Françoise Mezière

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Françoise Mezière (born August 25, 1745 in Mézangers , † February 5, 1794 in Laval ) was a French consecrated virgin who was sentenced to death during the French Revolution and beheaded with the guillotine .

On June 19, 1955, Pope Pius XII spoke . she was blessed together with the 14 martyrs of Laval and four other victims of Terreur .

Life

She was the daughter of René Mézière, the tenant of the Maulorière court , which belonged to the Benedictine abbey in Évron , and his first wife Françoise Rousseau. When she was four years old, her mother died and the father married Marie Heurtebise in 1749 in order to raise his six children. He had three more children with his second wife until she too died in 1754, shortly after Françoise's older sister. René Mézière married his third wife Marie Coutelle in 1758.

At the age of 23, Françoise Mézière decided to live in a religious community in 1768. At that time a number of small schools sprang up in the area, one of which had existed near Évron since 1720, and was run by the sisters of Chapelle-au-Ribaul . In addition, the sisters ran a social institution that was run by Paul according to the principles of St. Vincent and was particularly well known between 1768 and 1770. Françoise Mézière therefore prepared for a dual role as teacher and nurse. A cousin of her stepmother, Marguerite Coutelle, had worked in this field since 1752 and, with the help of the local pastor, built a new school where the girls of the community were taught reading and writing, daily prayers and catechism on Wednesdays and Saturdays .

Françoise Mezière lived with the Sisters of Mercy in Laval without belonging to a religious community . She had enjoyed training as a teacher and gave the children religious instruction, and she was also active in caring for the poor. She received her living from a foundation in the parish of Saint-Léger.

After the Vendée uprising failed, two rebels, one of them wounded, were pursued as far as the Montecler forest near Saint-Léger, where they hid. Françoise Mezière knew the whereabouts of the two Vendéens and took care of them as best she could for nine days, also treating the injured man's wounds. When the two men were discovered and arrested, Françoise Mezière's help was credited to her as complicity with the "enemies of the republic". She was therefore sentenced to death on February 5, 1794 and executed.

literature

  • Isidore Bouillet: Mémoires ecclésiastiques concernant la ville de Laval et ses environs . 2nd Edition. H. Godbert, Laval 1846, p. 230-232 ( digitized version ).
  • Pierre Delooz: Béatifications récentes (April 17, 1955 - May 3, 1959). 1960.
  • Emilio Cesbron: I Martiri di Laval. 1955.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Mezière, Françoise
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French consecrated virgin who was sentenced to death and executed during the French Revolution
DATE OF BIRTH August 25, 1745
PLACE OF BIRTH Mezangers
DATE OF DEATH February 5, 1794
Place of death Laval