Born August 29, 1769 at Grenoble and educated by the Visitation nuns at Sainte Marie d’en Haut, Rose Philippine Duchesne entered the Visitation community at the age of 17. During the Reign of Terror the community was expelled from France and Philippine returned home. After the Concordat of 1801, she and her companions attempted to rebuild their convent but were unsuccessful. In 1804 she persuaded Mother Barat, Founder of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to accept the convent of Sainte Marie, and Philippine and four others became postulants. She was professed in 1805.

In 1818, with four companions, she was sent to the United States of America to found the first American house of the Society, a log cabin at St. Charles, near St. Louis, Missouri. She opened the first American free school west of the Mississippi, received the first American postulant in 1820, and, by 1828 had founded six houses. In 1840, Rose Philippine Duchesne resigned as superior to devote herself, at the age of 71, to beginning a school for the Indians at Sugar Creek. Deteriorating health forced her to resign this much cherished work and on November 18, 1852, she died, having spent 34 years of her life extending the work of the Society as an international community.

Biographers of Philippine Duchesne have stressed her courage in frontier conditions, her singlemindedness in pursuing her dream of serving the Indians, her self-acceptance, and her contemplative presence which was so evident that the Indians called her the “Woman who prays always.” A remarkable passage from her biography testifies to her ability to incorporate into her prayer a universal dimension not particularly common to nineteenth century devotions; in this passage she speaks of an all-night vigil before the Blessed Sacrament on Holy Thursday. During the vigil she prayed that she might be sent as a missionary to America:
 

"All night long I was in the New World, and I traveled in good company. First of all I reverently gathered up all the Precious Blood from the Garden, the Praetorium, and Calvary. Then I took possession of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Holding him close to my heart, I went forth to scatter my treasure everywhere, without fear that it would be exhausted. St. Francis Xavier helped me to make this priceless seed bear fruit, and from his place before the throne of God he prayed that new lands might be opened to the light of truth. St. Francis Regis himself acted as our guide, with many other saints eager for the glory of God. All went well, and no sorrow, not even holy sorrow, could find place in my heart, for it seemed to me that the merits of Jesus were about to be applied in a wholly new manner."

Philippine’s openness to extending the mystery of Christ to a new world, in a manner which continues to be “wholly new” because as yet unexplored, is at the heart of her spirit. Whatever conditions have changed, her spirit continues to inspire those who have been touched by her life to proclaim Christ in a “wholly new manner” for every wholly new context.

Rose Philippine Duchesne was beatified in 1940 and canonized in 1988. Her feast is observed in the Society of the Sacred Heart on the day of her birth into eternal life.
 
 
Thanks for all you do!

Fr. Joe Wormek, Pastor