November 20 : Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne

St. Rose was born into a family with wealth and political connections on August 29, 1769 in Grenoble, France. From the young age of eight, St. Rose had a desire to evangelize in the Americas, sparked by hearing a Jesuit missionary speak of his work there. She received a basic education at home from tutors, and religious education from her mother. At the age 19, Rose joined the convent of the Visitation nuns in Grenoble, in 1788 without the permission or knowledge of her family. In 1804 she joined the Society of the Sacred Heart, which sent her to the United States in 1818. She founded a boarding school for daughters of pioneers near St. Louis and opened the first free school west of the Missouri. Two convent schools were founded in Louisiana, at Grand Coteau (1821) and St. Michael’s (1825), and an academy and orphanage in St. Louis, Missouri (1827). She spent her last decade at the convent in Saint Charles, Missouri where she lived austerely and in constant prayer. She died on November 18, 1852 at Saint Charles, Missouri. She was beatified on May 12, 1940 by Pope Pius XII, and canonized July 3, 1988 by Pope John Paul II. She is often referred to as “The Lady of Mercy,” or ” Woman Who Prays Always.”