Today we celebrate St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, who came to
this country as a missionary to the Native Americans. Many people have never heard of her, for she
was canonized rather recently, by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
She was born in France, just prior to the French Revolution. Without telling her parents, at the age of
19, she entered the convent of the Visitation sisters who had educated
her. When they found out, she remained
there, despite their opposition.
As the French Revolution broke, hostilities towards the
Catholic Church caused many convents to close, including that of St. Rose. However, She risked her life by continuing to
take care of the poor and sick and opened a school for homeless children.
When the Revolution ended, she attempted to bring her
community back together, but she was unsuccessful. So she and the few remaining nuns joined the
young Society of the Sacred Heart, whose young superior, St. Madeleine Sophie
Barat, would be her lifelong friend.
Meanwhile, Rose longed to go to America as a missionary
among the Native Americans. Her first
mission offered almost every hardship the American frontier had to offer, cold,
hunger, poverty, native hostility, but Rose’s indomitable courage overcame the
obstacles.
At the age of 72, in poor health, she began a mission at
Sugar Creek, Kansas, among the Potawatomi tribe. Their convent was a wigwam and they slept on
the bare ground. Let me say it again…at
the age of 72! They opened a school for
the Indian girls, but she had great difficulty in learning the native language,
and had to spend her time praying and caring for the sick.
The severe winters and the lack of proper food sapped her
health, and she died, thinking herself a failure.
She was the first missionary nun among the Indians, and
courageously blazed the trail for a host of valiant women who were to follow
her.
She did not convert people by her speeches, she converted
them by her prayers and her charity towards them. A priest said of her, “her kindness was like
water, pure and fresh, to which the Indians could come and drink.”
Her example spoke volumes to those she served, and the
natives gave her the name “woman-who-prays-always”.
St. Rose wrote, “we know that God does not require great
achievements from us, but a heart that holds nothing back for itself.” Through the Eucharist we celebrate today,
where Jesus gives himself totally for our salvation, may we give our entire
hearts to be poured out in service of those in need, hearts to be transformed
by grace, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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