St Rose Philippine Duchesne

Rose was born into a very important family in France. Her father was a lawyer and her mother came from the family of a past president of France. When she was 19 years old, she joined the Sisters of the Visitation, where she studied and became a nun. When the revolution started in France (a time of big changes for the rulers of France and the Church in France), her order of sisters fell apart, because the revolutionists where trying to break down the organization of the Church. After many years of trying to start up the Sisters of the Visitation again, she accepted an invitation to join another convent, the Society of the Sacred Heart. She was quickly sent to start their first house in Paris, France. Soon, God called her to another challenge: to bring the Order to North America in the United States. There was so much work to do in this new land and she and the sisters started the first free schools for children in Missouri. She worked hard with very little money, tried hard to learn English, and kept opening schools so that children could get an education. She then felt that God was calling her to work with the Aboriginal people, to help the sick and to open schools for the children. The Aboriginal people named Sr. Rose a name in their own language, which in English meant, “Woman Who Prays Always”. She started many convents throughout the United States and opened many free schools, working hard her whole life to help the people God put in her life.