from an article by Fr. Jean-Pierre Renouard, C.M. "Martyr of Charity: Blessed Sr. Rosalie (1786-1856)," Vincentiana: Vol. 49 : No. 2, Article 12.

1. Martyr of Charity: Blessed Sr. Rosalie
From an article by Jean-Pierre Renouard, C.M.

2. “A martyr of Charity!”
The phrase comes from St. Vincent.

3. Sr. Rosalie embodied what St. Vincent taught:
“This good daughter may be
called a martyr of charity. Do you
think that the only martyrs are
those who spill their blood for the
faith? … while they did not die,
they were exposed to the danger
of death, and they did that
willingly for the love of God …that
is a martyrdom.”
(SV X: 510)

4. Blessed Rosalie was that kind of martyr.

5. This was an audacious woman who offered herself willingly.
She is right at the heart of the Vincentian “do more”.

6. Who is she?

7. She was a child of
the French Revolution
She was born Jeanne-Marie Rendu in 1786.
The Terror of the Revolution was felt even in
her little village of Gex, near the Swiss
border. Her uncle was shot. Priests who
refused to take the Constitutional Oath had
to hide themselves or emigrate to escape
prison and the scaffold. Many were
guillotined.
The Rendu house welcomed those who fled.

8. Her personality was
forged during the
rough war years
Little Jeanne-Marie had to
keep the family secrets. She
would learn what she could
and could not say.
She would always remember
her First Communion,
received at night during a
Mass celebrated in the cellar.

9. Vocation Story
She joined a local hospital where the
Daughters of Charity took care of the
sick.
She heard that a girl from a nearby
village was about to leave for Paris to
become a Daughter of Charity. She
begged her mother to let her do the
same.
Mme. Rendu, happy about her vocation
but very emotional to see her go,
agreed.
Castle Tougin, Gex, owned by the Livron family in the
early fourteenth century. Marc Panissod bequeathed in
1737 to the Sisters of Charity to found a hospice.

10. She left her home and her countryside of Gex forever,
with no particular state of mind, happy to be on her way.

11. Beginning of her life’s
work
She was a determined young novice.
Hard work and lack of physical exercise
took its toll on her health. (She was
extremely sensitive, physically and morally—
much like the foundress of her
congregation, St. Louise de Marillac.)
The doctor they consulted prescribed a
change of air. Her godfather, M. Emery,
suggested that they allow her some activity
among the poor.

12. Her destiny
The poor would be the ones to restore
her balance. Her generous nature
would find strength among them; she
would be “completely given to God in
the service of the Poor.” She received
the name of Sr. Rosalie.
From then on, she was going to live
and work in a neighborhood marked by
extreme poverty.

13. Her neighborhood: the Mouffetard district
Mouffetard was a place where
unemployment was very high; most people
lived in total insecurity. It was the Paris of
hunger. Its people were considered to be
savage, barbarous, nomadic, “horrible to
look at; haggard, jaundiced, weather-
beaten.” Add to that the cabarets, sources
of drunkenness and fights, prostitution, theft
and robbery. A high-risk neighborhood, we
would say today.
Sr. Rosalie went to live in these backstreets.

14. What did she do?

15. Her Work
She began by teaching, even
though she herself had only basic
knowledge.
She was able to teach the children
of the poor to read and write and
also visit the poor in their homes.
This was her paradise.

16. Her Work
• She became superior of her community
• She gathered together money, a great deal
of money, to be used in the service of the
poor.
• She set up a social services office which
provided food, clothes and money.
• The sick became her first priority. In one of
her reports she noted 475 visits to the sick!
It was a sacred duty for her and her sister
companions.

17. Her Work
• She responded, tirelessly, to
all the miseries of that time,
and they were many.
• She opened a dispensary, a
pharmacy, a school (221
students and two sisters as
teachers), an orphanage, a
workshop for young girls and
poor women, a youth club for
young working women, and a
home for the indigent elderly.
Former dispensary on the rue de L’Epée de Bois; demolished in 1903

18. Her Work
• She founded the day nursery St. Marcel, in
order to take care of the newborns of the
working women of the area. Today, it is
clear that, for her time, this was a major
innovation.
• She even came to the aid of several
congregations, young people seeking a
vocation or direction, and many clerics
who came to find her to listen to her
advice, notably several sick, dismissed or
despairing priests.

19. Her Network
• Her first collaborators were the Ladies of
Charity.
• Her famous “parlor” was an amazing “Ministry
of Charity.” All kinds of people came there
daily: the priest in search of advice rubbed
shoulders with the vagabond looking for help,
the bishop met the tramp, the Marshal of
France came across the fruit and vegetable
merchant. Charles X, Queen Amélie, General
Cavaignac, Napoleon III and the Empress
Eugénie frequented her office.

20. Her Network
So many important people
supported her undertakings, and
she never criticized anyone’s
influence. What did it matter, as
long as the poor benefited?
In this, she was the exact copy of
the life and works of St. Vincent
and St. Louise.

21. Sister Rosalie of the Barricades
• By the time of the revolution of July
1830, when she was 44 years old, her
outreach was immense. But she wanted
to do yet more.
• An antireligious wave arose and some
congregations were specifically targeted,
including the Vincentians. Sr. Rosalie’s
house received the wounded and the
dying from both sides. Sr. Rosalie did not
leave the barricades. She was a white
cornette in the middle of the fighting.

22. Cholera epidemic
• A terrible cholera epidemic took
18,000 dead. She was seen
herself gathering abandoned
bodies in the streets— truly the
representation of Christian
charity.
• Her fame quickly went beyond
her own neighborhood and
reached the whole city and even
the provinces.

23. New ideas were rising, the embryos
of Catholic social action…
• Under France’s July Monarchy, things were
getting steadily worse for the working class.
In her neighborhood she would meet a team
of young men, including Emmanuel Bailly and
Frederick Ozanam, founder of the Society of
St. Vincent de Paul.
• She made a perfect teacher for them, as a
daughter of St. Vincent. She suggested
families for the men to visit and gave them
money and good bread. She offered them
practical and concrete advice without
preaching or being aggressive.

24. “This woman was made of iron.”
• By now she was approaching 60 and
her health changed, giving her constant
colds and fevers which hampered her
work. Sometimes exhausted, she never
gave in.
• The year 1848 erupted with more
political conflict. She stopped some
revolutionaries who were seeking to kill
an officer of the Civil Guard at her house:
“We do not kill here.”

25. Final Days
• By 1854, her health had really changed.
She had to rein in her activities. She was
practically blind, due to a cataract which
would seem benign today. Operations
were undertaken, but in vain.
• On 4 February, she was gripped by the
fierce cold; the doctor diagnosed pleurisy...
hours of suffering followed and, at six in
the evening, she received the Last Rites.
The following day, 7 February, she passed
away in her sleep.

26. Legacy
“There was nothing which existed in the area of
charity, or of popular catechesis, of which this
humble Daughter of Charity was not either the
initiator or a much sought-after and ardent
collaborator.” - CLAUDE DINNAT, Soeur Rosalie
Rendu ou l’Amour à l’oeuvre dans le Paris du XIXe
siècle, p. 189.
Witnesses have spoken of what seemed to
emanate from Sr. Rosalie: fervor, courage,
energy, and dedication, which were all in
conformity with her own nature, but transformed
by grace.

27. Legacy
Sr. Rosalie worked in the Mouffetard
neighborhood for 54 years.
Exactitude and organisation were her strong
points. She never allowed herself to be
overwhelmed by an enormous task. She knew
how to surround herself with devoted and
efficient co-workers. Gifts flowed in, for the rich
could not resist this persuasive woman.
Under her leadership, an entire network of
charitable works combatted a great misery
which was constantly renewing itself.

29. Rue Mouffetard, 5th
arrondissement as it
looks in modern times.
This area includes the
Latin Quarter, a district
dominated by universities
and prestigious schools
since the 12th century
when the Sorbonne was
created.
It is also one of the
oldest districts of Paris,
dating back to ancient
Roman times. By David Monniaux - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81725

30. "Martyr of Charity: Blessed Sr. Rosalie (1786-1856)," by Jean-Pierre Renouard, C.M.
Vincentiana: Vol. 49 : No. 2, Article 12.
Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentiana/vol49/iss2/12
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