Saint Mary Euphrasia Pelletier

Mary Euphrasia Pelletier, RGS, religious name Mary of Saint Euphrasia, born as Rose Virginie Pelletier (31 July 1796 in Noirmoutier-en-l'Île – 24 April 1868 in Angers), was a French religious sister. She founded the Sisters of the Good Shepherd and was its first superior general. During her time as superior in Tours founded also a community, the "Magdalens", for women who wanted to lead a contemplative life in the enclosure and would support, by their ministry of prayer, the different works of the apostolic congregation. They are now known as the Contemplatives of the Good Shepherd. Pope Pius XII canonised Mary Euphrasia Pelletier in 1940. Her feast day is 24 April. Pelletier was born on 31 July 1796 on Noirmoutier a small island off the northwest coast of France. Her parents had fled there thinking that they could escape the violence of the French Revolution. She was the 8th child of Julian and Anne Pelletier. Her father died when she was ten years old. In 1810 her mother placed Pelletier in a boarding school in Tours. Her mother died in 1813. Near the boarding school was a convent of the Order of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge, a religious congregation founded by John Eudes to provide care and protection for women and girls who were homeless and at risk of exploitation. Some of the girls were abandoned by their families or orphaned, some had turned to prostitution in order to survive. The Sisters of Our Lady of Charity provided shelter, food, vocational training and an opportunity for these girls and women to turn their lives around. Despite her guardian's reservations Pelletier joined the sisters on 20 October 1814. On 6 September 1815 she received the habit and the religious name Mary of Saint Euphrasia. Due to her age, Pelletier wasn't allowed not make her vows before she turned 21. She eventually made them in 1817 and worked as a teacher.