Elms College - Elmata Yearbook (Chicopee, MA)

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REVEREND MOTHER ST. JOHN FONTBONNE REVEREND MOTHER ST. JOHN FONTBONNE RIESTORIER AFTER THE Rl?VOl.UTION OF THIS DisFFRsED CoNtQREc,AT1oN OF THE SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH FotiNDREss OF THE MoTHER-Hotists AT LYONS AND FIRST SUPERIOR GliNliRAL Jeanne Fontbonne was born on the third of March 1759, at Bas-en-Basset, tl little town in the south of France. She was the youngest child of Michael Fontbonne and Jeanne Theillere, a couple as remarkable for the depth of their Christian faith as for their true and solid piety. Of the four children, there remained at home only the two younger, Jeanne and Marguerite. In these two were centered all the hopes and wishes of their fond parents, of whose declining years they seemed destined to be the support and consolation. Whether at home or abroad, with kinsfollc or with strangers, Jeanne possessed great ascendency over others and won for herself extraordinary esteem. Her sister Marguerite especially, looked up to her with the differential affection usually accorded the older sister. When old enough to attend school, the two girls were confided to the care of the Sisters of Saint Joseph at Bas, which community was under the care of two of Michael 29

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SISTERS OF SAINT JOSEPH To the Sisters of Saint joseph, the teaching Sisters of our College, we owe a great debt of gratitude. We would express to them our appreciation and pay them loving tribute, and we find no more fitting way than to devote these pages of our Elmata to honor their congregation and one of its holy founders. The Congregation of the Sisters of Saint joseph, in our day so flourishing, and so helpful to Church and society in every quarter of the globe, has had a double origin: the one before, the other after the Revolution of 1789. That revolutionary cyclone which overthrew the very pillars of the sanctuary respected not this humble Congrega- tion, but assailed and dispersed it together with a host of other grand and holy institu- tions, the offspring of faith and charity, only a few scattered remnants found refuge in the mountains of Velay in southern France, In the design of Providence, the Superior of that little community was the Nehemias who was to reconstruct, or rather, refound the second Congregation of Saint joseph on the ruins of the first. As Nehemias, after the destruction of the Holy City, placed the sacred fire in a cistern where it was extin- glished in the slime, so during the revolutionary tempest which destroyed the religious houses of France, the spirit of the Congregation of Saint joseph was to be hidden in the heart of the Superior of Ministrol, not indeed to become extinct, but to shine forth pure and resplendent when God should arise and bid the waves, Be still. She, of whom we speak, was the Reverend Mother Saint john Fontbonne, a soul at once grand and simple, prudent and gentle, a soul whom God, according to the sacred simile, had fashioned unto a strong and solid ship that should bear its precious cargo safe and unharmed, through its voyage over a rough and tempestuous ocean. The world is too often aware of its sinners, it is rarely interested in its saints. But our common imagination is captured when one who was once educated by the Sisters of Saint joseph becomes ready for beatificationg our admiration and our interest are equally claimed by Reverend Mother Saint john Fontbonne. vi JMR,s l g V J I f gl ah 4,,. ' Vg f Qi n. ' . N SS: i I ii' ' YM , ' 91 W7 28

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Fontbonne's sisters, Mother Saint Francis, Superior, and Sister Mary of the Visitation, Mistress of Novices. Here, Jeanne, ever cheerful and joyous in temperament, was the soul of her class exercises and enjoyments, and such was her influence that her com- panions used to make her the referee of their little disputes. After some time the girls were sent to complete their education at the boarding school of the Sisters of Saint Joseph at Le Puy in which were brought up the children of the principal families of the surrounding country. Jeanne's superiority in intellect and virtue, and that rare good sense which seemed her dominant characteristic, exerted at Le Puy an indescribable charm. Their education completed, the young girls returned to the bosom of their family, and such was their holy and edifying demeanor that it was remarked by the whole parish. They would rise early to assist at Holy Mass, help with the housework, and then during the course of the day go to their aunts' convent to hear spiritual readings. The convent life appealed to the two children, but they feared to make known their desire to enter religion lest their parents should suffer great anguish. However, the pious parents were not wholly ignorant of what was passing in the souls of their children and Madame Fontbonne discussing the matter with her husband, expressed the hope that God would not call upon them to sacrifice their darling Jeanne. On the Feast of Saint Joseph, 1778, a reception and profession of more than ordinary solemnity and edification were held at the convent, at which Jeanne and Marguerite were present. His Excellency de Gallard, Bishop of Le Puy, who presided at the ceremony, struck by the piety of the girls, told Mother Saint Francis that they would one day become religious. She replied that such was their most earnest desire, whereupon the Bishop interviewed the two girls. Speaking afterwards of Jeanne, he said, Train that child most carefully for she is destined to be, one day, the light and glory of your congregation. Bishop de Gallard had not visited Bas merely to preside at the religious ceremony. He revealed to Mother Saint Francis his intention to found at Ministrol, a little town in Haute-Loire, a community of the Sisters of Saint Joseph for which he had chosen her as superior. The Bishop also asked her to bring with her several of her sisters and her two nieces, and so on July 1, 1778, at which time Jeanne was nineteen years old, the Sisters left Bas. At Ministrol, Bishop de Gallard received them with the kindness of a father. The fame of Mother Saint Francis' sanctity had preceded her and parents esteemed themselves happy in confiding to her their children. Many young ladies of the city petitioned for entrance into the community, and the new novitiate opened by Mother Saint Francis, increased rapidly. Marguerite and Jeanne Fontbonne were veritable orna- ments of that novitiate, in which their fervor took new and admirable growth. Both received the holy habit in 1779, but, as records of the place were burned during the 30