Saint Anne-Marie Rivier

Anne-Marie Rivier (19 December 1768 – 3 February 1838) was a French Catholic religious sister and the foundress of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary. Rivier's focus was on education and she opened a school just before the beginning of the French Revolution which saw her school confiscated. The end of the revolution allowed for her to resume her educational inclinations and she also founded her religious order to take care of the education of orphans and other children who needed education. Her beatification process began in mid-1853 under Pope Pius IX who referred to her as "The Woman-Apostle" while naming her a Servant of God. Pope Leo XIII later named her to be Venerable in 1890 while Pope John Paul II later beatified her in 1982. She was canonized by Pope Francis on 15 May 2022 in Rome. Anne-Marie Rivier (known as Marinette to her parents) was born on 19 December 1768 in Montpezat-sous-Bauzon in Ardèche as the third of four children to Jean Rivier and his wife. Her baptism was celebrated that month before Christmas with her grandmother acting as her sponsor. Her mother died in 1793. Sixteen months after her birth in late April 1770 she suffered an accident that resulted in a broken hip and ankle to the point that she would be unable to walk; she started to crawl in order to compensate for a total lack of movement. Until she turned five her mother took her to the local shrine - the "Chapel of the Penitents" - where she would spend hours in silent reflection before a representation of the Pietà. On 8 September 1774 she found that she was able to walk albeit with the help of crutches though would suffer from rickets and in her adulthood stood at four feet and four inches. For someone who had been unable to walk up until this stage it was in itself something of a miracle; her strength would return over time despite not being strong due to this. In 1785 she applied to join the Sisters of Notre Dame in Pradelles but was turned down due to her poor health.