Sketches by “Robin”
(Catherine Blood rscj +1974)
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Born August 19, 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 met Father Varin and offered her house and her community to Mother Barat, who arrived there December 13, 1804. Mother Duchesne and her companions were professed the 21st November, 1805.
From 1805 on, Philippine felt a call to be a missionary. In a letter to Saint Madeleine Sophie she described the grace she received during an all-night vigil before the Blessed Sacrament on Holy Thursday (April 3-4, 1806). This remarkable letter testifies to her ability to incorporate into her prayer a universal dimension not particularly common to nineteenth century devotion.
“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.”
It was only in 1818 that Philippine could realize her dream. Answering an appeal of Bishop Dubourg, she left with four companions for the U.S.A. In a log cabin, at St. Charles near St.Louis, Missouri, she founded the first house of the Society in the new world. In 1820, she opened the first American free school west of the Mississippi. In 1828, she had already 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, Kansas. Deteriorating health forced her to resign this much cherished work and on November 18, 1852, she died at St. Charles, 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 single-mindedness 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".
Philippine's openness to extending the mystery of Christ to a new world, (in a manner which continued to be "wholly new" because unexplored, is at the heart
of her spirit. Whatever conditions have changed, her spirit continues to inspire
those who live in her religious family to proclaim Christ in a ”wholly new manner" for every wholly new context.
Rose Philippine Duchesne was beatified on May 12, 1940. She was canonized in Rome on July 3, 1988 by Pope John Paul II. Her feast is observed on the 18th November.
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