and suffering of all kinds united with unalterable joy and peace. She teaches: "Our Good Shepherd spirit is confidence, joy and peace. Therefore, on all occa-sions, let the joy of the children of God dwell in your hearts" (51).

2. Besides the asceticism which human living itself brings us, Mary

Euphrasia believed in the practise of virtue and self-discipline. She repeats with St. Teresa that it is folly to expect union with God without the-practise of prayer, self-denial and penance.

She also taught and lived the asceticism the vows of religion de-mand, if they are to free us interiorly and exteriorly for our Vow of ZEAL: these call for adhesion to Christ, and the full detachment of the Beatitudes (52.)

3. Another very personal aspect of Saint Mary Euphrasia's spirituality is her keen awareness of the reality of the Living Christ in the Eucharist, the compendium of all our faith. And through the

Eucharist we find Mary, the great leader of our congregation, our liberator, our examplar (53).

4. Her spirituality is also impregnated with faith and trust in God's Providence. She discerned God's action in creation and in the smallest events. She was full of wonder at his marvelous action in souls. Therefore she was always praising, thanking, rejoicing; or, graciously accepting what God disposed, whether joyful or painful. And through the noise and din of human judgments she kept "her peace in silence," sure of his salvific Will, her guiding STAR. Only once did she confess to an intimate "0 my God, you are hiding your Will from me. . . ." (54).

5. Her communion with the Church was very special to her personal holiness. But she suffered intensely and long from the local Church in what was dearest to her heart, her mission, without ever failing in respect and loyalty.

To love the Church means to love the Body of Christ in each of its members. It means to love the Pope, to have faith in him, to respect and obey him, as the faithful guardian of catholic belief and morals, and the first superior of religious (55).

6. Saint Mary Euphrasia's motto: "The glory of God and the salvation of souls, this is my life!" activated her whole life of prayer, suffering and action for others.

"In all, everywhere, and always, she was led by love and by her insatiable desire to save souls," . . .. Nothing was too great or too small, too arduous or too costly to put into action day or night for one of God's little ones" (56).

Finally, we have 1500 personal letters of Mary Euphrasia. In them

we find her alive in her warmth, her tender love, the deep family spirit engendered in her communities across the world. Her trust, her humor, her pain, her joy - all her emotions are bared therein. In her spontaneity she weeps, she laughs, she exclaims, she teases, she praises, she fears, she hopes. And above all, she encourages and affirms.

She aptly illustrates her thought with symbols and images, especially those impressed on her sensitive soul in childhood: for example, her "anguish and pain is great like the sea"; in spite of all, she is "in an ocean of peace." To an intimate she writes: "Let us remain rooted firmly in God like the great rocks in the ocean" (57).

Saint Mary Euphrasia died April 24, 1868, at seventy-two years of age, worn out physically but still vigorous in her love and zeal. She provided for God's little ones until her last breath. As her testament, she bequeathed her spiritual daughters ZEAL FOR SOULS. She left 2800 apostolic Sisters, 970 contemplative Sisters, and 15,000 girls, women, and children being cared for in one hundred ten centers around the world (58).

She left a well-organized general administrative center at Angers, and sixteen regional administrative centers, each with its formation and recruitment activities.

The Church canonized Mary Euphrasia May 2, 1940; that is, in-scribed her among the saints to be prayed to and emulated. Her feast is celebrated April 24 each year. Her spiritual daughters continue her mission today, for in the words of the Church: "She has become forever, through them, co-operator in God's own activity of Mercy" (59). At present they are 6550 Sisters operating in 593 centers of concern; and 1263 contemplative Sisters in fifty-nine communities. And there are thousands of dedicated lay staff who continue to share her legacy and mission as they did in her own times.

When one of her young guests was asked what most characterized Mary Euphrasia, she spontaneously answered: "Our Mother Euphrasia loved us. She was good, good, good!" And one of her Sisters: "She communicated her love and her zeal to us. She had only to speak to us and we were ready to go to the ends of the earth to save souls!" (60).

Of herself, Saint Mary Euphrasia says: “I do not wish it said any longer that I am French. I am Italian, English, German, Spanish, African, American, Indian. . . . I belong to every country where there are souls to save."

And to us: " . . . We must not be attached to one little corner of the earth. We must rouse ourselves and be ready to pitch our tents even on the most distant shores. . . wherever we can be of service as Good Shepherds" (61).

------------

May Saint Mary Euphrasia be with us in a very special way.

May the Lord Good Shepherd grant her to share her vision and her universal ZEAL with us!

May she be "good, good, good" to all of us!

APPENDIX

SOURCES Annales de la Fondation de notre monastere d'Angers 1829-1979 Conferences of Saint Mary Euphrasia, 1907 = Conf. Historical Background - Saint Mary Euphrasia, 1979 L'Osservatore Romano, 1939 Mirror of Virtues, 1886 = MV Personal Letters of Saint Mary Euphrasia Practical Rules, 1897 - PR Process of Beatification and Canonization, 1886-1895 = OP, AP BERNOVILLE, Gaetan, Shepherdess of Souls,

St. Mary Euphrasia, 1959 CLARKE, A.M., Life of Rev. Mother Mary of

St. Euphrasia Pelletier, 1895 GEORGES, Emile CJM, Ste. Marie Euphrasie Pelletier, 1942 JOL Y, Henri, La bienheureuse Mere Pelletier PASQUIER, H. Mons., The Life of Reverend Mother Mary

Euphrasia Pelletier, 1894 PEZZOLI, Denise, Sainte Marie Euphrasie, Lettres et Entretiens, 1964 POINSENET, Marie Dominique OP, Rien n'est impossible

a l'amour, 1969 PORTAIS, Canon, The Venerable Mother Mary of

St. Euphrasia Pelletier, 1893 SAUDREAU, Auguste Rev., The Secret of Sanctity, Manuscript, 1928

NOTES

Saint Mary Euphrasia and her mission:

1 - Poinsenet, p. 16-17 2 - Georges, p. 5 3 - Ibid, p. 7 4 - Process Super Virtutibus, p. 121; Georges p. 11-12 5 - Georges p. 4-10 6 - Bernoville, p. 23-24 7 - OP, I, p. 197 8 - Saint Mary Euphrasia - Historical Background 9 - Georges, p. 204, quoting Pope Pius XI 10 - Process Articles, p. 12 11 - Georges, p. 71 12 - Bernoville, p. 76 13 - Ibid. 14 - Article by P. Bertier in Revue des S. Coeurs, May 1940, quoted by Georges, p. 73-74 15 - Bernoville, p. 107 16 - Pezzoli, p. 171; Centenaire d' Angers, 1929, p. 38 17 - Georges, p. 77; "It is a general rule that whenever God chooses a person for a special mission God adorns that person with all the gifts of the Spirit needed to fulfill the task" {St. Bernardine of Siena, Sermo 2, Opera 7, 16. 27-30}. The booklet MIRROR OF VIRTUES traces the effects of the Gifts in Saint Mary Euphrasia. 18 - Letter September 23, 1837 19 - Letter December 18, 1837 20 - Annals of Angers; Georges, p. 72 21 - Annals d' Angers, pp. 88-89 22 - Georges, p. 171 23 - Georges, p. 77-78 24 - Georges, p. 164 25 - December 22, 1883 26 - Letter December 18, 1837 27 - Mirror of Virtues, p. 80; Letter September 28, 1834; Georges, pp.-174-175 28 - December 23, 1835 29 - Bernoville, p. 93 30 - Letter of P. Regnier, Vicar of Angers, to Fr. Dufetre, Tours, 1833 31 – Henri Joly, p. 64 32 - Georges, p. 78 33 - Ibid., p. 76, 78

NOTES (Continued)

Saint Mary Euphrasia and her mission: 34 - Georges, p. 83 35 - Constitutions, 1955-1956 36 - Georges, p. 79 37 - Poinsenet, p. 133-34 38 - Georges, p. 190; Bernoville, p. 149 39 - Georges, Triduum Sermon. . . 40 - Nine convents were disbanded by the minor revolutions, and her first convent at Le Mans became autonomous again when a new bishop took over the diocese. 41 - Georges, p. 289 42 - Georges, Chapter 7, iii 43 - Practical Rule, p. 117-119 44 - Conferences, p. 344, 371 45 - Practical Rules. p. 117. In a letter to Sister John of the Cross David of 1835 St. Mary Euphrasia declared the work for children in moral danger the most beautiful work the Generalate had made possible. 46 - Conf, p. 14; 362 47 - Bernoville quoting Mary Euphrasia, p. 32 48 - Conf., p. 346, 355 49 - Ibid, p. 250; 29-30 50 - ConL, Chapter VI 51 - Ibid, p. 30, 124 52 - Bernoville, p. 179 - 190 53 - ConL, pp. 61-62 54 - Poinsenet, p. 221 55 - Conf., p. 47, Autumn of 1841 56 - Georges, pp. 290, 296; Chapter 7, iii 57 - Personal letters, September 1858, etc. 58 - Portais, p. 435 59 - L'Osservatore Romano, June 1939, quoting Congregation of Rites 60 - OP; Georges, p. 237-238 61 - Conf, Chapter VI, p. 47-48

2. SAINT JOHN EUDES (1601-1680)

by Sr. M. Nora Dennehy

SAINT JOHN EUDES (1601-1680)

Today we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the approval by Rome of the Generalate of the Good Shepherd Congregation, which marks its official beginning as a new Congregation in the Church, and as an international community. However, the history and spirituality of the Congregation has its roots in the time and work of St. John Eudes, a missionary priest, who organized in France a group of dedicated women to befriend girls and women victimized by a turbulent society. The community, begun in 1641, became known as the Order of Our Lady of Charity. The work of these Sisters spread slowly during the next century, and almost disintegrated during the upheavals of the French Revolution.

It was one of these Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier, who in her desire that the whole world benefit from the work of St. John Eudes, organized a centralized government for the Sisters two hundred years later, and it is to the beginning of this organization known as the Sisters of the Good Shepherd that we pay tribute today.

To understand the spirit that energized Mary Euphrasia and her Sisters even to this day it is necessary to know something of the life and work of St. John Eudes, who in his own words, corde magna et animo volenti, that is, with a great heart and willing spirit contributed so much to the renewal of the Church in his day.

John Eudes was born in Ri in the Province of Normandy in France in 1601. Daniel Rops calls the Seventeenth Century the great Century of Souls, and St. John Eudes was most certainly influenced by his times. It was a century of civil and spiritual renewal, of revival of the faith after the thirty years "Wars of Religion." There was heresy also and great ignorance in the clergy because of the lack of opportunity for adequate training.

At the same time the country was in a social and economic crisis all across St. John Eudes' life span. The lower classes, exasperated by poverty and misery, resorted to popular rebellions and riots. John Eudes also lived through at least four major plagues and famines. In his day all who challenged the established order, be it religious, moral, political, or familial, were considered marginalized and needed to be locked up.

Prostitution was the greatest sin and social plague of the times.

"Young women had become the playthings of society." They, too, were "locked up" when not being favored by authorities.

However, a great awakening was taking place in religious life. Monasticism, which had been threatened with dissolution, was again flowering. The Abbesses of women's monasteries had great influence on the renewal taking place. The Dominicans and Jesuits, too, became very active again. Among lay people, noble men and women were giving up their wealth and position and joining religious life. Missionaries were organizing missions of renewal all over the country.

It was into this scene that John Eudes was born to Isaac and Martha Corbin Eudes. A year previously his parents had made a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Recovery at de Tourailles to ask that they might have a child. In his old age John Eudes wrote of his parents:

"God permitted me the grace to be born of parents who were of moderate means and who were God fearing and respectful. I have every reason to believe that they died in His grace and love. "

Isaac Eudes had studied for the priesthood. However, the death of his entire family in a plague resulted in his returning home and taking over the family farm. For the rest of his life he prayed the breviary daily. Biographers also report that Isaac Eudes had some knowledge of surgery and treated the wounded during a war.

It is reported of Martha Eudes that when a young cousin was killed in a duel, which the government was trying to ban, she carried his body herself and with her own hands buried it in a field. She then took oxen and plough and ploughed the whole field so that no one would know in what part of it the young man had been buried. Without evidence there could be no investigation, and in this way she protected her family.

After John's birth, four daughters were born to Isaac and Martha Eudes. One died in childhood, and another became the mother of Marie Herson, who entered the order of nuns founded by her uncle and played an important part in its early history. Little more is known of John Eudes' sisters. Ten years after John's birth two more sons were born: Francis de Mezeray and Charles d'Houay. Both became famous: Francis as an historian and Charles as a surgeon and magistrate. A medallion representing the three brothers can still be found on the wall of the townhall in Ri. The words were written by Charles and it reads, "We are three brothers who worship the truth. The

eldest of us preaches it, the second of us writes it, and I defend it with my last breath. "

At birth John Eudes was consecrated by his parents to Mary. His earliest education was from his father. Later he studied Latin and Greek under the direction of a learned and holy priest in a neighboring village. At fourteen he was enrolled in the Jesuit College in Caen, where he was not only a brilliant student but a fervent Christian. It was during this period that he chose the Mother of God as his mystic spouse, and, in imitation of saints before him, slipped a ring on a finger of one of her statues as an engagement or pledge of his sacred alliance. Under his Jesuit instructors, Eudes learned to think and to speak clearly. He learned excellence and self-reliance. It should be noted that all his life and through his varied endeavors John Eudes always received strong support from the Jesuits.

After studying theology at a public college in Caen, Eudes entered in Paris in 1623 the Oratorians, founded only eleven years earlier by the future Pierre Cardinal de Berulle. The prime purpose of the Oratorians was to raise the dignity of the secular priesthood, through the inspiration of the doctrine that Christ was High Priest. Eudes was welcomed to his new spiritual family and immediately given a retreat by de Berulle. His novitiate and continued studies for the priesthood were under the influence of the French School of Spirituality, with emphasis upon prayer, study of the scriptures, and preparation for preaching. It also included living a life of silence and prayer like a hermit for some months. The Oratorians were prepared to be apostles both to other priests and to the laity. Eudes spent the last six months of his priestly training under the direction of Charles de Condron, who after de Berulle became Eudes' second spiritual father. From de Condron Eudes learned a gentle directness and a familiar affectionate way of speaking of the things of God. John Eudes was ordained a priest in December, 1625, and celebrated his first Mass on Christmas day.

Immediately after ordination John Eudes fell ill and was sent to the Oratorian hermitage to recover his health. He spent this time in prayer and study of the scriptures. A year later, mended in body, and with new enlightment he again took up formal study and was officially admitted to the Oratorian Congregation.

Scarcely had Father Eudes entered fully into the Congregation than he learned of a plague ravaging the region of his birth. The dying were being abandoned by their families and even by the clergy. With reluctant permission of superiors, Father Eudes, together with a local priest

hermit, ministered to the sick and dying, risking his own life to bring Christ to others. After two months, the plague subsided and Father Eudes was assigned to the Oratory at Caen. He spent four years there in prayer, reading, and assisting the parish priests of the vicinity, preaching, teaching catechism and hearing confessions.

It was during this time that a plague again struck Caen. Again Father Eudes ministered to the sick. But lest he catch the plague and pass it on to his Oratorian colleagues, he ceased for a time to live at the Oratory, and slept in a barrel in a field. Afterwards, the field came to be known as "the Saint's Meadow." Eudes also roused the people of Caen to pray to Our Lady. Only then did the plague end.

It was not until 1632, more than six years after his ordination, that Father Eudes preached his first mission. The Seventeenth Century mission aimed literally at re-evangelizing a region. With probably ten priests, selected and trained by Eudes himself, the little band of missionaries marched into Coutance on Normandy's west coast, to the ringing of bells. All businesses in the town stopped and markets closed as the missionaries preached. People poured in from the hills and all clocks stopped during the several weeks of the mission. The town was re-made. Such wonderful things happened during the mission that several neigh boring towns persuaded Fr. Eudes and his missionaries to preach to them also.

Father Le Beurier, a biographer, describes Father Eudes, the missionary, in these terms. He was rather above middle height, the natural gentleness of his character was depicted in his features, his fiery modest eyes showed at once the keenness of his mind and the calmness of his soul. His originally delicate constitution gradually became so strong that he was capable of the most difficult under-takings and the most fatiguing labors. For fifty years he preached missions, some of which lasted two or three months, and during which he preached every day, or even two or three times a day. His faith, far more than the natural strength of his mind, supported him in the midst of opposition of all kinds, which he had to encounter for at least forty years. At sixty years of age his fresh and healthy look was that of a man in the prime of life. At seventy, he preached almost daily during a mission which lasted three months.

During his lifetime St. John Eudes conducted one hundred-ten missions which lasted approximately seven weeks each. He preached effectively to the King and Queen and their court as well as to farmers and merchants. So many people attended his sermons that at times

they had to be held in the fields beyond the Church where as many as 30,000 to 40,000 persons gathered to hear them. It should be noted also that John Eudes did not have the advantage of a microphone or loud speaker in his day to aid him in addressing these enormous crowds. So effective, nonetheless, was St. John Eudes the preacher, that confessionals were besieged from morning until night during his missions. Many persons had to remain in church whole days, even for four or five days successively, without being able to get to confession, the crowd was so great around the confessionals. Bossuet called Eudes the "Marvel of his Age," and St. Vincent dePaul said of him, "of all the missionaries, he is the most effective."

St. John Eudes was also a seminary teacher, and counselor and Spiritual Director to many communities of nuns. He wrote twenty seven books, which are reported to have remained in manuscript until 1890. Among the more popular of his works are:

The Life and Kingdom of Jesus The Sacred Heart of Jesus The Priest: His Dignity and Obligations Meditations The Admirable Heart of Mary

This last book was a thirty year labor of love, completed only a week before John Eudes' death.

Although the Council of Trent had decreed that priests be educated in seminaries, at the beginning of the Seventeenth Century there was still no seminary in France. As a result, great numbers of priests of Eudes' time did not have the training to meet the needs of their day. St. John Eudes made several attempts to have the Oratorians establish seminaries, but they delayed, alleging that their work was in colleges. For that reason Father Eudes left the Oratorians and on March 25, 1643, founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, popularly known as the Eudists, dedicated to the training of priests. St. John Eudes considered this work the special mission to which God called him. He founded six seminaries during his lifetime. Before the French Revolution the Eudists directed seventeen seminaries and a number of colleges and parishes throughout France. Today they can be found not only in Europe, but also in North and South America and in Africa.

Saint John Eudes also founded two lay associations. As early as

1648 he began to establish the Confraternity of the Sacred Hearts, which in time grew to 40,000 members. The aim of the Confraternity

was twofold: to foster devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and to pray for priestly vocations. The members of the Confraternity were also urged to devote themselves to works of zeal and charity to the degree permitted by their state in life. During the French Revolution the Confraternity continued to foster devotion to the Sacred Hearts, encouraged Christians in the practice of their faith, and undertook the religious education of children.

Saint John Eudes also founded the Society of the Admirable Heart of the Mother of God. It was for men and women, who though living in their own homes, wished to devote themselves to God with all their hearts. They took a vow of chastity, renewable yearly, but wore no outward religious dress. At one time this Society numbered 20,000 members in France, and from its members sprang various orders of Sisters. The foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor, Jeanne Jugan, is probably the best known of the members of this Society of the Admirable Heart.

Lay Associates, reactivated within our Province in 1982 and known as the N euville Associates, a Good Shepherd Lay Association, continue a long and valued tradition in the Congregation. In less than a year, the Neuville Associates have been established at five locations of the Washington Province.

St. John Eudes was influenced by the currents of spirituality in his time, directly by Berulle, Condron, St. Vincent de Paul, Msgr. Olier, the Jesuits, his own family, and indirectly by St. Francis de Sales, who died when Eudes was still a young man.

His own spiritual life and teaching were based on the Scriptures, especially St. Paul. The Pauline doctrine of incorporation with Christ by Baptism and our obligation to live his life and to act in his spirit formed the center of Eudes' spirituality. Like Berulle, Condron, and other members of the French School, John Eudes looked upon this teaching as fundamental and made all his instructions converge upon it. He was well read and drew heavily on the Fathers of the Church: Sts. Augustine, Cyril, John Crysostom, and Bernard to name a few, as well as from the writings of Sts. Mechtilde, Gertrude, Bridget of Sweden, and Catherine of Genoa. He was influenced also by the abbesses of his time and the mystic, Marie des Vallee, whom he directed.

Great Catholic laymen and women were his close friends as were Richelieu and the rulers of France who sought his advice. Father Eudes was a man of charm. His life is a story of friendships. Many of his friends were collaborators with him in his foundations of the

Sisters of Our Lady of Charity and the seminaries of his Congregation. Friends loved him for the charm that was in him. His heart burning with love for God and neighbor gave him a charm. His joy too gave him a charm.

As mentioned earlier, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd have their roots in the Order of Our Lady of Charity. St. John Eudes founded the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity shortly after St. Francis de Sales tried and failed to organize an apostolic religious community of women. St. Vincent de Paul was also experimenting with his Daughters of Charity, but had to compromise in order to permit them to minister to the poor as he intended. At that time women's Orders were of the cloistered contemplative monastic type.

St. John Eudes ended by founding a quasi-monastic apostolic Order . . . first known as "The Little House of Charity," then "Our Lady of Refuge," and later "Our Lady of Charity."

The Annals of Our Lady of Charity tell us that "without any deter-mined plan John Eudes was led to found the Order of Our Lady of Charity." In 1635 during his preaching of Missions in Caen, he yield-ed to the requests of some women and girls who had been touched by grace. He placed as many as possible in the homes of pious persons. One of these persons was Madeleine Lamy, a zealous and generous woman. When Father Eudes would come to visit and exhort the women in her home to continue in their good resolutions, she would enlighten him on their difficulties and try to convince him to do something more durable. One day when she saw Father Eudes with his friends, she called after them:

"And where are you going? No doubt to Church to gaze upon the statues and consider yourselves devout. Why don't you try instead to get a house for these poor women who are lost for lack of money and direction!"

These words produced their effect, and a larger place was sought. One friend of Father Eudes agreed to pay the rent, another to provide food, still another clothing and furniture. St. John Eudes had the most difficult task of organizing the personnel and obtaining the necessary ecclesiastical and civil permits. He invested so much skill and energy and experienced so much anxiety in obtaining these "Letters Patent" of the King, as they were called in his day, not only for this House of Charity, but for numerous additional foundations and for his seminaries that I believe he could easily be considered a patron saint of those who struggle with Labor and Industry and Zoning regulations today.

While numerous refuges and organizations had been founded all

across Europe from the Tenth Century on, what John Eudes did was give the organization he founded a specific spirit, a form which insured its stability, and a certain status in civil and church circles. He had drawn up a simple rule of life for the women, and to Madeleine Lamy and her "Sisters" he gave the Rule of St. Augustine. Helpers soon joined the original group and John Eudes obtained the assistance of the Visitation Sisters in training his first Sisters.

John Eudes himself worked on articles of the Constitutions of Our Lady of Charity that specifically related to their spirit and mission and offered them to the Sisters as coming directly from the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. His words were so forceful that the Sisters were touched and animated by them with an ardent desire to labor with all their strength for the welfare and salvation of persons. He defined the mission of Our Lady of Charity as being to imitate as much as possible, by means of Divine grace, the most ardent charity of the Most Amiable Heart of Jesus, inflamed toward men and women, created to the image and likeness of God, and redeemed by the Blood of His Son. Herein John Eudes brings out clearly the value of a person, which is a distinguishing characteristic of his Sisters to this day.

John Eudes insisted many times on the Apostolic call of his Sisters, stating:

"The most divine of all things is to cooperate with God in the salvation of persons. , , , "The Sisters have not entered this Congregation to save themselves alone, but to cooperate in the salvation of others. . , , "This is the way God has chosen for them to come to Him, "

To give stability to this noble undertaking he provided a fourth vow for his Sisters. In addition to the three traditional vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience John Eudes' Sisters would make a vow of apostolic zeal for God's work of Reconciling Love, that is, working to reconcile persons with themselves, their neighbor, and their God. This vow would be a concrete expression of love-in-action, taking its origins from the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, whose love reaches out, saves, and restores to dignity. It would be this fourth vow that unified the contemplative and active dimensions of the Sisters' lives, giving a singleness of purpose to all that they were and all they did.

In 1679, one year before his death, John Eudes, working with the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, revised these original Constitutions, but retained their original spirit and mission. This new edition was not printed until 1741, after a general assembly of the Order in Paris, attended by representatives from all thirteen communities then in existence. It was this Constitution that St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier lived

at Tours and brought with her to Angers in 1829.

John Eudes deeply loved his Sisters of Our Lady of Charity. In his letters of direction to them, after invoking many blessings on all, he would close with the words, "All yours, John Eudes, Missionary Priest." At the end of his life, after writing his Last Will and Testament, he wanted to make just one more visit to his dear Sisters of Our Lady of Charity and to bless them for a last time. This was his last journey outside the seminary. On returning to the seminary he took to bed and received the Sacrament of the Sick. His last words summarized his life, "I want Jesus, I love Him with all my heart now and for eternity,"

Saint John Eudes died August 19, 1680, at seventy-nine years of age. His spiritual ambitions can be summarized in his own motto: "I seek Jesus, nothing more,"

All the great spiritual currents in the Church flow towards the same goal, namely: growth in the knowledge and personal application of God's love for humankind. Christian reflection through the ages has constantly opened new horizons on this subject. St. John Eudes, through his preaching and his writings, made important contributions to the progress of the Church toward greater awareness of the extent of God's love.

St. John Eudes began with the contemplation of creative love, dwelt at length on the new creation in Baptism, which was the result of the Incarnation, death, and glorification of the Savior.

This new life begun here on earth finds its fulfillment in the world of glory, a world revealed by Jesus who sits at the right hand of the Father, and also by the multitude of saints who, mere human beings like us, have been the great witnesses of God's benevolence.

Heading all the saints we find Mary, Mother of Jesus, the chosen one of God's love, even though she never performed any of the marvelous deeds attributed to the Prophets and Apostles. It is in Mary's Heart that St. John Eudes discovers the perfect accomplishment of God's love of men and women.

The secrets of a mother's love are not revealed in a display of remarkable deeds nor in the glory of heroic battles. A mother manifests herself through her heart; only a tender devotion and respectful contemplation can explore its depths, It comes as no surprise then if Marian devotion occupies a privileged place in the Church. And, among the most fervent apostles of the devotion to Mary, St. John Eudes stands in the forefront, The image of John Eudes

is carved on one of the four corners of the main pulpit of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. He was selected for this honor as being one of the four most eloquent preachers of Mary in the Church's history. St. John Eudes' devotion to Mary finds abundant inspiration in Christian tradition. He wrote himself that the whole earth is full of holy books which were written in praise of this admirable Mother. Nonetheless, he expressed disappointment at not finding any dealing with her Heart.

Saint John Eudes would fill this gap by establishing a feast in honor of the Heart of Mary and by writing three volumes concerning “The Admirable Heart of the Sacred Mother of God" (o.c. vol. VI, VII, VIII).

Devotion to the Heart of Mary led him quite naturally to the Heart of

Jesus, which he celebrated by a distinct feast and presented to us as united to the admirable Heart of Mary.

In 1673, Our Lord revealed to St. Margaret Mary the secrets of His

Heart. John Eudes died before the revelations to Margaret Mary were made public. But he had prepared the way for acceptance of Margaret Mary's message. When bishops authorized the celebration of the feast asked for by Our Lord to Margaret Mary, it was generally, even in convents of the Visitation, the Office and Mass of St. John Eudes which was used until a new Office and Mass could be prepared.

At the time of his canonization in 1925 Pope Pius XI bestowed upon

St. John Eudes the title: Founder, Doctor, and Apostle of liturgical devotion of the Sacred Hearts.

In all the Masses and Offices composed by Saint John Eudes there

is a piety that is gentle and tender, ardent and enthusiastic, that penetrates and soothes the mind with its sweetness. Of all the writings of Saint John Eudes it might be said that it is impossible to pray them attentively without one's heart becoming more tender.

In conclusion, we quote his friend, Huet, who wrote of him:

"Eudes' remarkable virtue and ardent piety won my love and admiration. It would be useless for me to praise him. His innumerable labors for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, his pious and useful writings, have made him dear to God and venerable in the Church.”

3. GOOD SHEPHERD SPIRITUALITY AND CHARISM ALIVE

by Sr. M. Rosaria Baxter

GOOD SHEPHERD SPIRITUALITY AND CHARISM ALIVE

I am happy to share with you some insights about Good Shepherd

Spirituality and the work of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in the United States and throughout the world. I hope our time together will enable you to understand more clearly the World Wide Mission of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.

Today there are more than 6,500 Sisters of the Good Shepherd ser-

ving in over fifty Countries. We also have hundreds of Lay colleagues working with us in various programs and settings throughout the world. So we have a large Good Shepherd family responding to the needs of hundreds of thousands of people manifesting the widest possible diversity of cultures, mentalities and aspirations. Our World Wide Mission encompasses the work of prevention, rehabilitation and protection.

St. Mary Euphrasia gave a particular orientation to the spirituality of

our Congregation. She set forth the Good Shepherd as our model of service. . . looking for the lost, bringing back the strayed, tending the injured, making the weak strong, and keeping the whole flock in view. I quote from one of her conferences:

"The Good Shepherd is the Divine Original that you must strive to reproduce in your life. You will effect no good, you will not possess the spirit of our vocation until you become animated with the thoughts, sentiments, and affections of the Good Shepherd, of Whom you should be the Living image in the midst of those you serve."

St. Mary Euphrasia had an international heart; once she said, "I am no longer French, I am English, Italian, German, Spanish, African, American, Indian: I belong to every country where there are souls to be saved." Her compassionate heart cherished each person and embraced the whole world. She had a profound understanding of the suffering of the human heart. She was a born psychologist, and authentic social worker, and a gifted administrator. Her pedagogy was years ahead of her times. I could give you many examples of her wisdom in dealing with others in delicate situations and her wise advice to the Sisters about adapting to the cultures and human needs of those they served. For example, she told the Sisters not to feed the German children Spanish food, or the Italian children French food. She was always attuned to the human needs of the person as well as the spiritual ones.

Today we describe our Mission as Love-In-Action. So contem-

porary is our Good Shepherd spiritually that it is existential, arising from the now of our own existence, sensitive to the problems of the world, rooted in the reality of a loving God, enabling us to confront and respond to the challenges of our everyday life. Our spirituality is a prayerful attitude and stance in life that a person is more valuable than the whole world.

Now we begin our panoramic view of the work of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in English-speaking Canada and the D.S. Over six hundred Sisters are serving as Social Workers,Teachers, Child Care Workers, Psychologists, Family Therapists, Parish Social Ministers, Social Justice Advocates, Nurses, Secretaries and Religious Educators. The English-speaking Canadian Province covers the wide expanse from Nova Scotia to British Columbia. There are five Provinces in the D.S.: New York, Washington, D.C., Cincinnati, St. Louis and St. Paul. In English-speaking Canada and the D.S., including Hawaii and Guam, the Sisters work in a variety of programs which include:

a) Sixteen residential and day programs for adolescents including Group Homes, Family Clinics and Diagnostic Centers.

b) Eleven residential and day programs for women including battered women with children, homeless women in transition and women prisoners on work release or probation.

c) three programs for pregnant teenagers.

d) three multi-service Youth and Family Agencies

e) one Good Shepherd Neighborhood Mediation Program

f) many sisters are working in a variety of Parish Social Ministry settings and in out reach programs. Over the past twenty years we have been trying new forms and methods in our ministry while maintaining fidelity to our Good Shepherd philosophy and charism of caring.

The apostolate in French-speaking Canada is very similar to those in the D.S. As we leave North America, we move to Mexico, where the Sisters work with the very marginalized in Residential Centers, Schools, Preservation Homes and Soup Kitchens. The magnitude of the problem of poverty is a challenge to the Sisters to analyze continually their services to the poor. There are ninety-one Sisters serving in Mexico.

The work of the Sisters in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama has always been directed to girls and women but has undergone major changes in the past year. The Sisters opted to give over to the government the prisons where the Sisters for many years served the women deprived of freedom.

The Sisters in Guatemala serve in a completely Indian zone. They are very involved in the Indian reality and happily share their poverty and simplicity of life, at times having barely the necessities of life. In Honduras, the Sisters work in a center for adolescent girls. In El Salvador, the Sisters are dedicated to prevention and preservation with regard to children. After almost seventy years of bloodshed, there are many orphans in El Salvador. In Costa Rica, the San Luis Youth Center for Adolescents is the only facility of its kind in the Country for girls. Drug addiction, stealing, vagrancy and prostitution are the main reasons for committal to the Center. The Sisters also prepare development workshops with the purpose of providing work for those women who have spent time in prison. They run a bakery and a sewing factory. In Nicaragua, the Sisters have two residential programs for children and youth. In Panama, the Sisters' apostolate is directed to preventative services for children and teaching at the primary level. There are 227 Sisters serving in Central America.

In the Spanish-speaking Provinces of Columbia, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Bogota, Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, Medellin, and Spain there are about 1,500 Sisters. Except for Spain, all of these provinces are in underdeveloped Countries where the majority of the people live below subsistence level. The Sisters are involved in human development projects and education. They have numerous residential and out reach programs for teenagers and their families.

Moving on to Europe, there are about three hundred Sisters living in thirty different communities in Italy. The principal forms of service for our Italian Sisters are hostels for working girls, residences for pregnant teenagers, youth residences for students, parish work, teaching in nursery and elementary schools, outreach to the marginalized and assistance to disadvantaged youth in family groups. We have about forty Sisters serving in Malta, a little island in the Mediterranean near Italy. Our apostolate there is oriented toward battered women and their children and toward working girls who are in conflict with their families.

In Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Holland we have over nine hundred Sisters. A great financial dependence upon the Government has led to the increased institutionalization of our work in Germany and Belgium. On the other hand, in Holland, Switzerland and Austria, public welfare has practically revolutionized traditional Social Services.

There are forty-four Sisters in Hungary. Hungary is still under the domination of Soviet Russia who directs the Government Policy. The

Sisters cannot live in Community. They live in apartments and have secular jobs. However, government authorities periodically entrust several difficult girls to different sisters. One Sister has been given a foster child. Other Sisters reach out on weekends to care for children neglected by their families.

In France, the work is similar to our work in the V.S. At our Motherhouse in Angers, France, they have taken in refugees from various countries. There are 650 Sisters serving in France. The French Province also sends Sisters to Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, and Reunion. In England, the Sisters have responded to current problems of youth in flexible, experimental and non-institutional ways. There are about two hundred Sisters in the Province of Great Britain.

The Irish Province relies on Government aid to finance their many services of adult residential centers, adolescent training centers, hostels for working girls, night shelters for drifting teenagers and homeless women, crisis intervention homes for pregnant teenagers. They are also involved in recreational youth work, day programs providing pre-employment training for adolescents at risk, and human and religious development programs emphasizing that human life is sacred.

To move to another continent, the Province of Oceania is made up of Australia and New Zealand. There are two hundred Sisters in the Province. The culture and ministry there is similar to the U.S. The one unique program is for the Aboriginal children.

Moving along to the development of the Congregation in Africa, between 1970 and 1982, the Good Shepherd Sisters have moved into seven new African territories. Yet there has been a constant presence of Good Shepherd Sisters in Africa for 140 years. St. Mary Euphrasia sent the first six sisters to Algeria in 1843. She founded houses across North Africa, including Cairo.

In 1904, the South African Province of Johannesburg was founded. Today thirty-two Sisters offer an impressive list of services to the Black People of South West Africa. The main residential work is for pregnant teenagers in Pretoria where an average of fifty girls are received annually. Several Sisters are involved in Medical Services.

In 1963, we made a small beginning in Angola and then in 1970 we began a Community in La Reunion, a little island off the East Coast of Africa which is a French resort. The Sisters are involved in a variety of services:

a Shelter for women in distress and their children

a Center where unemployed young women and school dropouts can learn to prepare themselves for family, social and professional life

Social Services to families at the Children's Hospital -pastoral work in local Parishes

In 1974, a Community began in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Sisters focus their attention on feminine development because the condition of women is particularly severe. The rate of illiteracy is one of the highest in the world. The work began in April, 1974, with thirty young women. . . several were dropouts from school, some were street girls, some were unsupported mothers with young children. Equipment was minimal: one sewing machine and embroidery unit were available. Today they have several flourishing projects for women-a needlework unit, a weaving unit, a dyeing and printing unit, a soft toy department, a day care nursery for over sixty children and the Bethlehem Carpet Producers Cooperative for eighty women who now own and manage it themselves.

UNICEF offered to provide funding for several more new small projects to help Ethiopian women learn new skills, so the Sisters are organizing three more groups to set up their own projects for garment making, embroidery and bag production.

The Good Shepherd Sisters were specifically invited to Senegal by the bishop to help raise the status of women in 1976. The first Good Shepherd Community was implanted in Mauritius, another little island off the South West Coast of Africa, in 1977. An apostolic service to women in prison emerged. A further apostolate is developing among young workers of the free trade zone, plus work in organizing activities for teenagers during school holidays.

The Sisters from Egypt began a new mission in Sudan in 1978. The Good Shepherd Sisters made a start by cooperating in a Government Health Care Program. Soon one Sister was teaching English in a State School. They also made pastoral contact with local prisoners. Through their initiative the children who are in prison with their mothers are being educated. Dressmaking classes have been set up for seventy girls and women. The Sudan is Africa's largest country and it is also one of the twenty-five poorest in the world. There are seventy-one Sisters serving in Egypt and Sudan.

Five Sisters from five different nationalities were sent to begin a new foundation in Madagascar in 1979. The population is very poor on this island. The Sisters share the poverty and simplicity of life in the Bush-cooking on wood fires, raising chickens and rabbits, wash-

ing their clothes in the river. A large area of Pastoral service has opened out to them.

In 1981, three Sisters, one from India, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines began a new Community in Kenya. Young women are drawn to the big cities and almost inevitably, to prostitution. So the Sisters spent time learning Swahili so they could teach classes for the girls and women. An average of forty-five women per week participate in these classes at present. . . their equipment and premises are still minimal.

In Lebanon, we are the only Congregation who works in this Muslim-Christian Country with young deliquents and single parents. It is nearly impossible for these youngsters to be reinstated into their families. Owing to the war, the Sisters at times have to slow down their activities. There are sixty Sisters serving in Lebanon.

The Egyptian Vice Province comprises ten communities and seventy Sisters are responsible for a number of medical dispensaries catering to the need of the poor, a residence for homeless girls, programs for raising the status of underprivileged women, and a series of missions to poor villages.

Now we move to the life and mission of our Sisters in the Asian Region. Besides the rich diversity of cultures among the Asian peoples, there is also a variety of languages, religions, and differing socio-political-economic situations in these countries of Korea, Hong-kong, Macau, Thailand, Burma, Japan, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. There are about 1,200 Sisters serving in this area of the world.

Just to highlight some of the Apostolates- in Korea the Sisters opened a carpentry shop for poor boys. In Thailand, two sisters have begun a Leadership Training Programme in several Villages. This is a new extension of our work from the Good Shepherd Center for Social Awareness in Bangkok. The Sisters reside in a Village about a month in order to select girls to be sent for training in Bangkok. These leaders will then conduct the Programme in their respective Villages. There are 22,000 villages in Thailand. In Macau, our Sisters have a small house and mainly serve Chinese refugees through a parish apostolate. In Hongkong the social welfare system is structured and sophisticated.

As we complete our trip around the Globe, we journey into India, where we have the only hospital the Congregation owns and operates which is called St. Martha. It is a six hundred bed hospital and feeds

thousands of people daily on an out-reach basis. We have been in India since 1854. The Sisters from Sri Lanka have made three foundations in Pakistan during the past ten years. The Sisters work with the very poor as educators and for feminine development. Evangelization for our sisters is helping the people get their human needs met before speaking to them about a loving Good Shepherd.

How did St. Mary Euphrasia view the Congregation as it grew and expanded? She said:

“My dear daughters, you are children of miracles. Yes, the existence of the Institute is a chain of miracles. To God alone is due our preservation and prosperity. Is it not true that you find the Motherhouse a fine, convenient, roomy house but you do not know what it was ten years ago. I, who saw it begin, grow and extend, can hardly believe my eyes, and with good reason I exclaim, it is miraculous. Forgotten by everyone, we languished in misery, without furniture, without bedding, without clothing, sometimes in want of food. We spent a year thus. After all this came a time of consolation and in fact an era of miracles did set in. “

St. Mary Euphrasia goes on to say: "gratitude is the memory of the

heart. That heart is but a poor one which has no memories, which retains no remembrances." This year, 1985, is a milestone in the History of the Congregation and is filled with remembrances. So in the tradition of St. Mary Euphrasia we want to thank each one of you for helping us celebrate 150 years of caring for God's people.

philadelphia, u.s.a., 1985

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