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WOMAN OF COURAGE:
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In 1815 a young French
woman, Rose Virginie Pelletier, joined
the Sisters of the Refuge, an innovative community founded in
France, in 1641, by a progressive priest, Father John Eudes. These women provided shelter to homeless women who were
social outcasts.
Rose Virginie took the name of
"Sister Mary Euphrasia." She
brought new life to a community that had been devastated by the French Revolution. At age 29 she was elected Mother Superior.
She founded a contemplative community, then called
"The Magdalens," and today known as the "Contemplative
Sisters of the Good Shepherd."
Mother Euphrasia began to reflect on the social conditions that had occurred in the wake of the French and Industrial Revolutions. Massive migrations to the city and the disruption of family life left great numbers of homeless children in need of care. Mother Euphrasia fostered numerous and varied programs, designed to meet the needs of various groups of women and children. She also recognized the universal demand for this work and in 1835 she established a new, international community, "The Sisters of the Good Shepherd," modeled on the compassionate ministry of Jesus the Good Shepherd.
In her lifetime, she established 110 communities, expanding the outreach to every continent.
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Arrival of the Good Shepherd
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