St Jean Jugan

Jean was born into a poor family who had 8 children. Her father died when Jean was only 3 years old and her mother had to work very hard to keep her family fed and clothed. The children had to start working when they were very young too in order to help their mother. When Jean was 16 years old she began to work for a kind, Christian woman as her kitchen maid. This kind woman prayed with Jean and they would visit the sick and poor that lived close by. This made Jean want to work at the hospital caring for the sick and so she did for 6 years, until she was too tired to continue that type of work. She then went to work for another kind and holy woman, Mlle. Lecoq. Together they would pray for hours a day and they would go to Mass and help the priest there. They taught catechism to the children in town and cared for the poor around them. After Mlle. Lecoq died, Jean moved in with another older lady and an orphan girl and together these 3 women started a community of prayer and service to the poor. They also started to open up their home to the poor, abandoned women of the town. This community of women gave everything they had to help the poor and as more women joined them, they had to go out asked for food and clothing. Before Jean died her community of 3 women has spread through Europe and even in other countries, with 2,400 women. This community became known as “The Little Sisters of the Poor”.