“I Only Loved”: St. Mary Euphrasia @ 229 

Reflections for July 2025

The celebration of the birthday of our Mother Foundress St Mary Euphrasia gives us a chance to take a look at her life again. This year, in the midst of calls to “strengthen and deepen our spirituality” and efforts to embrace new directions, let us look at St. Mary Euphrasia as someone who preceded us in similar efforts in her own time. Let us go over some of the main phases in her life, some meaningful events, turning points which entailed deep changes owing to external circumstances or to her personal decisions. We have two sources (excerpted) that might help. Manuscripts all our own – by Ours and for Us! 

1. St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier: Who Was She? 2010. By Sr. Odile Laugier, RGS for the “Journey of Enrichment” – in preparation for the Union of the OLC and the RGS. 
2. To Mother +Liliane Tauvette, and to the Congregation of OL of Charity of the Good Shepherd. From Pope John Paul II. On the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Rose Virginie Pelletier, Mother Mary of St. Euphrasia. 31 July 1996. 

1. ST. MARY EUPHRASIA PELLETIER: Who was she? 

1st Phase. Two years before her birth. 

1. 1794. France was overturned by the French Revolution. Julien and Anne Pelletier and their five children were among the victims of the rising violence. 
2. February 11, 1794 Julien and Anne were arrested, their house sealed up, the children entrusted to friends, the couple brought to Noirmoutier Castle which was converted into a jail. In May, they were brought to trial, acquitted; but not allowed to leave the island. 
3. July 31, 1796 Rose Virgine was born. Her parents had not yet received permission to leave. 

2nd Phase. Rose Virgine was sent to a boarding school in Tours. 

1. 1810. Her father had died; her brothers were serving int the Napoleon Army. Mrs. Pelletier decided to leave Noirmoutier and join the rest of her family. 
2. She sent Rose Virginie to a boarding school in Tours. Such decision imposed on Rose Virginie a tearing grief. 
3. June 11, 1813. Rose received news of her mother’s death. She had not seen her since leaving the island “I was about to die out of sorrow.” “It was then that I turned to God and I found that I was being loved with inexplicable love.” 

3rd Phase. Rose Virginie joined Our Lady of Charity. 

1. This 18-year-old girl wished to become a Sister. She did not say much about the reasons for her decision. But she once said “Behind the garden of the boarding house, there was an old building. We were gently told that that was the place where a Refuge was created for these young girls who disobeyed their parents and did not behave…” Nothing would dissuade her from joining “an obscure Order.” 
2. October 20, 1814. Rose Virginie joined OLC. She learned a lot from prayer, from community life, reading the Bible, writings of St. John Eudes, monasteries of the OLC and the foundations of St. Teresa of Avila. She came to know of the Heart of Jesus, his Great Heart. She discovered the passion, the zeal for the salvation of souls. 
3. She spent 8 years with these girls. “It was among them that I became a Sister of OLC.” 

1. May 26, 1825, she was elected superior of the House. “You elected me superior, I am incapable and unworthy, but since I have been elected, we are going to have the Magdalens.” She went to the Carmelites, borrowed their Rules and adapted a Habit and lifestyle similar to theirs. On November 11, 1825 the Magdalens were established! 
2. Angers. On March 18, 1829 Msgr. Breton of Angers went to Tours to request for a Foundation. “At such a request, my joy and happiness were beyond measure.” On May 19, they went to Angers to see what the situation was like. On July 31, 1829 the monastery of Angers officially opened, two months and a half after the first contacts. 

4th Phase. Mother Mary Euphrasia Pelletier Became Superior General 

1. 150 years had elapsed since the times of SJE and the foundation of the OLC. In France, abandoned children and youth were to be found everywhere, women lived in very bad conditions. Demands for new Foundations were increasing. At the same time, many postulants were joining, a least 20 every year. What was to be done? 
2. It was then that a new form of organization came up. A formal request for a structural reform was thus sent to Msgr. Montault who was soon to become Pope Gregory XVI. He gave his approval to the request and a second congregation was created, OLC of the Good Shepherd. 
3. It was spring 1835, M. Mary Euprhasia was 39 years old and became Superior General of this international congregation. She remained Superior till her death 33 years later. At the last Chapter in 1864, there were 1,848 professed Sisters, 349 novices, 742 Magdalens, 233 Tourriere Sisters in 110 Houses throughout the world. 

1. To MOTHER LILIANE TAUVETTE from POPE JOHN PAUL II 

“On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Rose Virginie Pelletier, Mother Mary of St. Euphrasia, on July 31, 1796, I willingly unite myself in prayer for the thanksgiving of your Congregation of which she is the foundress. 

Through spending her childhood in an Atlantic harbour towards other continents, she was predisposed to openness to the world. By degrees the desire to save souls and to lead missionary activity awoke in her heart. The beauty of her native island also gave her a taste for contemplation. 

Having entered the Order of O.L. of Charity, she was only 29 when she became superior of Tours. Six months later she founded the Magdalen Sisters, feeling that the love of Christ can be known and spread only where action and contemplation are lived together. Still today, the religious of the Institute are invited, after the example of their foundress to put prayer at the center of their personal lives. 

Each one is called to experience the mercy of the Good Shepherd. To make known this merciful love is the central message which guided your foundress in all her ministry to young girls, to women, to families in distress, whether spiritual, moral or material. 

In all countries, distressful situations are becoming more numerous. Young people are reduced to servitude, becoming objects of exchange for economic reasons, their most basic dignity as persons being outraged by unscrupulous adults. Following the example of your foundress, invent ever new and daring ways to express the tenderness and mercy of God. “You are intended to be good shepherds.”. St. Mary Euphrasia, April 1840. 

St. Mary Euphrasia, dear Mother Foundress, teach us to JUST LOVE! 

by Sr Mary Lourdes Fabia, RGS