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Today’s missionary hero was a French woman who devoted her life to the elderly poor. Her name was Jeanne Jugan.
Jeanne was born on October 25, 1792 in the town of Cancale, Brittany, in northern France, the sixth of eight children. Her father was a fisherman who was lost at sea when Jeanne was just 4-years old, leaving his wife struggling to raise their children. In addition to the family’s economic problems, Jeanne’s mother also had to provide religious instruction to her children in secret, for the French Revolution (May 5, 1789 – November 9, 1799), was a time of discrimination by the anti-Catholic government.
As a girl, Jeanne worked caring for sheep, and she learned how to spin wool and knit. At 16, she became a kitchen maid for a viscountess who took Jeanne along with her as she visited the sick and the poor of the area. Though she learned practical skills, she did not have a solid foundation in reading and writing.
As a young woman, she twice received a marriage proposal from the same man, but she felt that marriage was not what God wanted for her. So, at age 25, Jeanne became an associate of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, commonly known as the Eudists, that had been founded by St. John Eudes. She also worked as a hospital nurse for six years, but she had to give that up because her health was not strong enough.
After leaving the hospital, Jeanne worked as a servant for 12 years for a fellow associate member of the Eudists. During this time, Jeanne and her employer began giving catechism lessons to children of their town and caring for the poor and marginalized. In 1835, Jeanne’s employer died.
Two years later, Jeanne and two other women, one 72-years old and the other 17-years old, rented a small cottage and established a prayer community. They taught catechism and cared for the poor.
In 1839, Jeanne found an elderly blind woman who was partially paralyzed. Because the woman had no one to care for her, Jeanne brought her to live in the cottage. Quickly, more and more people came to help Jeanne and her group. And as the number of helpers increased, so did the people in need of help. This was the beginning a new religious congregation called the Little Sisters of the Poor (L.S.P.). For the next four decades, Jeanne, known as Sr. Mary of the Cross, threw herself into that work. During the 1840s, the young congregation established four more homes, and by 1850, the order had over 100 Sisters.
Unfortunately, however, there was a cleric who did not like Jeanne for some reason, so he made sure she was not given the honor of being the founder of the order. Because of that, Jeanne worked for 27 years in obscurity.
In time, however, Pope Leo XIII approved the congregation and got rid of the man who disliked Jeanne. When Jeanne died on August 29, 1879, many of the Little Sisters of the Poor did not even known Jeanne was the founder of the order.
Today, the Little Sisters of the Poor are found throughout the world. Pope Benedict XVI canonized Jeanne in 2009. St. Jeanne Jugan’s feast day is August 30, and she is a patron saint of the destitute elderly.
