Marie-Therese from the heart of Jesus
Marie-Thérèse of the Heart of Jesus (born May 2, 1809 in Montauban , † August 30, 1863 in Paris ) was a Roman Catholic religious and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Atonement. According to a vision, she cultivated a special devotion to the holy face of Jesus. It was on March 19, 1913 by Pope Pius X to the Venerable Servant of God appointed.
Life
Mother Marie-Thérèse of the Heart of Jesus was born on May 2, 1809 as Théodelinde Bourcin-Dubouché in the French town of Montauban. Her parents were the accountants Jean-Baptiste Bourcin du Bouché and Marie Elisabethe Carlotta Marini. She had two older siblings: Elisa and Léon. Her family belonged to the social middle class and was formally Catholic, but not practicing and rather critical of religion. Her mother often saw church attendance only as a social duty and also sent the children to church alone. Nevertheless, a great love and bond with the Catholic faith grew in the young Théodelinde. At the age of twelve she went to her first communion. When she was 15, she decided to go to church every day and visit the Holy of Holies . Later she was even able to convert her family back to the faith.
Théodelinde was a talented painter. When her family moved from Montauban to Paris , they were able to attend an art school there and improve their skills. In Paris she also took part in the city's social life. She was always aware of the existence of God and strived for personal holiness and for happiness in eternity . She developed a deep Eucharistic piety and spent many hours in Eucharistic adoration . Between 1846 and 1848 she had three visions .
During the February Revolution of 1848 , with the help of Mother Isabelle, the Prioress of the Parisian Carmel , she founded a prayer group for atonement, inspired by the Carmel Sister Mary of St. Peter, who had started an atonement in Tours. Within a few weeks, 2,000 members joined the prayer group. Théodelinde wanted to follow her vocation and enter a monastery of Carmel. After a vision at the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus , the prioress Mother Isabelle recommended to her to found a regulated third order community that could be affiliated with Carmel. On August 6, 1848, Théodelinde and eight young women founded the first, small community with the consent of the church authorities.
In February 1849, the Congregation of the Sisters of Atonement was approved and recognized by Marie Dominique Auguste Sibour, Archbishop of Paris. The sisters dedicated themselves to eternal adoration and atonement with the piety of the Eucharist as the center and source of their spirituality. On May 27, 1849, Théodelinde was dressed in the habit and made her profession on May 29. She received the name Marie-Thérèse from the Heart of Jesus. In June 1849 thirteen more sisters were dressed. In 1850 the Sisters of Atonement established a convent in Lyon.
In 1854 the Parisian sisters moved to the former Ursuline convent (14 Rue des Ursulines, Paris). In the spring of 1855, Mother Marie-Thérèse traveled from the Heart of Jesus to Rome to defend the interests of her community. On April 19, 1855 she was by Pope Pius IX. received in private audience, who wanted the Congregation to develop zeal for the conversion of sinners.
On November 8, 1855, a fire broke out in the monastery chapel. While trying to save the Holy of Holies from the flames, Mother Marie-Thérèse suffered severe burns from the Heart of Jesus, which caused her great pain in the years that followed.
On February 10, 1859, she and four other sisters were able to make perpetual profession. In 1860 she set up a branch in Châlons-sur-Marne.
In 1861, she bought a plot of land on the Rue d´Ulm in Paris and supervised the construction of the new monastery there. In July 1863, her health deteriorated rapidly. At the end of August she was transported to the new monastery, where she died on August 30, 1863 at the age of 54. Her last words were: "I see ... I see ... I see ...!" She was buried in the crypt of the new monastery (today: 39 rue Gay-Lussac, Paris).
Visions and devotion to the Holy Face
Between 1846 and 1848 Théodelinde had three visions. On February 25, 1847, she had a vision of the holy face of Jesus. She saw the crucified Jesus crowned with the crown of thorns, suffering and bleeding, but radiating a divine beauty. Jesus said to her: "You are my beloved daughter; I have chosen you! These two drops of my blood from my lips I give you for sinners." This event burned itself into her heart, as it were, and she captured this vision in a painting of the Holy Face, which is venerated to this day in the Convent of the Sisters of Atonement in Paris.
While she was dwelling in Eucharistic adoration on June 30, 1848, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Théodelinde had another vision. She saw Jesus enthroned on the altar and a golden ray streaming from his heart into her heart. Jesus taught her that worship and atonement appease the righteousness of God. He asked her to dedicate her life to him. He wished that souls would always be before him in Eucharistic adoration, whose hearts he could fill with the golden ray and who would continue to proclaim the eternal life that he proclaimed to souls in the world.
Beatification process
The beatification process for Mother Marie-Thérèse of the Heart of Jesus was opened. On March 19, 1913, Pope Pius X recognized her heroic degree of virtue and conferred the title "Venerable Servant of God".
Works
- Marie-Thérèse of the Heart of Jesus: Abandon. Extraits de lettres de la Fondatrice. 1991.
literature
- Marie-Madeleine Polart: L'adoration au coeur de la ville. Vie de Mère Marie-Thérèse Dubouché. Médiaspaul, 1988.
- M. L´Abbé d´Hulst: Vie de la Mére Marie-Thérèse. Fondatrice de la Congrégation de l´Adoration Réparatrice , Librairie Poussielgue Frères, Paris, 1873.
- MM. Grace: Adoration & Reparation. Life of Mother Marie-Thérèse , 1953.
Web links
- http://www.adorationreparatrice.fr/ - Homepage of the French Province of the Sisters of Atonement Adoration (French)
- http://www.adorationsisters.info/ - Home page of the Irish Province of the Sisters of Atonement Worship
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DigkJj2CNxA - Film about the Sisters of Atonement Adoration (French)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Marie-Therese from the heart of Jesus |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bourcin-Dubouché, Théodelinde; from the Heart of Jesus, Marie-Thérèse |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French Roman Catholic nun, Blessed |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 2, 1809 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Montauban |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 30, 1863 |
| Place of death | Paris |