Saint Emily de Vialar

Emily de Vialar or Émilie de Vialar (1797–1856) was a French nun who founded the missionary congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition. She is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. Emily de Vialar was born on 12 September 1797 to Jacques and Antoinette Portal de Vialar, in Gaillac. Her father was a doctor. Emily was born 3 years after the Reign of Terror, in the same year as Pope Pius VI was taken prisoner by French troops. She was the oldest of 3 children and was baptized in secret. At a young age, Emily was taught by her mother how to read. At the age of thirteen she went to the Parisian college of the Abbaye-au-Bois Ladies, for young ladies of quality, accompanied by her mother, who became ill on the long journey. Despite the best efforts of Emily's father, on 17 September 1810 her mother died at the age of 35. At the age of fifteen, Emily returned to Gaillac to live with her father and two younger brothers. She found that her father, overwhelmed with grief had relinquished management of the household to Toinon, a devoted but autocratic servant. In her attempts to help the poor, the old and the destitute, Emily invited them to the house, causing considerable tension in the household. Other young women joined her efforts. In 1832 her maternal grandfather left her an inheritance, with which she bought a house for herself and her companions. Inspired by Matthew 1:20, where an angel appeared to Joseph to reassure him: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary, your bride, because what is generated in her comes from the Holy Spirit," and with the help of the bishop of Albi, François-Marie de Gauly, on Christmas, Emily and three other women established the congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition. Her brother Agostino lived in French Algeria and proposed to open a hospital in Boufarik, near Algiers. Emily and her first companions arrived at a time of an outbreak of cholera.