Magdeleine Hutin

Magdeleine Hutin (completely Elisabeth Marie Magdeleine Hutin ), religious name Little Sister Magdeleine of Jesus (born April 26, 1898 in Paris , † November 6, 1989 in Rome ) was a French religious sister and the founder of the Little Sisters of Jesus , a religious community based on the blessed Charles de Foucauld goes back. The mother house of the congregation is located in a few caravans on the grounds of the Trappist Abbey of Tre Fontane in Rome.

Life

Founding of the Little Sisters of Jesus

Magdeleine Hutin discovered the writings and works of Blessed Brother Charles of Jesus in 1921. Like him , she planned to live as a contemplative , but in the midst of people and share their way of life. She took as divine providence that her poor health at that time required a stay in a very dry climate and traveled to Africa with her mother and a companion, Anne, who also wanted to lead a spiritual life in the Sahara. On September 8, 1939, she began spiritual life with Anne in Touggourt , Algeria , after having previously spent the canonical novitiate with the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa in Algiers. On this day, the two made their temporary profession and added the predicate of Jesus to their religious name , which all the sisters of the congregation have been doing ever since. Perpetual profession was made in 1942.

Expansion of the Congregation

With the outbreak of World War II , Little Sister Magdeleine returned to Europe, where she built the first novitiate and motherhouse of the still young community in the Archdiocese of Aix , which was called "Le Tubet". In 1944 little sister Magdeleine was lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel to Rome . In a private audience with Pope Pius XII. encouraged and strengthened them in their endeavors. During this time, Little Sister Magdeleine also had contact with Brother Roger and the newly formed community of Taizé .

During a pilgrimage in France in 1946, Little Sister Magdeleine came to the conclusion that Little Sisters of Jesus should settle everywhere in the world. At this time she and a few other sisters took up work in factories, where they first lived as workers among workers in a factory that produced confectionery, but were recognizable as religious women by their simple blue habit . Foundations in Switzerland, Brazil, Morocco, the Middle East, Africa and Asia followed. Little sisters lived among Chinese women carriers, circus people, in the slums of Rome and in high-rise urban areas.

In 1949 the community had more than 100 little sisters. Little Sister Magdeleine resigned the position of general manager on Christmas this year, which Little Sister Jeanne took over from Jesus. Sr. Magdeleine subsequently lived for some time with the pygmies of the Belgian Congo. In 1952 she established the first communities in the favelas of Rio and among Indian tribes on the Amazon. In 1953 she went on a trip to Asia to establish other communities there. Typically such communities consist of only a few sisters. As early as 1959, the congregation had more than 800 sisters who were also welcome in the countries behind the Iron Curtain .

Death in rome

Little Sister Magdeleine died on November 6, 1989 in the mother house of the Little Sisters in Tre Fontane (Rome) and was buried there on November 10.

literature

• Marcelle Bernstein, Nuns - Life in Two Worlds , Kindler Verlag, 1982
• Little Sister Magdeleine von Jesus: From the Sahara to the whole world - the little sisters of Jesus in the footsteps of Brother Karl von Jesus , Verlag Neue Stadt, 1984, ISBN 978-3879961511 .
• Annie of Jesus: Small sparks, burning fire. The life of the little sister Magdeleine of Jesus. Real publishing house, Würzburg 2009.