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St. Rose Philippine Duchesne  Missionaries often struggle with language, loneliness, feelings of failure, and many like St. Rose Philippine Duchesne never know the impact their lives have had on others. Through all these struggles and doubts, St. Philippine found strength in prayer, and was known to the Potowatami as “Quah-kah-ka-num-ad!” “The women who prays always.”Philippine grew up in France in a large, wealthy family. As a child she listened to the stories of the Jesuit missionaries who told of their work with Native Americans, and she longed to join them. Living in France in the 18th Century, she also recognized the great needs among the poor around her and often gave her allowance away to the needy. At 12, when Philippine was sent to school at a convent of the Visitation, she told her family that she would become a nun. Her parents disapproved so strongly that they had her return home to be educated by tutors with her brothers and male cousins. As a result, she received an unusual education for a young woman of her day. By the time she was 17, her father had chosen a husband, whom she refused to marry; instead, she began to live at home as if she were already a nun, spending hours in prayer and always choosing the most difficult of chores. One day Philippine went with her aunt to visit the nuns at the Visitation convent; once there she announced to her aunt that she was not returning home but was entering the convent. Her father finally relented and allowed her to remain in the convent, on condition that she wait to make her vows until she was 25. Before that time arrived, the French Revolution closed all the convents; and Philippine, like so many others, was forced to leave her monastery and struggle to find a way to live the life Christ was calling her to. Risking her own life, she often ministered to the poor and dying. Her own parents died during this time and left her with an annual income that gave her the independence to continue the work of charity she had begun. At the end of the Revolution she returned to the Visitation convent and eventually joined Madeleine Sophie Barat, who was establishing a new religious congregation, known then as the Ladies of Faith, now the Society of the Sacred Heart. These two women had many things in common: they were strong willed, intelligent, independent and filled with a burning desire to share the love of Christ with the world. As the new congregation opened schools for young women, Mother Duchesne worked as a teacher, administrator, business manager and nurse and found the work fulfilling but time consuming. To ensure that she had enough time for prayer, she often gave up sleep. In 1817 Bishop DuBourg of Louisiana came to France seeking the help of women willing to cross the Atlantic to open a school in his diocese. With her life long dream of serving as a missionary in America, Philippine convinced Mother Barat to send her, now 49 years old, together with four other nuns, to Louisiana. It took them eleven weeks to cross the Atlantic in violent storms; they endured seasickness, spoiled food, lack of privacy, and when they disembarked near New Orleans Philippine was so ill with scurvy that she was too sick to travel any further. Besides, the nuns had not heard from Bishop DuBourg so they did not know their final destination. Eventually, their journey continued up the Mississippi and then farther west to the still primitive town of St. Charles. Asked to open a school for girls of French and American settlers, Philippine would once again defer her desire to work with the Native Americans. Sleeping on the floor, as did the boarding students, the religious faced many struggles. For Philippine one of the greatest was language; many of the children spoke English, a language she never really mastered. Her frustrations were not unlike the frustrations of many missionaries far from home. She wrote to her sister in France, “We have maize, pork, and potatoes but not eggs, butter, oil, fruit or vegetables. We should value a case of altar wine and some olive oil – the only edible oil to be had here is bear grease and it is disgusting!” These years were not only physically difficult; the challenges of operating schools meant that some failed and Philippine took this as a personal failure. Despite this, the community of Sacred Heart schools grew along with the growth of the West and the South. Eventually Mother Duchesne was in charge of five schools, an orphanage and a novitiate in Louisiana and Missouri. Faithful to her work, Philippine continued to teach, lead, and pray. Then, at 72 she pleaded with her newly appointed Provincial to allow her to answer the call to serve the Potawatomi Indians in Sugar Creek, Kansas. One Jesuit wrote “She may not be able to do much work, but she will assure success to the mission by praying for us.” Just as she had struggled with English, Philippine found the language of the Potawatomi all but impossible; she could communicate only with her actions and kindness. This was enough, however, to gain her the respect and the name “Women who prays always.” Philippine was able to stay in Kansas only for a year; her health forced her superiors to recall her to the convent in St. Charles. Here she lived in a small room for another 10 years; with her health failing she continued to pray long hours before the Blessed Sacrament. Her letters reveal a sense of personal failure, yet a deep faith. “For thirty-eight years my great desire was to work with the (native Americans) then after one year of uselessness at the Indian mission I came back…without accomplishing anything. It seems to me that in leaving the Indians I left my real element…God knows why I was recalled, and that is enough.” The lives of the saints give us examples to follow on our own path to God. St. Rose Philippine Duchesne leads us to a life of prayer and to the understanding that what we may see as failure may be a true success in the eyes of God.  Visit the web site of the United States Province of the Society of the Sacred Heart, with friends, colleagues, co-workers and associates in 44 other countries: http://www.rscj.orgA book on the life of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, can be purchased by writing to; Shrine of St. Philippine Duchesne 619 North Second Street St. Charles, MO 63301 (636) 946-6127 cpfitzinger@ash1818.org St. Rose Philippine Duchesne was canonized in 1990. The Vatican web site also has an article on her beautiful, prayer filled life. Click Here for Vatican article |
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An often-repeated prayer of Philippine Duchesne O Eternal Father, I come to you through the heart of my Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the life. Through this divine Heart I adore You for those who do not adore you; I love You for those who do not love you’ I gratefully acknowledge You to be my God. |
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Previous Saints of the Month Saint Francis of Assisi St. Anthony Mary Claret St. Katharine Drexel Blessed Damien of Molokai Uganda Martyrs Saint Martin De Porres Saint Mother Cabrini Saint Francis Xavier Saint Therese of Lisieux |
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