Marie Anne Blondin

blessed Marie Anne Blondin (1809–1890)

Marie Anne Blondin (born April 18, 1809 in Terrebonne , † January 2, 1890 in Lachine ) was a Canadian teacher who founded the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Anne in 1850 . She is venerated as a blessed by the Catholic Church. Her feast day is January 2nd.

Life

Marie Anne Blondin was born on April 18, 1809 as Esther Blondin in Terrebonne. Her parents were Jean-Baptiste Blondin and Maire-Rose Limoges, who lived as simple farmers. At the age of 20 Esther took a job as a housemaid for a local merchant to help her parents financially. Shortly afterwards, she found work with the sisters of the Congregation of Notre-Dame de Montreal, who worked in the local parish. She was taught to read and write by the sisters because she could not go to school as a child.

In 1833, Esther Blondin was accepted as a candidate in the sister's novitiate, but soon had to leave it for health reasons. Later that year she accepted an invitation from another former novice who ran a small school in Vaudreuil to teach there with her. A few years later, Esther took over the school management and trained teachers for the rural areas of the province.

Over the years, Esther Blondin discovered the reason there were so many illiterate people in rural French-speaking Canada: there was a church regulation that forbade children from being taught by teachers of the opposite sex. Since poor parishes could not afford two schools for girls and boys, many pastors decided not to have a school at all. In 1848, Esther turned to the Bishop of Montreal, Ignace Bourget, with a plan to found a new congregation to educate poor boys and girls in the same school. Despite the contrary regulations of the church, the bishop gave his consent, as the Canadian government also endorsed this new type of school. Some young women joined Esther Blondin. On September 13, 1848 the novitiate was opened and on August 15, 1849 the new congregation was named "Daughters of St. Anne". Among the first nine young women to be dressed in 1849 was Esther Blondin, who now called herself Sister Marie Anne.

Five of these sisters, including Sister Marie Anne, made their vows on September 8, 1850. After a pastor friend of mine had paid off a debt, the new congregation received its canonical status. Sister Marie Anne Blondin became the first superior of the community. Due to the rapidly increasing number of entries, a new convent was founded in Sainte-Geneviève in the following year and on August 22 the first convent moved from Vaudreuil to Saint-Jaques de l'Achigan.

At that time, Bishop Bourget appointed Father Louis-Adolphe Maréchal to be the spiritual director of the new congregation. But Maréchal acted dictatorially, decided independently on the level of school fees and forbade the sisters to go to a confessor other than himself.

In the resulting conflict between the superior and the spiritual, the bishop took the side of the spiritual. On August 18, 1854, he gave Mother Marie Anne the instruction to resign from her position as superior and to make new elections. She should renounce any leadership position in the congregation. In November 1854 she was sent to Sainte-Geneviève as headmistress.

Spiritual Maréchal intrigued further against mother Marie Anne and criticized her against the new order leadership. In October 1858 she was finally called back to the mother house on charges of mismanagement. In 1864 the motherhouse was moved to Lachine. Mother Marie Anne also moved to Lachine, where she was entrusted with housekeeping for the rest of her life. In 1872 and 1878 she was elected general assistant by the general chapter, but was excluded from the meetings of the general council.

Mother Marie Anne humbly accepted this treatment from the superiors as divine will and lived in complete secrecy in the mother house. She was even no longer included in the list of sisters.

In the autumn of 1889, mother Marie Anne developed severe bronchitis and died of it on January 2, 1890. Shortly before her death, she tried again to reconcile with Spiritual Maréchal. On January 7, 1890, the Requiem for her took place in the newly erected sanctuary of St. Anne, which had been built at the mother house.

beatification

Mother Marie Anne was long ignored by the congregation she founded because of the prejudices and accusations brought against her. It was not until 1917 that a new, young spiritual at the mother house occupied himself with the founder of the congregation and gave lectures to the sisters. This aroused enthusiasm and admiration for the founder in the young sisters.

The beatification process began in the 1950s. In 1991 she was awarded the heroic degree of virtue by Pope John Paul II and awarded the title " Venerable Servant of God ". On June 28, 1999, the miracle performed on her intercession was recognized and on April 29, 2001, she was beatified by Pope John Paul II .

Her grave is in the Motherhouse of the Congregation in Lachine, Canada.

Remembrance day

Her feast day in the liturgy of the Catholic Church is the day of her death, January 2nd.

Web links

• http://www.ssacong.org/eng/histoire/fondatrice/index.htm - Home of the Congregation (Engl.)