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This week’s missionary hero was a French woman whose love for the poor led her to found a community of Religious Sisters devoted to serving the poor. Her name was Jeanne-Émilie, usually just known as Émilie.
Jeanne-Émilie de Villeneuve was born in Toulouse, France on March 9, 1811, third daughter of the family. Her father was a successful businessman and town mayor, and her mother was a homemaker. Unfortunately, when Émilie was 14, her mother died, and three years later, her sister Octavie died.
After her their mother’s death, a grandmother cared for Émilie and her sisters. When she was 19, Émilie moved back to her father’s home to help him manage the household.
Though she wanted to join the Daughters of Charity, Émilie followed her father’s wishes by waiting for a time to give her religious vocation more thought. In time, with the bishop’s permission, Émilie and two friends established a new religious community called the Congregation of Our Lady of the Immaculate Concepcion on the feast of the Immaculate Concepcion, December 8, 1836. Because the Sisters had a very distinctive blue habit, they became commonly known as the “Blue Sisters of Castres.”
The motto of the congregation was “to go where the voice of the poor calls us.” To live out this charism (or special calling or work), the Sisters found themselves caring for the poor, the sick, young workers, prisoners, and prostitutes. The Sisters also challenged others to become “missionaries” wherever they were in the world to be champions of all people, fighting for their right to respect, dignity, and peace and justice.
In time, the congregation spread to other parts of the world, and today it is found in: Africa (Senegal, Burkina Faso, Benin, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo); Asia (Philippines); Europe (France, Spain, and Italy); North America (Mexico and Haiti); and South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela).
Sr. Émilie de Villeneuve died on October 2, 1854 in Castres, Tarn, France, and she was canonized on May 17, 2015.
Saint Émilie de Villeneuve’s feast day is October 2. She is a patron saint of the Congregation she founded, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of Castres.
