Émilie de Vialar's portrait, circa 1850, http://loikawdiocesenews.wordpress.com/page/28/
Sainte Emilie de Vialar
Fondatrice de la
congrégation de Saint-Joseph de l'Apparition (+ 1856)
Sainte Émilie est née en 1797 à Gaillac (France). En 1832 elle a fondé, en cette même ville, une Congrégation missionnaire: les Sœurs de St Joseph de l'Apparition. Ce nom évoque l'apparition de l'Ange à St Joseph relatée en Mt. 1, 20-24. Comme St Joseph, les sœurs de cette Congrégation s'efforcent de contribuer à la réalisation du Plan sauveur de Dieu pour l'humanité, témoignant que Dieu a tant aimé les hommes qu'il leur a donné son Fils unique.
Sainte Émilie est morte à Marseille en 1856.
Site du Vatican, Chemins de l'Esprit, Recueillement et zèle apostolique
Elle a été canonisée le 17 juin 1951, par Pie XII. Ses sœurs sont aujourd'hui présentes sur les cinq continents... La fête canonique est le 24 août mais, dans les communautés, on la fête le 17 juin.
..."La sève missionnaire qui animait les chrétiens de Marseille en ce milieu du XIXe siècle allait trouver une nouvelle congrégation à nourrir, à l'initiative d'une fille du Tarn, comme le Père Barthès, Emilie, née à Gaillac en 1797, dans une famille aristocratique"... (source: Histoire du diocèse de Marseille)
"Elle se consacre aux pauvres qu'elle reçoit dans sa maison, entraînant quelques compagnes dans une véritable organisation de la charité. C'est avec elles qu'en 1832 elle inaugure à Gaillac une nouvelle forme de vie religieuse au service de toutes les misères et pour l'instruction des jeunes filles. Avec le soutien de l'archevêque d'Albi, François-Marie de Gualy, l'institut de Saint-Joseph de l'Apparition va prendre un tel essor qu'il se répandra, en quelques années, sur tous les continents... En 1951, l'Église la proclame sainte et son corps, transféré à Gaillac en 1972, est offert à la vénération des chrétiens de la terre qui l'a vue naître. On ne peut célébrer sa mémoire le jour de sa naissance au ciel, fête de l'apôtre saint Barthélemy; elle a été béatifiée le 18 juin 1939, qui était alors la fête de saint Ephrem; si l'on a choisi la veille de ce jour, c'est sans doute pour ne pas priver les sœurs, nombreuses au Moyen-Orient, de la célébration du grand Docteur syrien." (Les saints et bienheureux du XIXe siècle - diocèse d'Albi - Tarn)
- vidéo webTV de la CEF, Sœur Bernadette Galéa, supérieure générale.
La maison généralice est à Rome. Le siège social de la congrégation est au 83 Rue de l'Abbé Groult, 75015 Paris. Maison Provinciale, 86 Rue Jullien, 92170 Vanves.
"Émilie de Vialar est décédée le 24 août 1856. On la fête à Marseille à cette date. Elle fonde la congrégation à Noël 1832. Lorsqu'elle quitte l'Algérie, la congrégation s'étend en Tunisie puis à Malte et dans le monde." (message d'un internaute)
À Marseille, en 1856, sainte Émilie de Vialar, vierge. Dans le souci de
diffuser l'Évangile dans les contrées les plus lointaines, elle fonda la
Congrégation des Sœurs de Saint-Joseph de l'Apparition et, à travers les
tracas, les persécutions, la pauvreté, elle développa considérablement son
institut en fondant quarante-deux maisons, de l'Afrique du Nord à la Birmanie.
(martyrologe romain 24 août)
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1726/Sainte-Emilie-de-Vialar.html
Sainte Émilie de Vialar (1797-1856)
Sainte Émilie de Vialar
est née à Gaillac (sud-ouest de la France) le 12 septembre 1797, elle était
l’aînée et la seule fille d’une famille de quatre enfants. Depuis son jeune
âge, cette enfant, intelligente et vive, du Baron de Vialar et de Madame
Antoinette Portal, s’est sentie attirée par les choses de Dieu.
Son enfance fut heureuse.
Sa mère fut son premier professeur, mais Émilie a aussi fréquenté une petite
école de Gaillac. Quand elle a eu 13 ans, ses parents l’ont conduite dans une
pension à Paris, mais, malheureusement, en arrivant à Paris, la maman mourut.
Son éducation une fois
terminée, Émilie rentra à Gaillac et accompagnait souvent son père dans les
visites requises par sa place dans la société à Gaillac et dans les environs.
Jeune et belle, elle prenait plaisir à mettre de belles robes et des bijoux ; elle
avait beaucoup d’amies et d’amis de son âge et reçut bientôt des demandes en
mariage. Dans ce qu’elle a écrit elle-même, Émilie raconte comment, à cette
époque de sa vie, elle a réalisé qu’elle avait une autre vocation, mais elle
n’était pas encore sûre de ce que cela entraînerait pour elle. Alors que tout
l’intéressait, elle ne trouvait rien qui la satisfasse entièrement.
Une « mission » prêchée
dans une des paroisses de Gaillac l’a aidée à décider que toute sa vie
appartiendrait à Dieu. Mais ce que cela signifiait en pratique est resté obscur
pour elle pendant de longues années.
En même temps, Émilie
prenait conscience des situations de pauvreté et d’injustice qui régnaient dans
sa propre ville. Au grand déplaisir de son père, elle commença à distribuer de
la nourriture et des habits aux pauvres qui se pressaient à sa porte. Plus
tard, et avec l’aide d’autres jeunes filles de Gaillac, elle put étendre ses
services aux pauvres malades en leur apportant à domicile de la soupe, des
vêtements chauds, de la nourriture et des médicaments. Quand elle allait à
Paris en famille, elle était très frappée et affectée par « l’irréligion qui
régnait dans cette ville » (lettre à Françoise Pezet, 1826) et elle allait
prier dans l’église des Missions étrangères. À Gaillac même, elle faisait ce
qu’elle pouvait pour « travailler à la conversion des pécheurs et des
hérétiques » (Relation des grâces).
Le directeur spirituel de
Ste Émilie a cru qu’elle avait une vocation particulière et l’a aidée à bien la
discerner. Peu à peu, elle a compris que Dieu l’invitait à fonder une
Congrégation religieuse pour honorer le Mystère de l’Incarnation révélé à St
Joseph en accomplissant les œuvres diverses inspirées par la charité, surtout
dans les « pays infidèles ».
À la mort de son
grand-père, elle eut un héritage qui lui permit d’acheter une maison et, avec
trois compagnes, elle fonda la Congrégation des Sœurs de St Joseph de
l’Apparition à Noël 1832.
Ce nom exprime la mission et la spiritualité de la Congrégation : contribuer au plan d’amour sauveur de Dieu comme l’a fait Joseph averti par l’ange d’accueillir Jésus en Marie (Mt 1, 20-21).
On appelle les Sœurs en
Algérie, puis en Tunisie et dans divers pays de la Méditerranée, pour révéler
par leur dévouement l’amour infini de Dieu pour l’humanité. Quand Émilie meurt
à Marseille, le 24 août 1856, les premières Sœurs arrivent en Australie.
SOURCE : http://www.emiliedevialar.org/
Recueillement et zèle
apostolique
"Dans les premiers
mois qui suivirent mon retour à la piété, le Seigneur me porta au recueillement
et il m'y formait en me faisant sentir sa présence au milieu même de mes
occupations, de telle sorte que mon âme s'unissait très fortement à lui. Dieu
voulant que je conservasse cette union le plus possible me dit ces paroles :
"Garde ma présence, je t'y rappellerai lorsque tu t'en éloigneras."
J'ai malheureusement été peu fidèle à suivre l'attrait au recueillement, et
tandis que j'obéissais à la voix de Dieu pour lui faire les sacrifices qu'il me
demandait, je me suis sans cesse reprochée mon peu d'application à rester unie
à lui dans l'intérieur de mon cœur.
En même temps, je
considérais que, n'étant pas fidèle à garder le recueillement, en conservant la
présence de Dieu, ce serait un bon moyen pour l'observer de m'y engager par
vœu. Je le fis, en promettant au Seigneur de garder sa présence autant que je
le pourrais.
Dès ce moment et dans la
suite, pendant vingt trois ans, je continuai d'aimer Dieu d'un amour tendre et
dominant, mais je n'étais pas satisfaite de moi-même par rapport à l'esprit
intérieur et la peine constante que j'éprouvais d'être infidèle à Dieu
m'entraînait à commettre plus facilement diverses fautes, de telle sorte que,
même en l'aimant, je ne laissais pas de lui déplaire.
Il arriva qu'en 1843, me
rendant pour la seconde fois à Tunis en vue d'y établir une nouvelle œuvre dans
le territoire de Carthage, je fis une traversée longue et pénible, manquant de
pain et ne pouvant me reposer qu'assise. Ce fut pendant le cours de ce voyage
qu'il plut à Dieu de me faire trouver une grande facilité à m'unir à lui dans
le fond de mon cœur et je passai ainsi huit jours dans une sorte de
retraite."
(Emilie de Vialar, Relation
des Grâces, écrite à la demande de son confesseur en 1842)
“L'esprit de cette
Congrégation est de consacrer les Sœurs à l’exercice des différentes œuvres de
la charité acquérir cette divine vertu elles méditent chaque jour de leur vie
sur la charité immense dont le cœur de Jésus-Christ est rempli; et elles s’efforcent
d’imiter son zèle pour le salut des âmes, et sa grande miséricorde pour le
prochain.Elles considèrent souvent les plaies adorables du Sauveur, afin que,
réfléchissant sans cesse sur l’amour de Dieu pour les hommes, elles
entretiennent et augmentent chaque jour les sentiments de compassion et de zèle
qui doivent les animer pour leurs semblables.”
(Emilie de Vialar, Esprit
et Règles de la Congrégation,1841).
“Le Seigneur fait brûler
au-dedans de moi le même feu qu’il y a allumé depuis longtemps et je me réjouis
de cette grâce car si Dieu ne soufflait pas en moi l’esprit de zèle, mon cœur
cesserait d’être animé et, dès lors, je ne pourrais plus rien faire.Fasse sa
bonté que, tant que j’existerai, ce feu divin ne s’éteigne pas...”
(Emilie de Vialar à M.
Balitrand, 1844).
Sainte Emilie de Vialar
Notices biographiques
Sainte Emilie est née en
1797 à Gaillac (France). En 1832 elle a fondée en cette même ville, une
Congrégation missionnaire: les Sœurs de St Joseph de l'Apparition. Ce nom
évoque l'apparition de l'Ange à St Joseph relatée en Mt. 1, 20-24. Comme St
Joseph, les sœurs de cette Congrégation s'efforcent de contribuer à la
réalisation du Plan sauveur de Dieu pour l'humanité, témoignant que Dieu a tant
aimé les hommes qu'il leur a donné son Fils unique.
Sainte Emilie est morte à
Marseille en 1856, et a été canonisée en 1951.
Prière
O Sainte Emilie, vous qui
avez voulu, dans l'Eglise, continuer à manifester l'Amour du Père accompli dans
l'Incarnation de son Fils, obtenez nous d'avoir votre docilité à l'Esprit,
votre audace et courage apostolique.
Préparé par l’Université
Pontificale URBANIANA,
avec la collaboration des
Instituts Missionnaires
SOURCE : http://www.vatican.va/spirit/documents/spirit_20010227_emilie-de-vialar_fr.html
Sainte Emilie de Vialar
Parmi les grandes figures
qui ont honoré l'Algérie et la Tunisie, il convient de ne pas oublier Emilie
de Vialar dont la haute destinée mérite d'être évoquée.
Elle naquit le 12
septembre 1797 à Gaillac, dans le Tarn, au sein d'une famille d'aristocratie
provinciale. Elle eut pour frère Augustin de Vialar qui devint l'un des
premiers colons de l'Algérie nouvellement conquise. Emilie fut envoyée faire
ses études à Paris, au pensionnat de l'Abbaye-aux-Bois dirigé par les
religieuses de la congrégation de Notre- Dame. Après le décès de sa mère,
survenu en 1810, elle revient à Gaillac. Frappée, comme elle le dira elle-même,
par un " coup de grâce " à l'âge de dix-huit ans, elle prend
conscience de sa vocation religieuse. Elle rencontre cependant bien des
difficultés au sein de sa famille pour faire admettre son orientation. Très tôt
Emilie est attirée par les missions étrangères. Elle écrit elle-même à l'âge de
dix-neuf ans : " sans que je m'en rendisse compte, j'éprouvais un
sentiment très vif qui transportait mon cœur dans les régions infidèles ".
Cela, c'est l'avenir qu'elle entrevoit déjà. Mais il faut partir d'un tremplin
qui permettra l'envol.
C'est à Gaillac que
commence son apostolat charitable, entraînant ses amies dans ses visites aux
pauvres. En 1832, bravant toutes les critiques, elle recrute plusieurs jeunes
filles de valeur et fonde une congrégation qu'elle place sous le vocable de Saint
Joseph de l'Apparition.(l) Emilie veut que cette institution soit prête à
assumer toutes les œuvres de charité que l'on trouve dans les divers ordres
existants: instruire les enfants, soigner les malades à domicile, dans les
hôpitaux, les prisons et partout où ces services sont nécessaires. La moisson
ne tarde pas à se multiplier,
Cependant, appelée en
Algérie pour prêter main forte à son frère Augustin, Emilie ne balance pas un
instant. Le 10 août 1835, elle débarque à Alger avec trois religieuses. Or, une
terrible épidémie de choléra sévit en cette ville. Les sœurs se prodiguent jour
et nuit à l'hôpital où défilent patients européens, israélites et musulmans.
Les moyens du bord étant insuffisants pour faire face à tous les frais
nécessaires en raison de la surabondance des malades, Emilie finance elle- même
l'œuvre entreprise. Les malades, quelle que soit leur race, sont conquis par la
charité rayonnante des sœurs. A la fin de 1835, elle se rend à Paris où elle
est reçue par la reine Marie-Amélie qui lui promet sa protection pour son
œuvre.
De retour à Alger, elle
ouvre un dispensaire et une école que fréquentent de nombreuses élèves
chrétiennes ou juives. En 1836, une vingtaine de sœurs sont à pied d'œuvre. La
maison devient le refuge des mendiants et des déshérités.
Après Alger, Bône
l'appelle. Un missionnaire de cette ville désire quelques sœurs pour
l'instruction des enfants. Quatre religieuses sont mises à la disposition de
l'école, deux -autres, peu de temps après arrivent en renfort. Elles prennent
en charge l'hospice civil. Pendant ce temps, le Gouverneur général insiste
auprès d'Emilie de Vialar pour qu'elle prenne la direction d'un asile à Alger.
Elle accepte, et bientôt, c'est en 1838, que quatre religieuses endossent la
responsabilité de veiller à l'instruction et à l'éducation de cent cinquante
enfants. Emilie a le vent en poupe. La même année, elle fonde, à Alger, un
ouvroir destiné à perfectionner les jeunes filles dans les travaux de
l'aiguille. Puis, sur invitation et avec l'aide de l'évêque, elle ouvre un
orphelinat. Avec ardeur, elle termine les constitutions de l'Institut qu'elle
fait approuver par l'archevêque d'Albi, son supérieur immédiat.
A la demande de l'abbé
Suchet, curé de Constantine, elle crée en cette ville une nouvelle fondation.
Les sœurs prennent immédiatement leur service à l'hôpital, et comme à Alger,
elles font la conquête de toutes les populations.
Cependant, au moment où
Mère de Vialar s'apprête à établir une maison à Oran, elle se heurte vivement à
l'opposition de Mgr Dupuch, évêque d'Alger, qui, s'estimant le supérieur
général, pense avoir tous les droits sur cette congrégation et éventuellement
le pouvoir de la dissoudre. C'est un véritable conflit de juridictions qui
s'avère irréductible. Mère de Vialar ira jusqu'à Rome où elle soutiendra sa
position. Mais le gouvernement ayant pris ombrage du recours direct d'Emilie au
Saint-Siège ordonne l'expulsion des sœurs de Saint Joseph de l'Apparition. Mère
de Vialar doit s'incliner, mais elle n'oubliera pas de dresser un rapport où
elle rappellera que les maisons de Bône, Constantine et Alger, sont propriété
absolue de la congrégation de Saint-Joseph et que cette expulsion devra
s'accompagner d'indemnités. Peu avant sa mort, Mgr Dupuch écrira une lettre à
Emilie pour lui demander pardon du mal qu'il lui a fait.
Ce que l'Algérie perd, la
Tunisie le gagne. En effet, Mère de Vialar, avec l'autorisation du préfet
apostolique et de son supérieur général, établit une fondation à Tunis où ses
sœurs sont les premières à faire le travail de défrichement. Le but poursuivi
par les Constitutions de Mère de Vialar se réalise écoles, hôpitaux,
dispensaires, visites à domicile. Mais la fondatrice estimant que l'impulsion
donnée sera sans lendemain si elle n'est pas soutenue par un directeur capable,
fait appel à l'abbé Bourgade qui s'avère l'animateur désiré. Une grande
réalisation : le Collège Saint-Louis.
Après Tunis, Sousse est
doté d'une fondation stable. Pendant cinquante¬quatre ans, un sujet d'élite,
sœur Joséphine Daffis dirigera l'œuvre ; vie héroïque, car depuis la fin de
l'aventure de l'Algérie, les sœurs de Saint-Joseph de l'Apparition
travailleront sous le signe de la pauvreté, faisant tous les métiers pour
soulager la misère.
Infatigable, Mère de
Vialar mène de front plusieurs œuvres. A travers de nombreux écueils, elle ira
droit sa route, sans jamais douter, et finira par surmonter tous les obstacles,
brutaux et parfois sournois, qui se dresseront devant elle. Conflits, voyages,
retours parfois indispensables à Gaillac, visite à Rome, naufrage à Malte où
elle créera une maison, rien ne la rebutera. Par sa seule présence féconde, des
maisons surgiront: à Tunis, en Grèce, en Palestine, en Turquie, à Jaffa, plus
tard en Australie et même en Birmanie La terre est trop petite pour Mère
Emilie. Sa fortune personnelle y passera.
Quand, repliée sur
Toulouse, l'épreuve deviendra plus dure, quand elle et ses filles vivront dans
la misère, quand Mère de Vialar atteindra le dénuement le plus total, elle le
fera non en vaincue, mais triomphante, ayant dominé l'adversité par sa foi.
C'est à Marseille où se
trouve la Maison mère de son ordre, que Mère Emilie de Vialar s'éteint le 24
août 1856 des suites d'une hernie qui l'avait fait souffrir toute sa Vie.
Emilie de Vialar,
béatifiée le 18 juin 1939, a été canonisée le 24 juin 1951. Ainsi, en l'élevant
à la gloire des autels, l'Eglise a reconnu et récompensé ses éminents mérites.
Odette Goinard
sur documentation.
1 Elle choisit ce nom par
référence au message de l'ange annonçant en songe à Joseph le mystère de
l'Annonciation.
BIBLIOGRAPHIE :
* Emilie de Vialar par
l'abbé Louis Picard. Imprimerie Paul Féron. Vran, 1924.
* Emilie de
Vialar par Gaston Bernoville. Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1953.
* La vie militante
de la Bienheureuse Mère Emilie de Vialar par le Chanoine Testas. Editions
Publiroc, Marseille 1939.
* Emilie de Vialar
fondatrice par Sœur Eugène Agnès Cavasino. 1987. Imprimerie de l'abbaye
Sainte Scholastique, 81110 Dourgne
* Emilie de Vialar par
Alfred Boissenot. Article paru dans l'Etude des Français rapatriés
d'outre-mer, N° 66, octobre 1993.
* De plus, Emilie de
Vialar a laissé une correspondance que possèdent les sœurs de Saint Joseph de
l'Apparition, mais qui n'a pas été publiée.
SOURCE : http://www.memoireafriquedunord.net/biog/biog14_Emilie_de_Vialar.htm
Sainte Émilie de Vialar
Vierge, 17 juin
Émilie naît à Gaillac, le
26 fructidor de l’an V (12 septembre 1797), d’une famille de la bourgeoisie
locale (elle a déjà trente ans quand son père reçoit le titre de baron, qui
était seulement depuis Louis XVI dans sa lignée maternelle). Sa paroisse,
Saint-Pierre, est confiée à un prêtre de l’Église constitutionnelle, aussi
est-elle baptisée en cachette dans la chapelle de l’hospice Saint-André. Elle a
treize ans quand sa mère meurt et elle passe deux années à Paris, où réside sa
tante maternelle, dans une institution religieuse, l’Abbaye-aux-Bois. De retour
dans la ville natale, elle a à souffrir de l’influence qu’exerce sur son père
la gouvernante qui tient sa maison. Pendant vingt ans se mûrit, avec une
expérience spirituelle faite d’une alternance de ferveur et de doute, le projet
de sa vie. Elle se consacre aux pauvres qu’elle reçoit dans sa maison,
entraînant quelques compagnes dans une véritable organisation de la charité.
C’est avec elles qu’en
1832 elle inaugure à Gaillac une nouvelle forme de vie religieuse au service de
toutes les misères et pour l’instruction des jeunes filles. Avec le soutien de
l’archevêque d’Albi, François-Marie de Gualy, l’institut de Saint-Joseph de
l’Apparition va prendre un tel essor qu’il se répandra, en quelques années, sur
tous les continents, car “l’esprit particulier de cette congrégation est
d’exercer la charité dans les pays infidèles" (Statuts). En 1835, c’est
l’Algérie, récemment soumise par la France. Cette aventure malheureusement ne
durera pas, car l’évêque d’Alger voudrait infléchir la vie religieuse dans un
sens qu’Émilie ne peut pas accepter. Mais cela n’arrêtera pas son élan
missionnaire.
D’autres épreuves
l’attendent : l’incompréhension de nombreux Gaillacois allant jusqu’à la
calomnie, les malversations de ceux à qui elle avait confié la gestion de ses
biens, avec la complicité de l’une de ses sœurs, jusqu’à la réduire à
l’indigence, la défection de plusieurs compagnes, tout cela l’oblige à quitter
l’Albigeois pour s’établir à Toulouse, puis à Marseille, où elle rendra son âme
à Dieu, le 24 août 1856, à la suite de l’étranglement d’une hernie contractée
dans sa jeunesse en maniant des sacs de blé pour nourrir les pauvres.
En 1951, l’Église la
proclame sainte et son corps, transféré à Gaillac en 1972, est offert à la
vénération des chrétiens de la terre qui l’a vue naître. On ne peut célébrer sa
mémoire le jour de sa naissance au ciel, fête de l’apôtre saint Barthélemy ; elle
a été béatifiée le 18 juin 1939, qui était alors la fête de saint Ephrem ; si
l’on a choisi la veille de ce jour, c’est sans doute pour ne pas priver les
sœurs, nombreuses au Moyen-Orient, de la célébration du grand Docteur syrien.
SOURCE : http://catholique-tarn.cef.fr/spip.php?article1518
Église
Saint-Pierre de Gaillac : Châsse de sainte Émilie de Vialar
Châsse de sainte Émilie de Vialar (Gaillac) ; August 2021 in Tarn
Also
known as
Anne Marguerite Adelaide
Emily de Vialar
Emilie de Vialar
Emilie de Vialard
Profile
Born to an aristocratic
family, the eldest of three children,
and only daughter of Baron James Augustine and Antoinette de Vialar. Because of
the anti-Church sentiment
of the years following the French
Revolution, Emily was baptized in
secret, and was taught religion
at home by her mother.
Sent at age 7 to Paris, France for
her education.
Her mother died when
Emily was 15, and the girl returned
home. She managed her father‘s
house until she was 35 years old, privately devoting herself to a life of celibacy and prayer, and
occasionally arguing with her father over
her desire to enter religious
life.
Upon receiving a large
inheritance from her grandfather,
Emily and three other women founded
the Sisters
of Saint Joseph of the Apparition on Christmas Day in 1832;
the Apparition refers to the appearance of Gabriel to Joseph,
telling him to flee to Egypt.
In 1835,
Emily and several of the Sisters arrived
in Algeria to
help the sick during
a cholera epidemic,
and begin her dream of missionary work.
Beginning in 1840 she
tried to obtain papal approval
of the Sisters,
but secular politics between France and Algeria,
and Church politics
involving Bishop Dupuch of Alger prevented
the recognition until 31 March 1862,
several years after Emilie’s death.
During the next few years
Emily established 14 new houses, travelled extensively,
and sent missionaries anywhere
that would accept them. This put a heavy strain on her inheritence, which had
been mismanaged by her financial advisor. By 1851 she
was bankrupt. Because of the money trouble, the reputation of Emily and of
the Sisters suffered,
and they were so poor that
they sometimes ate in soup kitchens run by other Congregations. Emily finally
moved them all, establishing the mother-house of the Sisters in
Marseilles, France where,
with the help of the bishop, Saint Eugene
de Mazenod, she began to build up her congregation again. In the years
until her death,
she established 40 houses in Europe, Africa,
and Asia, and the Sisters continue their good work all over the world
today.
Born
12
September 1797 at
Gaillace, Albi,
southern France as Anne
Marguerite Adelaide Emily de Vialar
24 August 1856 at
Marseilles, Bouches-du-Rhône, France of
natural causes
19 March 1935
by Pope Pius XI (decree
of heroic
virtues)
Additional
Information
A
Saint with a Fortune, by S. M. R.
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
video
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
Dicastero delle Cause dei Santi
Readings
Since God does so much
for me, what could I not do for him? – Saint Emily
MLA
Citation
“Saint Emily de
Vialar“. CatholicSaints.Info. 27 June 2023. Web. 30 August 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-emily-de-vialar/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-emily-de-vialar/
St. Emily de Vialar
Feastday: June 17
St. Emily de Vialar,
Virgin, Foundress of the Sisters of St. Joseph "of
the Apparition"
Anne Marguerite Adelaide
Emily de Vialar was the eldest child and only daughter of Baron James Augustine
de Vialar and his wife Antoinette, daughter of that Baron de Portal who was
physician-in-ordinary to Louis XVIII and Charles X of France. She was born at
Gaillac in Languedoc in 1797. At the age of fifteen she was removed from school
in Paris to
be companion to her father, now a widower, at Gaillac; but unhappily,
differences arose between them because of Emily's refusal to consider a
suitable marriage.
For fifteen years, Emily
was the good angel of
Gaillac, devoting herself to the care of children neglected
by their parents and
to the help of the poor generally. In 1832, her maternal grandfather died,
leaving her a share of his estate which was a quite considerable fortune. She
bought a large house at Gaillac and took possession of it with three
companions. Others joined them and three months later, the archbishop authorized
the Abbe to clothe twelve postulants with the religious habit. They called
themselves the Congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph of
the Apparition. Their work was to be the care of the needy, especially the
sick, and the education of
children. In 1835, she made her profession with seventeen other sisters, and
received formal approval for the rule of the Congregation.
The foundress, in the
course of twenty-two years, saw her Congregation grow from one to some forty
houses, many of which she had founded in person. The physical energy and
achievements of St. Emily de
Vialar are the more remarkable in that from her youth she was troubled
by hernia, contracted characteristically in doing a deed of charity. From 1850
this became more and more serious, and it hastened her end, which came on
August 24, 1856. The burden of her last testament to her daughters was
"Love one another". Her canonization took place in 1951; her feast is
June 17th.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=117
St. Emily de Vialar
Born to an aristocratic
family, the eldest of three children, and only daughter of Baron James Augustine
and Antoinette de Vialar. Because of the anti-Church sentiment of the years
following the French Revolution, Emily was baptized in secret, and was taught
religion at home by her mother. Sent at age 7 to Paris, France for her
education.
Her mother died when
Emily was 15, and the girl returned home. She managed her father’s house until
she was 35 years old, privately devoting herself to a life of celibacy and
prayer, and occasionally arguing with her father over her desire to enter
religious life.
Upon receiving a large
inheritance from her grandfather, Emily and three other women founded the
Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition on Christmas Day in 1832; the
Apparition refers to the appearance of Gabriel to Joseph, telling him to flee
to Egypt. In 1835, Emily and several of the Sisters arrived in Algeria to help
the sick during a cholera epidemic, and begin her dream of missionary work.
Beginning in 1840 she
tried to obtain papal approval of the Sisters, but secular politics between
France and Algeria, and Church politics involving Bishop Dupuch of Alger
prevented the recognition until 31 March 1862, several years after Emilie’s
death.
During the next few years
Emily established 14 new houses, travelled extensively, and sent missionaries
anywhere that would accept them. This put a heavy strain on her inheritence,
which had been mismanaged by her financial advisor. By 1851 she was bankrupt.
Because of the money trouble, the reputation of Emily and of the Sisters
suffered, and they were so poor that they sometimes ate in soup kitchens run by
other Congregations.
Emily finally moved them
all, establishing the mother-house of the Sisters in Marseilles, France where,
with the help of the bishop, Saint Eugene de Mazenod, she began to build up her
congregation again. In the years until her death, she established 40 houses in
Europe, Africa, and Asia, and the Sisters continue their good work all over the
world today.
SOURCE : http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/saint-emily-de-vialar-2/
Emily de Vialar V (RM)
Born at Gaillac (near Albi), Languedoc, France, in 1797; died at Marseilles in
1856; canonized in August 14, 1951; feast day formerly on August 24.
"Quietly to trust in God is better than trying to safeguard material
interests--I learned that by bitter experience."--Mother Emily de Vialar
Emily, daughter of Baron James de Vialar and Antoinette de Portal, studied in
Paris. She and her father were estranged after the death of her mother because
she refused to marry. He was a dominating, violent-tempered man who once went
so far as to throw a decanter at her when she persisted to resist his demands
that she marry. He was further antagonized with she began to teach abandoned
and poor children and to care for the sick and destitute in his home.
Nevertheless, from the age of 15 until she was 35, Emily looked after her
cantankerous father and ministered to the children and the needy on his estate
in Gaillac.
Her services were especially needed in France at that time. Although the worst
excesses of the French Revolution were over, the Church had been stripped of
many temporal possessions and Christian schools had been almost entirely
suppressed. Thus, God called Emily and her contemporary, Saint Madeleine Sophie
Barat, to fill the void.
Emily was sustained by her faith during this difficult period, and God favored
her with a vision of his body bearing the stigmata. When her grandmother died
in 1832 and left her a fortune, Emily bought a house at Gaillac. With the
assistance of her spiritual director, Abbé Mercier, she and three companions
began a congregation. Within three months of moving into their new home, their
number grew to 12, and with the permission of Archbishop de Gauly of Albi they
took the habit and constituted themselves as the Congregation of Sisters of
Saint Joseph of the Apparition (Matthew 1:18-20). In 1835, the congregation
numbered 18 and their rule was formally approved. They dedicated themselves to
the care of the sick and needy and the education of young children in France
and abroad. That same year they were invited to open a house in Algeria.
Emily travelled constantly, and the congregation soon spread all over the Near
East--Algeria, Tunisia, Greece, Malta, Jerusalem, and the Balkans. A
jurisdictional dispute with Bishop Dupuch of Algiers. He excommunicated Emily
in 1842. Although the dispute was decided in her favor, it forced the closing
of the house in Algiers. On her return to Gaillac in 1845, she found the
organization in chaos and its existence threatened by lawsuits due to financial
mismanagement by a trustee and quarrels among the nuns. She moved the
motherhouse to Toulouse (and in 1854 to Marseilles).
Emily herself was often the victim of doubts and spiritual anxieties. Despite
these and other obstacles the order flourished. Emily may have had inner
trials, but she was also capable, intelligent, and adamant on matters that
concerned the well-being of her order. Church dignitaries questioned her long
journeys; others criticized the elegance of their habits, but Emily was too
busy founding new houses. By the time of her death, there were 40 houses around
the world, from Europe to Burma and Australia (Attwater, Delaney,
Encyclopedia).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0617.shtml#harv
Saint Emily de Vialar
Foundress of the Sisters
of Saint Joseph of the Apparition
(1797-1856)
Saint Emily de Vialar was
born on September 12, 1797 at Gaillac in southern France, a small city about 45
km. northeast of Toulouse. Her family was a well-known one in the region and
elsewhere; her maternal grandfather, the Baron Portal, raised to nobility by Louis
XVI, became royal physician to Louis XVIII and Charles X. Emily's mother,
Antoinette Portal, a very pious Christian, married the Baron Jacques de Vialar,
and Emily and her two younger brothers were raised in Gaillac, near Albi, a
city where their father served in the municipal administration, concerning
himself in particular with that of the local hospital.
Emily was placed in a
local school at the age of seven. As a child she made efforts to overcome her
natural vanity, which by a special grace she recognized clearly. She did not
permit herself to look in the mirror when her mother gave her a new dress, and
often left aside the ornaments she was offered. When she was thirteen, she was
sent to the boarding convent of Abbaye-au-Bois in Paris, returning to Gaillac
at the age of 15. She had lost her mother in 1810, and for twenty years was
destined to preside over the paternal household. Desiring to repair the ruins
effected by the Revolution, she undertook to catechize the local children and
win back souls which had lost their faith through its ravages. She refused a
suitor and made a private vow to consecrate her life to God in the state of
virginity, and to conserve at all times in her soul the memory of His presence.
When she and her brothers inherited their grandfather's large fortune in 1832,
she decided, not without sorrow, to leave her father's house. She was free to
do so, since her brother Maximin had brought his new wife to take her place
there. The separation from her widowed father was difficult for her; it was
only in doing violence to my heart that I decided to leave him, knowing what
affliction it would cause him.
She went to reside in a
large edifice she bought in the same city of Gaillac, with three other young
women who shared her concern for children and the sick poor. Soon they were
joined by eight others who had become acquainted with their work and their aspirations.
Aided by the assistant parish priest of Saint Peter's Church, whose sacerdotal
soul saw the value of their mission — for no one yet called it a religious
institute — on March 19, 1833, they received a religious habit. In June of the
same year there were already twenty-six young apostolic souls being formed in
Gaillac. They made religious vows two years later, in 1835. Thus was born the
Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition, which their
foundress conceived as ready to assume all works of charity, in particular the
instruction of children and the care of the sick at home, in hospitals and in
prisons. Father Louis Mercier continued his encouragement to the Sisters and
directed them, with the support of Monsignor de Gualy, Archbishop of Albi, who
in December of 1835 approved the Constitutions drafted by Mother Emily.
Earlier in that same year
the Mother Superior, accompanied by three nuns, had gone to found a hospital in
Algeria. Her brother Augustine had settled in its capital city and bought
numerous terrains in the region, and the prevalence of malaria there decided
him to build a hospital at his own expense. He needed nuns to staff it and
appealed to his sister. Their charity won all hearts when a cholera epidemic
broke out in Alger and the nuns worked day and night in improvised conditions,
and lacking remedies. It was not long before thirty of them were working in
three regions of Algeria. But many trials followed for the Sisters of the
African foundation, when the bishop of Alger wanted to modify their Rule and
assume government of the African group, detaching it from the Institute. They
were eventually expatriated. The confidence of their Foundress in the aid of
Providence did not waver when calumnies followed them to France and a member of
their own Institute defrocked and opposed it, with collaborators, by several
lawsuits. Through these, the Foundress lost her original fortune and the
Community was reduced to extreme poverty. God would prove that He alone was its
inspiration and that He would not allow His work to perish. Forced by ill-will
in the region to change the site of their mother house, the Sisters went for a
time to Toulouse, without finding there the stability of direction the
Institute required. Finally Monsignor Eugene de Mazenod, Founder of the Oblates
of Mary Immaculate, welcomed them in Marseille and took the new Order under his
beneficent protection. In 1842 Rome issued a decree praising the Institute; in
1870 it was definitively approved.
When Saint Emily died on
August 24, 1856, she left as her precious heritage to the Church and its
children, already forty-two foundations of her Order, not only in Western and
Eastern Europe and Africa, but in the Middle East, the Far East, and Australia.
Four years after her death, her mortal remains were found intact. In 1959, the
Congregation was working from the base of one hundred and twenty-eight houses.
Its Foundress was beatified in 1939 and canonized in 1951, by Pope Pius XII.
Saint Emily de Vialar, by
Father Clement, O.D.M. (Magnificat: St. Jovite, 1993); Sainte Émilie de
Vialar, by Gaetan Bernoville (Fayard: Paris, 1953); Nouvelle Revue
Théologique, Vol. 68, 1946, pp. 824-825
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/en/saints/saint_emily_de_vialar.html
June 16, 2016
St. Emily de Vialar, A
Revolutionary Survivor
Violent anti-Catholic
sentiment, making public observance of the Faith dangerous. Geopolitics
muddying the waters of charity. Financial mismanagement resulting in a
public scandal and fall from grace. Anyone who thinks either a: the
Catholic Church is an institution that can be laid low by human actions or b:
that it deliberately cultivates weak, subservient women needs to be introduced
to St. Emily de Vialar.
de Vialar was born in
1797 in southern France, a time and place that were as dangerously antagonistic
toward Catholicism as anything that exists today. For frame of reference:
St. Emily was born only three years after the height of the Reign of Terror,
during which churches were closed, priests were murdered, and forced marriages
between religious were enacted. She was born in the same year that French
troops kidnapped the reigning Pope, who then died after six weeks of
captivity. So when we hear that she had to be baptized in secret, and
clandestinely taught the faith at home by her mother, the information seems
surreal to our modern ears.
But, proving that no
attempt to exterminate Catholicism will be successful, not even one as violent
and organized as the French Revolution, de Vialar was carefully handed down the
Faith, and in such a measure that a desire to enter religious life was kindled
in the girl. Then, to counter all claims that Catholicism delights in the
cultivation of timid, suppressed women, it sainted a woman who stood up to her
father to make that dream of religious life happen.
Now, in the father’s
defense, he had lived through the Revolution. He had seen nuns hauled
into the streets and off to the guillotine, so the prospect of his daughter
making such a dangerous vocational choice must have filled him with fear.
He preferred his daughter to marry, to sensibly settle down. Emily,
however, had different ideas, and the two fought about frequently, making life
together tense and stressful. The fact that, under the direction of the
parish priest, Emily set up an out-patient clinic on the family terrace did
nothing to ease father/daughter relations.
For fifteen years, de
Vialar dedicated herself to charitable work in her community. Known as
“the good angel of Gaillac”, she helped the poor, particularly children
neglected by their parents. Then, the death of a relative left her with a
sizable inheritance- sizable enough that she was able to purchase a large house
in town and moved into it with three other companions. They dedicated
themselves to the care of the poor and education of children. Their good
works attracted other women, and within the year, the archbishop gave the women
permission to start a religious order- the Congregation of Sisters of St.
Joseph of the Apparition.
In 1835, Emily and
several other members Congregation traveled to Algeria to help the sick during
the midst of a cholera epidemic. The Algeria of Emily’s time was a land
that had been invaded by France, annexed, and the conquered people removed from
their land, displaced by European settlers. In a land of refugees and
frequent uprisings, of colonial invaders and poor sanitation, Emily and her
sisters tended the battered people of Algeria.
St. Emily de Vialar began
to seek papal approval of her order, but the interplay between secular politics
of France and Algeria, and religious politics involving the Bishop of Alger
prevented the pope from giving his recognition. When the Congregation of Sisters
of St. Joseph of the Apparition finally did gain papal approval, it was after
its founder’s death.
In the midst of global
upheaval and confusion, Emily endured the same on a personal level. Her
estate, which had been bankrolling the Order, was so poorly managed that by
1851, she was bankrupt. The Sisters were destitute, sometimes even
getting their only meals from soup kitchens run by other Orders. Public
opinion of Emily and the Sisters turned, and they fell out of favor- at one
point, they were excommunicated by the Bishop of Alger because of their
financial ruin.
Refusing to crushed under
the weight of poverty and scandal, Emily moved the Order to Marseilles, where
the local bishop helped her slowly rebuild the Congregation. By the time
Emily died, 40 houses in three continents were up and running, and to this day,
the Congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition serve the poor.
Ninety-five years after
her death, Emily became St. Emily de Vialar, a survivor of a bloody chapter in
France’s history, a woman with a strong will and clear vision, and a saint to
call on when it seems the whole world is ordered against you.
Catholic Exchange seeks to enable
all to be enriched and strengthened in their Christian faith as proclaimed by
the Catholic Church. By offering accessible articles and helpful tools for
spiritual growth, we seek to make saints in our own time — especially among
those who live busy lives but still seek to grow in friendship with Christ.
SOURCE : https://catholicexchange.com/st-emily-de-vialar-revolutionary-survivor
A Saint with a
Fortune, by S. M. R.
Our story is set in a
war-torn country. France, at one time the fairest daughter of Mother Church,
experienced her Gethsemane during the fearful days of the Revolution. The blood
of bishops, priests and nuns mingled with that of the nobility and gentry
enriching the soil and making it fruitful in a wonderful way. In
post-Revolution days there arose new religious orders and congregations, whose
founders and foundresses have left indelible marks on the history of the
universal Church. Many of these have also attained the sublime honour of having
been raised to the altars and are now daily invoked throughout Christendom.
While Paris and the large
cities were still writhing under the ravages of the Revolution, Gaillac, a
little town in the South, was pursuing its peaceful mode of living. The River
Tarn flowed undisturbed on its wonted course, while vineyards and orchards
flourished on plain and hillside. However, this tranquillity was only external.
The minds and hearts of the people were not at rest. In the minds of many still
throbbed the cry of the Revolutionaries, “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.” In
men’s hearts a great usurpation had taken place – the “Goddess of Reason” had
dethroned the God of Wisdom.
On this stage there
appeared the 12th September, 1797, a new figure to whom, later, France and the
world would owe an ever increasing debt. This was the baby daughter who that
day was born to James Augustine de Vialar and his charming wife Emilie de
Portal. Both these families were well known and had left their mark on the
history of the province. The de Vialars were opulent with baronial rights,
while the de Portals were equally wealthy and renowned for their learning and
the long succession of skilled physicians they had given to France.
Consequently they were well known throughout the land. Dr. de Portal, the
baby’s grandfather, had been physician-in-chief to the King, and had also
attended His Holiness, Pope Pius VI, during his sojourn in the French capital.
Without delay, although
the registers recording date and place are not available, the little one was
admitted to the life of Sanctifying Grace by the regenerating waters of Baptism
and named Anne Marguerite Adelaide Emilie. Mme. de Vialar cared for her growing
child with the greatest diligence and vigilance so that her thoughts should, as
early as possible, be directed to her God. The baby hand was soon accustomed to
the actions of the Sign of the Cross, and, from the time that the tiny lips
could lisp, the holy names of Jesus and Mary were the first that the child
learned. This good mother was renowned for her piety and love of our Holy
Mother, the Church. This ardent zeal for Christ’s Mystical Body she passed on
as a special legacy to her daughter. The father, however, was less fervent and
was tainted with the ideas and ideals of the Enlightenment.
When Emilie was two years
old there was great rejoicing as a son had been born to the de Vialars. This
child was named Augustine after his father. Two more sons, Alfred and Maximin,
later blessed this union. Alfred, however, lived only twenty days.
Emilie’s early education
was the work of her devoted mother, but her seventh birthday brought the
decision that she should go to school. At this period Christian parents had no
choice as to what educational establishment they would confide their children.
A school had quite recently been opened at Gaillac and it was to this that
parents were compelled to send their little ones if they desired them to attend
classes at all. The directress, Miss Duberville, was an ex-goddess of Reason,
and, although refined and well educated, lacked all sense of religion. Hence we
can well imagine with what reluctance Emilie’s mother had her child enrolled at
this school. However, she still remained her real teacher, instructing her in
the truths of our Holy Faith and inculcating the practice of every Christian
virtue. Thus Emilie grew up in an atmosphere of piety.
Before many weeks had
elapsed, Miss Duberville realized that in Emilie she had an excellent pupil who
would bring fame to her as a teacher. Also attending this school was a girl,
about the same age as Emilie, named Hortense de Cossigny. She, too, was
brilliant and had, in addition, exceptional musical ability. Emilie also
learned the piano, but she did not have talent equal to Hortense who was taught
by her father. The fact that Emilie was Miss Duberville’s pupil made the latter
concentrate on Emilie in a vain attempt to have her surpass Hortense in musical
achievement. This pressure was a severe trial to Emilie, who often remarked to
her friend, “I shall never be able to play like you.”
Referring to this
experience in her Autobiography, written at the request of her confessor, we
find this entry, “At the age of eight or nine, God inspired me with the thought
of suffering for Him the pains caused by those who governed me.” Emilie
attended this school for six years and endeared herself to her companions by
her patience, her piety and her beautiful disposition.
The next event of
importance was her Confirmation. This was an auspicious occasion as it was the
first time since the Revolution that a bishop had visited Gaillac. As may well
be imagined, Bishop Fournier was welcomed most enthusiastically. This date, 3rd
June, 1807, was always regarded by Emilie as a great day in her life. The Holy
Ghost poured into her soul His seven gifts, with those of Wisdom and Fortitude
in an unusual degree. These were precisely the ones she would need most during
the years that lay ahead.
The time had now come
when it was decided to send Emilie to Paris to finish her education. The
thought of separation grieved her mother greatly but she sacrificed her own
feelings in what she considered the best interests of her cherished daughter.
Paris offered the choice of several excellent schools, and had the added
attraction of being the home of Baron de Portal and his daughter Mme. de
Lamourié. Thus Emilie would not be entirely among strangers.
When the necessary
preparations were completed, the family set out for Paris in September, 1810.
Mme. de Vialar, whose health had gradually been failing since the birth of
Maximin seventeen months before, was completely exhausted by the journey and
compelled to go to bed as soon as she arrived at her father’s home. The famous
physician immediately recognized the seriousness of his daughter’s condition
and employed all his skill and energy in a vain attempt to restore her to
health. A time of severe trial was now at hand for, on 17th December, the good
mother received the final summons to appear before her God to receive from Him
the reward of her virtuous life.
To the sensitive soul of
Emilie this was a very heavy cross. With a maturity beyond her years she
realized her loss. Mme. de Lamourié, to whom her sister had confided the three
children, was a kindly person and lavished every possible care and attention on
her precious charges. However, in accordance with her mother’s wishes, Emilie
was taken to the Abbaye-au-Bois and enrolled as a boarder. Here she was
surrounded by the love and care of the good sisters of the Congregation of Our
Lady.
Almost inconsolable at
the death of his wife, Baron de Vialar returned to Gaillac with his two young
sons and a governess named Toinon. This latter person soon assumed complete
control of the household and was the cause of great suffering to Emilie when
later she returned home.
Emilie spent two happy
and fruitful years at the Abbey during which time she received her First Holy
Communion. This was for her an occasion of special grace. In her Autobiography
we read, “From this time God began to draw my heart to Himself. I was
encouraged to correct a habit of lying that was the only fault of which I was
conscious and which I had contracted for fear of being scolded by my parents.
At the same period I was inspired to practise mortification. I obeyed and
experienced in return a delightful union with God which filled my soul with so
much sweetness that I cannot find words to express it.”
Except for the death of
her dearly loved mother, Emilie’s life had been one of unclouded joy. Her sunny
temperament endeared her to all with whom she came in contact. Her mirth and
goodness seemed contagious and her sympathetic heart responded promptly to
every appeal for kindness. Would this happy state continue, or would it end
with schooldays? The future alone held the answer to the question.
Happy days at the Abbey
now came abruptly to an end. Baron de Vialar quite unexpectedly decided to
bring his daughter home. He declared he was lonely for her company, but his
treatment of her makes it difficult for us to believe this was his true motive.
Amid many tears and ardent promises to return to visit her old teachers and
companions, Emilie left the dear Abbey and all the happy associations of the
past two years and .returned home. But what a transformation! What was home
without the tender, loving mother? Could it be called home? Only two years had
elapsed since she had left Gaillac, but the changes wrought seemed the work of
centuries.
With a heart well-nigh
breaking, Emilie decided to sacrifice her feelings and to enter whole –
heartedly into the difficult tasks that now lay ahead. Two young boys were
longing for a mother’s lave which she would endeavour to supply. A father had
to be won back to love and affection. What tasks for one who was only a
school-girl! Responsibility soon matured Emilie and she immediately became an
adornment to the home. Her father, however, did not view his daughter in this
light as he was completely dominated by Toinon, whose jealousy of Emilie
prompted her to concoct the most fantastic tales and to pour them into the
willing ears of the master of the household.
However, friendship is a
great force in one’s life and Emilie at this time had two valued friends,
Hortense de Cossigny and Rosine de Bermond. As Emilie was a perfect friend she
knew how to value the sincerity of others. She now had to take her place in
society and for a time she became engrossed in the vanities that surrounded her.
Her main difficulty at this time was to find a suitable confessor and adviser
to whom she could unburden her soul. This in the days when Jansenism was rife,
was an extremely difficult task.
During 1816 a mission was
preached at Gaillac. Emilie followed the exercises as she says “without
devotion and with lack of attention.” However, as the mission was drawing to a
close she became troubled about her Confessions and Communions and experienced
an overpowering desire to make a General Confession. In this she was encouraged
by one of the missionaries. Referring to her preparation for the reception of
the Sacrament of Penance, she said, “The Lord enlightened me so well that,
without the trouble of examining my conscience, all my faults became clear to
me:” Again she writes, “After Confession and during Holy Mass that followed the
same fear of having offended God gave me such a detestation of sin that I shed
abundant tears and my heart was quite changed, filled with love towards God and
with a determination to avoid all offence against Him. Furthermore, I was
filled with zeal enabling me to overcome human respect, which was the obstacle
I feared most.”
After the Mission, her
confessor, Father Miguel, allowed her to receive Holy Communion three times a
week. We must remember that Emilie lived before the days of frequent and daily
Communion. Nevertheless, she did not feel free to reveal the workings of grace
in her soul to this priest as she felt he would attribute her declarations to
pride or else condemn them as illusions. “I knew,” she writes, “in such a clear
and convincing manner what the Lord expected of me that I had not the least
doubt:” She tells us that she was first drawn to practise mortification,
principally fasting, and in this she persevered for some weeks. Her next
inspiration was to immolate her will to that of God. At the same time she was
urged to forgo the vanities of worldly attire and to avoid in any way
endeavouring to make herself appear attractive to others.
This new mode of life did
not in any way mark her as singular as her mortifications were interior. She
still frequented society as a companion to her father, who, in spite of his
treatment of her, felt a secret pride in her queenly bearing and in her ability
to make all around her feel at ease.
Her piety, however, was a
source of annoyance to her father who strongly protested against her evening
visit to the Blessed Sacrament. He considered daily Mass sufficient devotion.
About this time Emilie
received a special favour from God: She was alone in the church praying before
the Blessed Sacrament when, suddenly, on the Altar she saw Our Lard stretched
out before her. His Head was at the Gospel side; His Feet at the Epistle side.
His Arms were in the shape of a cross and His Hair fell on to His Shoulders. A
shadow hid a portion of His Body, but the Chest, Side and Feet were visible.
(Emilie states that she does not know whether they were visible to the eyes of
her soul or to her corporal eyes). What arrested her gaze in particular were
the Five Wounds, especially the one in the right Side from which emerged
several drops of blood. In thanksgiving for this singular favour, she left to
her spiritual daughters the precious legacy of the daily recitation of five Our
Fathers and five Hail Marys in honour of these five most precious wounds.
The choice of her
vocation in life now caused her great anxiety. She thought deeply and prayed
earnestly about this most vital affair, but still no definite pathway opened
itself before her. However, one day while absorbed in prayer, she heard an
interior voice saying to her, “In two years You will know your vocation.”
At this time she felt a
great attraction for the foreign missions. Each time she went to Paris to visit
her grandfather she visited the Church of the Missions and back home in Gaillac
she was a constant visitor to the Church of Saint John of Carthage where
special honour is paid to Saint Francis Xavier, the Patron of the Missions. “At
the age of eighteen,” she writes, “I made a vow to recite daily some prayers in
honour of this great saint.”
Conflicting with her
desire for the foreign missions was the sense of her obligation to remain in
her father’s house so as to ensure the practice of religion by those who lived
there. Another cause of worry at his time was the frequent offers of brilliant
marriages that presented themselves. Her refusal to consider any of the learned
and noble suitors who sought her hand enraged her father beyond the power of
words to express.
There now came a time
when all spiritual consolations were withdrawn and God seemed to have left this
favoured soul to herself. She was extremely perturbed and blamed herself for
this period of aridity by accusing herself of having failed to correspond fully
to the inspirations of grace. Hence she decided to overcome all repugnances and
unburden her mind to her confessor. She commenced by telling him of the great
favours with which she had been privileged, but she did not proceed very far
when she was abruptly stopped and the priest refused to believe what she was
saying. Hence she was thrown back again on herself: In spite of her
disappointment, she continued to do all in her power to please God and to
fulfil His Will: She felt attracted to works of charity and this attraction
took concrete shape in visiting the sick in their homes, in bringing them the
necessary remedies and food and in working for the conversion of sinners and
heretics. Surely here was a vast field pf apostolic labours.
At last in 1822, Father
Mercier came into her life. His arrival in Gaillac seemed providential for
Emilie. She studied this new priest assiduously and, recognizing in him a truly
apostolic spirit, decided to confide the guidance of her spiritual life to him.
We are not surprised to learn that, in Emilie, he discerned an exceptional soul
upon whom God had great designs.
Emilie now felt that God
was drawing her irresistibly to the religious life. But how? Where? She did not
know. Her confessor felt that she was destined for an unusual apostolate, but
was not very clear as to what course he should advise her to pursue: He said to
her, “God has destined you, without doubt, for something important, but what it
is we do not yet know.” He next proceeded to test her very severely and opposed
her every suggestion. This course of action was the outcome of his desire to
help her and to avoid any possibility of an error of judgment in deciding her
true vocation.
Emilie became more and
more engrossed in her works of charity and for the next ten years continued
this apostolate as well as fulfilling her duties to her father and bearing
patiently the attacks of Toinon. Soon others were attracted to her charitable
works and joined her in her noble enterprise. The fortune inherited from her
mother was gradually finding its way to the poor and, in a house from the same
legacy of this beloved mother, she gathered together the children of the poor,
attended to their needs, taught them their catechism and inspired them with a
love of Our Divine Lord and His Blessed Mother. The story of Bethlehem and
Calvary deeply impressed this chosen group.
The society, to which by
reason of her noble birth she really belonged, frowned on her good works and
charitable undertakings and criticized her every action.
It could not understand
her abandoning the rich attire and costly jewels to which she had been
accustomed .from her cradle for the more humble dress and lack of all
adornment, save a little cross attached to a black cord, in which she now
appeared. Yet, in spite of all this, her beauty and attractiveness were as
striking as before. The world cannot understand the sublime folly of the Cross.
Baron de Vialar shared
the views of his friends as regards his daughter’s conduct. However, there
seemed very little he could do about it. He wished to see her eclipse all
rivals in the ballrooms of his friends and to contract a marriage worthy of a
de Vialar. That she desired the King of Kings for her Spouse did not seem to
satisfy his ambition. As he was particularly proud of his own appearance he
desired to see Emilie more elaborately dressed then the other young ladies of
the society in which he moved.
One day he met Emilie in
the street as she was carrying a bowl of soup to one of her sick poor. Filled
with indignation, he roughly seized the bowl and dashed it to pieces on the
pavement at her feet. This act caused her great humiliation, but she was more
concerned over the poor person’s loss and her father’s attitude than at
anything she suffered herself. As the poor are kings in God’s kingdom, Emilie
felt it an honour to be able to visit them and to have them to visit her. Here
again she met with opposition from her father, who would not tolerate his home
being a rendezvous for the poor of the district. In a fit of rage he ordered his
daughter to have a special entrance made for her “particular friends.” He did
not at all intend to be taken at his word, but thought that this would put an
end to her caprices, as he was pleased to term her charitable undertakings.
Imagine his consternation
when the sounds of the tools of masons and carpenters reached his astonished
ears. Emilie, without delay, had engaged workmen to construct the new entrance,
thus inflicting another defeat on the irate father.
Father Mercier now felt
that he had discovered Emilie’s vocation. She was a born foundress. She was to
establish an order to exercise itself in the works of charity in which she was
already engaged.
At dinner one day Emilie
decided to tell her father of her desire for the religious life. As soon as she
mentioned the subject he grasped a decanter from the table and hurled it at her
head. Whether he was a poor shot, or whether Emilie moved too quickly from its
course, is difficult to say, but he missed his mark. From this time things
became, if possible, more difficult for Emilie.
Her friend, Rosine de
Bermond, recounts that at this time Emilie had a vision of Saint Joseph who
said to her, “Do not be discouraged, my daughter. You will encounter many
obstacles. You will be overwhelmed with bitterness. Trials will be multiplied,
but your work will prosper.”
Emilie now realized that
in order to answer God’s call she would have to leave home and all dear to her.
She was worried about her father and sought to make arrangements whereby he
would be so well cared for that he would not miss her unduly. The answer to her
prayers came when, in 1831, Maximin married her old friend, Rosine.
Henceforward she would replace Emilie in the household.
Everything seemed to be
moving satisfactorily when news came of the death of Baron de Portal. Emilie
loved this dear old grandfather most tenderly and was greatly grieved at his
death. Wasn’t he a link with her darling mother whom God had called home when
Emilie was very young?
With the passing of Baron
de Portal, the medical profession lost one of its most brilliant and prominent
members. During his long life he had amassed a considerable fortune, which he
bequeathed to his daughter, Mme. de Lamourié, and to his three grandchildren,
Emilie, Augustine and Maximin. Emilie’s share was very considerable. This money
came just when she needed it most. She could now establish on a solid basis the
charitable works which she had so much at heart. She writes, “The assiduous
care I gave to the sick when I was at home developed in me the thought of
founding a working order to be able to assist them day andnight.”
In her own town, Gaillac,
Emilie laid the foundations of her Institute. No doubt, she felt that she would
find more co-labourers there than elsewhere, and her work was really well on
the way. She already knew the haunts of the poor, the sick and the distressed.
However widely spread her Institute might become, she felt that here it would
be solidly rooted. The separation from her father made her suffer greatly and
she says, “Although for twenty years my existence in my father’s house was so
painful that only the thought that I was fulfilling the will of God gave me
strength to remain there, it was, nevertheless, with a great effort that I
decided to leave my father’s home on account of the great grief that I knew my
going would cause him.”
Mistress of her fortune,
Emilie acquired a spacious house in Gaillac. Three of her friends joined her.
Then at Christmas, 1832, she departed from her father’s house leaving for him a
letter which she hoped would make the situation clear and soften his grief. It
was worded in the most tender terms and informed him that she would remain in
Gaillac and thus be able to visit him and to continue to care for him whenever
he had need of her. Unfortunately, Baron de Vialar wanted all or nothing. He
could not bear the thought that Emilie would no longer live under his roof, or
that she would no longer be an ornament to his home. He fully realized that
much would be missing from the home. now that she was gone.
It must be remembered
that he was secretly proud of his charming daughter. The fact that her Creator
had a prior claim on her did not enter his selfish calculations, and for five
years he maintained a frigid aloofness, Neither the entreaties of Emilie nor of
her friends could in the least soften his obdurate heart.
Now, at the age of
thirty-five, Emilie was but commencing her great work. But how well equipped
she was, naturally and supernaturally, for her gigantic task! A novitiate which
stretched back to her most early years, the practice of asceticism which
prepared her for the exigencies of the apostolate, the union of the
contemplative with the active life while still at home, the exercise of works
of charity for the space of two decades, and finally, the heroic endurance for
nearly a quarter of a century of the ill-will of her father and the
contemptible treatment of her by Toinon, these were the instruments God
employed to mould the noble soul of the foundress. One endowed with so many
gifts and virtues could not fail to attract souls; and in two months eight
other aspirants joined the little band. Among these was Emilie Julien who was
destined to become the second Superior General of the Congregation. The nucleus
of the new Institute was the target of much criticism by the people of Gaillac
– the foundress was too young, the habit too attractive, its members would soon
disband, etc., etc., etc. However, as everything undertaken unselfishly and
earnestly for the greater glory of God and the good of souls must eventually
prosper so did the work commenced by Emilie de Vialar.
The name of the new
Institute had already been decided upon. It would be known as the Institute of
the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition. At first the title is a little
bewildering. It is in reality very simple and honours in an especial manner the
Mystery of the Incarnation as revealed to Saint Joseph by the Angel. “Fear not,
Joseph, Son of David, to take unto thee Mary, thy spouse, for that which is
conceived of her is of the Holy Ghost. She shall bring forth a son and thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.”
Emilie felt that her mission was to spread the glad tidings of redemption to
the remotest parts of the globe.
More than a title, however,
was necessary for the new Institute. A rule of life had to be drawn up. This
the foundress now set about to do. After many prayers to the Holy Spirit for
guidance, and much concentration on the important work in hand, a provisional
rule was presented to the members by Emilie and was joyfully received by all.
Acceptance by the members
was but part of what was needed. Ecclesiastical approbation was essential. So,
with a copy of the rules in her hand, and hope and trepidation struggling for
supremacy in her heart, Emilie presented herself to Archbishop de Gualy. On
being ushered into his august presence, and the usual salutation being
concluded, this kindly dignitary of Mother Church said, “Well, my child, what
do you want?”
“Your Grace, I have here
a copy of the rules that I have just drawn up for the Institute that I have
recently founded. I trust that you will approve of them and give our work your
blessing.”
“Leave them with me so
that I may be able to study them and later give you my verdict.”
“Thank you, Your Grace.”
“You may be pleased to
hear that I have received gratifying reports of your work among the sick and
poor. This news gave me great consolation!’
“I am pleased that you
are interested in our work, particularly our efforts to help the sick and
distressed.”
“I shall not keep you
waiting long for my opinion of your rules.”
“Your Grace, I thank you
for your encouragement and trust all will be well: ”
With a light heart,
Emilie left the Archbishop and hastened home to convey the glad news to her
companions.
After serious
deliberation, the rules were approved by this grand Archbishop, who became a
powerful ally and the first Superior General of the Institute. He studied its
birth, watched with interest its progress and was ever ready with valuable
advice on every aspect of the life and work of the members. Indeed, Emilie now
had two valuable friends, the Archbishop and Father Mercier.
Although the Institute
was but a few months old many things had taken place. The works were
established, the rules were approved and the Archbishop authorized Father
Mercier to perform the ceremony of the taking of the habit by the first
aspirants. Classes were organized but the children of the poor were to be the
first to receive attention. At this time a dispensary was set up to which the
poor flocked to have their ills treated or to obtain free medicine. Without any
fee being asked, the sick and old were attended in their own homes, and when
necessary they were watched over during the night. What mighty undertakings!
However, God’s love and grace surmount the barriers raised by frail human
nature, end prayer and sacrifice enabled them to carry on until their ranks
were augmented. The care of the women in the local prison was now confided to
the sisters.
When the needs of the
poor were supplied, a school for the children of well-to-do parents was opened.
This was followed by a boarding school. New recruits were forthcoming, thus
permitting an extension of the works.
On 17th June, 1833, a
tragedy was narrowly averted by the forethought of Sister Emilie. At this time
there was in Gaillac a band of young scoundrels having a reputation for daily
deeds of violence. One of this group was a carrier who, that very day, had
brought a very heavy box to the convent. This box had came from Paris. The
youth in question told his comrades and it was decided that the box must
contain valuables which they determined to procure that night. They resolved to
resort to violence if anyone attempted to thwart their plans. As the chapel was
in the course of construction, the ladders left by the workmen would prove
helpful. About midnight they arrived at the convent. They scaled the ladders
but found to their amazement they could not enter the house. That evening, as
though enlightened from on high, Emilie had locked each door and barred each
window. This course of action she had never previously taken.
On 4th July, 1830,
Algeria was conquered by the French. This victory caused much excitement and
many enthusiastic outbursts took place in the French capital. Colonists were
encouraged to go to the newly-conquered territory, and Augustine de Vialar, the
elder brother of the foundress, was among the first to visit the new colony.
Such was his faith in it that he purchased many extensive holdings.
Augustine was not only a
true Frenchman but a valiant Christian who desired to improve the lot of the
poor neglected and despised Arabs. With this end in view, he set up a
travelling dispensary and wrote to France for monetary assistance to help to
finance his project. The subscription list was headed by Louis Phillippe and
his Queen. Now someone was needed to care for the sick and naturally
Augustine’s thoughts turned to his sister, and to her he made known the needs
of the colony.
The arrival of the
request for nuns aroused great enthusiasm at Gaillac. The foreign missions were
to become a reality. Immediately Emilie approached Archbishop de Gualy in order
to benefit by his fatherly advice. He gave his absolute approval of the
project. This was all the foundress needed. Her acceptance of this new field of
labour was surely a girlish dream crystallizing under her very eyes. Six months
were allotted for the necessary preparations. She would take with her three
young sisters who, in the intervening months, would have lessons in pharmacy to
equip them for their new work.
On 28th July, 1835, the
little band left for Algeria. What au revoirs there must have been as the time
of separation drew near! Those left in Gaillac must have shared with the
quartet the terrors of facing the unknown and the untried. Love, however,
conquers all things and the love of Christ Crucified leads souls to attempt
even the impossible.
The journey took thirteen
days. As the sisters travelled on the same boat as the new Governor-General of
Algeria they shared in his phenomenal reception and were escorted between two
rows of soldiers while guns boomed a salute.
The little band was
received into the home of Augustine while awaiting their departure for a
distant outpost. In the meantime cholera broke out in Algiers and swept like a
flame through the town. Here, now, was work at hand. The sisters fought the
epidemic for three months; then it abated.
Never before had such
devotedness been displayed in those parts. The conditions under which the
sisters laboured were indescribable, yet never a word of complaint escaped
their lips. Was not their motto “Devotedness unto Death”? If so much tenderness
was lavished on the poor frail bodies, what concern must have been displayed
for the souls of the poor disease-stricken people?
The missionaries, through
their devotedness and skill, had gained the admiration of the entire
population—European and native. The Mussulmen and Jews saw for the first time
Christianity resplendent in its true glory. The representative of the Holy See
in Algiers wrote to Archbishop de Gualy expressing his appreciation of and
edification at the conduct of the sisters. He also communicated the same
impressions to Cardinal Franzoni, Prefect of Propaganda, Rome. Thus officially,
for the first time, Rome and Emilie met.
Now that the sisters
seemed firmly established at Algiers, Mother Emilie deemed it fitting that she
should return to the cradle of the Institute. At the end of November she placed
Sister Henriette Rieunier in charge and, left for France. The sisters were very
sad to see her go but realized that her presence was needed at home.
Immediately on her return, Mother Emilie arranged for a retreat. This was
conducted by Fr. P. Bequei. After the retreat she went to Paris to present
herself to the Queen and to solicit her protection, as affairs in Algeria, as
in any newly-colonized territory, were very unsettled. The present time was
opportune for her to make her request as all France was sounding the praises of
the sisters and the work of Baron de Portal as court physician was was still
fresh in the minds of all: The Queen accorded Emilie a most encouraging
reception and promised her support.
In March she returned to
Gaillac! But what a different Gaillac! The inhabitants who had formerly
tormented the sisters and considered them as fools now regarded them as
heroines and saints. How fickle and fleeting is the blame or applause of the
crowd!
The convent at Gaillac
was now solidly established, but Africa was calling for attention, so, towards
the end of April, 1836, Mother Emilie again left for Algeria. Her first work
was to find a building suitable for a convent. Up to now the sisters had
remained at the home of Augustine de Vialar. Before long she acquired three
houses and established schools and dispensaries. By the end of 1836, twenty
sisters were on the mission. The Arabs, who learned to admire the nuns during
the epidemic, continued to come to them and marvelled at the maternal care with
which they attended their most repulsive sores. “He must be very good Who makes
you do such things,” one remarked while gazing at a Sister’s crucifix.
In addition to providing
a home for newly-born babes abandoned by their unnatural parents, the convent
became a refuge for girls in distress and, in fact, for any one in trouble. The
care bestowed on these unfortunate members of Christ’s flock gained for Mother
Emilie and the sisters the esteem of the native population which the passing of
the years would only intensify. When, late in 1836, two or three French members
of the Council protested against the presence of the sisters in the State
Hospital, the Arab and Israelite members disputed so hotly in favour of the
sisters that the protest was dismissed and never again raised.
On hearing this Mother
Emilie was galvanized into action. She decided to sacrifice the remainder of
her fortune on the interests, present and future, of the Congregation.
Financially she alone had borne the full burden of the enormous expenses
attached to the establishments in Algiers. It was not until two years later
that she received any pecuniary assistance and then only for work being done in
the State Hospital. This recognition was the result of the pressure brought to
bear on the authorities by Augustine.
A call now came from Bone
for the sisters to undertake there the work of education. Mother Emilie did not
immediately respond as she was endeavouring to obtain some financial aid to
enable the work in Algiers to be carried on and extended. After many stormy
debates this was forthcoming and when all matters on that score were finalized,
she set out with four sisters for Bone. She remained them some weeks organizing
the works and, after naming Sister Emilie Julien as Superior, she returned to
Algiers.
The January of 1838 found
her back at Gaillac. In reality she was the recognized Mother General of the
Congregation, but this fact had to be canonically established by the elections
prescribed by the constitutions. In due course these elections were held and on
the unanimous vote of the sisters Emilie de Vialar became the first Mother
General of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition.
The newly appointed Mother General now made some additions to the constitutions
which received the approbation of Archbishop de Gualy.
Now came the first
foundation in France outside the Mother House. At Montans was a house owned by
one of the sisters. This was converted into a convent where classes for young
children were held.
The event for which Mother
Emilie had long prayed and hoped now took place. Her father at last consented
to see her. The successful intermediary was her brother, Augustine, who managed
to make his father realize his extreme folly. This reconciliation brought
untold joy to Emilie. She had found it a severe trial all these years to be
welcomed in every home in Gaillac except her own.
In 1839, the parish
priest of Saint-Affrique asked for the sisters to work in that town. He offered
a furnished house containing a beautiful chapel as a residence for the nuns.
Soon a staff was selected and Father Mercier accompanied the sisters to their
new home. The town was agog with excitement. The convent was beseiged from
morning to night with well-wishers anxious to meet the nuns.
March 1839 found twelve
sisters in the hospital at Algiers and twenty-four in the central house in the
town. From Constantine came a plea for sisters. The population there was mainly
native as very few colonists had yet settled at that spot. Ever ready to assist
the needy, Mother Emilie and same sisters left for Constantine on 4th April the
same year.
This was an auspicious
occasion, as the newly appointed Bishop of Algiers, Bishop Dupuch, accompanied
the sisters and installed them in their new home. The trip was very stormy and
threatened to end disastrously but for the intervention of Her who is Star of
the Sea. In thanksgiving for a safe arrival, Bishop Dupuch offered Holy Mass
the next morning. Constantine was still some distance. En route, Bone, where
the sisters were already established, and Hippo, with its memories of the great
Saint Augustine, were visited. At length, their destination being reached, the
sisters took charge of a hospital.
Mother Emilie describing
this arrival said, “The town rejoiced at our coming and the Arabs stopped us at
every step to tell us how much they loved us. They brought their sick and asked
us to visit them in their homes. I cured the chief of the desert tribes, known
as the Serpent of the Desert. He displayed great confidence in me. One day as I
was preparing to administer a remedy to him, I, according to local custom,
tasted the potion to assure him that it was all right. He seemed pained and
said, “What are you doing? From you I would take anything.”
Later he asked for some
sisters to go to Biskra, the capital of his territory, and, on one of the
sisters remarking that, perhaps, the Arabs in that part would not respect the
nuns, he said, with much feeling, “If an Arab should show the least disrespect
to the Cross you wear, I would have him beheaded on the spot.”
Constantine being firmly
established, Mother Emilie returned to Algiers and towards the end of the year,
prompted and aided by Bishop Dupuch, commenced a new work – the charge of an
orphanage. This was on the feast of Saint Cyprian. The Bishop adopted
twenty-five orphans whom he placed in the care of the sisters. This number
corresponded to the pieces of gold that Saint Cyprian gave to his executioner.
Until now the Bishop of
Algiers had been very well disposed towards the foundress. He even persuaded
her to send to His Holiness, Gregory XVI, an account of the good that was being
accomplished by the Institute in Algiers and France. With the protection of the
Bishop, the successful opening of new foundations, the sympathy of the populace,
the stage seemed set for a splendid mission in Algeria. God, however, Who
wishes to sublimate all by contact with His Cross, soon placed Mother Emilie’s
feet on the Via Dolorosa.
As if she had a
premonition of the trials that lay ahead, Mother Emilie wrote to Archbishop de
Gualy and asked his authorization to make a foundation at Tunis. His Grace was
delighted at the excellent proposal and wrote most cordially to her in the
following terms. “Such a design can come only from the Holy Spirit Who wishes
through it to procure spiritual help for an immense population and to
consolidate the houses you already have in Algeria. Not only do I permit you,
but also I exhort you to realize this pious project as soon as you can,
persuaded that your enterprise must have happy results. The enemy of souls will
not allow, without stern resistance, a people over whom he has held sovereign
sway be snatched away from him. But you know, through experience, that God will
protect you.”
Now the time of severe
trial was at hand. Bishop Dupuch set about to demand certain changes in the
Constitutions of the Institute. Desiring to be Superior General of the houses
in Algeria, he wrote to Mother Emilie as follows: “Do you consent, now and for
the time, that God keeps your society in Algeria, you and all the members who
compose or will compose it, purely and simply to be under my episcopal
jurisdiction and that of my successors, in such a way that we can dispose, as
seems good to us before God, of you and your sisters of the said society? Do
you bind yourself expressly to observe and to have observed the modifications
and changes that, now and in the future, we believe useful to make for the
houses in our diocese only, to your rules and constitutions?”
“It is evident,” replies
Mother Emilie, “that a society which would submit to such an arrangement would
no longer be a society. The religious Congregation that would accept such
conditions would be signing its own death warrant.”
Events now moved rapidly.
His Lordship was adamant in the demands he had made and, Mother Emilie, feeling
that she had right on her side, firmly but respectfully resisted. Perhaps,
without the heavy cross laid on the foundress’s shoulders by this Bishop, she
would never have had such an opportunity of displaying her heroic virtue and
admirable courage. Furthermore these events led indirectly to the establishment
of foundations at Tunis and Rome.
The Archbishop of Albi
now advised Mother Emilie to go to Rome, the heart of the Church, and there to
seek the approbation of the Constitutions. His Grace wrote a letter to His
Holiness introducing to him the foundress and imploring him to assist her.
For a long time Mother
Emilie had been considering a visit to Rome as, desirous that her Congregation
should know no national boundaries, she realized the necessity of having the
approval of the supreme Head of the Universal Church. She arrived in Rome
towards the end of 1840.
His Holiness received her
almost immediately on her arrival. She humbly petitioned the approval of the
Constitutions and clearly explained her difficulties with Bishop Dupuch. After
listening very attentively His Holiness replied, “Providence must have great
designs for your Institute since He permits it to undergo such severe trials.”
When Mother Emilie assured
Gregory XVI of her unswerving obedience he said with enthusiasm, “I believe it.
I believe it.” The Pope declared his keen interest in her work.
Some days after this
interview, a friend of the Congregation went to visit the Pope, who said, “Is
Mother Emilie satisfied with the audience I gave her?” On receiving an
affirmative reply he smilingly added, “She knows how to defend her rights.”
Mother Emilie’s stay in
the Eternal City was prolonged. She remained there eighteen months. While
waiting for her affairs to be finalized, she opened a house in Rome. The
sisters began by caring for the sick in their own homes, particularly the
French residents in that city. Next was opened a school for the children of
parents in comfortable circumstances. The monetary assistance from such
establishments enabled the works among the poor to be extended.
While everything in Rome
was progressing favourably, affairs in Algeria were going from bad to worse.
The sisters were ordered by the Bishop to withdraw from Algiers, and when it
became known that they had to leave there were protests from every quarter. Two
of these were forwarded to the Holy Father. One was from the colonists bearing
two hundred signatures, the other, bearing one hundred and thirty-three
signatures, from the Mussulman population. These protests were a source of
great consolation to Mother Emilie who alone knew the amount of good
accomplished for souls and bodies in this sphere of activity.
She and her sisters, with
one unfortunate exception, felt that they could never yield to the demands of
the Bishop. Although their hearts were breaking at leaving their devoted
people, they realized that the Congregation as a whole could not be
jeopardized. It must be remembered that the expenses attached to the foundations
in Algiers had come from the private fortune of Mother Emilie. She had spent
almost to her last farthing in this new land. Now, what indemnity was she to
receive? Surely all she had invested would be restored to her. Unfortunately
such was not to be the case.
While these affairs were
torturing the mind of the foundress, Rome gave her the joy of her life by a
provisional approval of the Rules and Constitutions. This took place on 6th
May, 1842. The Congregation was not quite ten years old.
Before passing from
Bishop Dupuch, we must relate that years later he realized his mistake and
wrote a very apologetic letter to Mother Emilie. When it arrived she read it,
showed it to a few of the sisters and then tore it in shreds saying, “It is not
right that a Bishop should thus humble himself before a religious.”
A month after the
Constitutions had been so well received by Rome, Mother Emilie suffered a heavy
loss in the death of her old friend, adviser and superior, Archbishop de Gualy.
Having terminated her
work in Rome, the foundress returned to France before setting out again for
Algiers.
Before the end of
January, 1843, all the sisters had returned to Gaillac or had been placed
elsewhere. Mother Emilie alone remained in Algiers, like a captain who is last
to leave his sinking ship. Now she had to face another cross, this time a
family one. Augustine lost his beautiful young wife at the early age of
twenty-seven. She left two tiny children, Margaret aged two and Euphemie, still
a babe in arms. We can well imagine what a consolation it was to Augustine to
have his sister with him at this time. What courage she must have inspired in
him and what hopes of eternal rewards she must have kindled in the soul of her
dying sister-in-law.
The two motherless ones
now became the objects of the special love and devotion of their aunt.
At this time an
interesting offer was made to Mother Emilie to open a boarding school at La
Marsa. This offer came from Monsieur Raffo, the minister of the Bey, and could
hardly be refused. In order, to study the situation on the spot, the foundress
left for that town via Tunis. After due investigation she accepted the work and
sent two sisters to open the house. Later a third joined the duo. While the
house at La Marsa was being founded under such patronage,. Marshal Bugeaud in a
public speech declared, “The Sisters of Saint Joseph have helped me most in
relieving the terrible miseries that the Administration, with all the means at
its disposal, has been unable to alleviate. They have cared for the sick who
could not find accommodation in hospital and they have taken care of the
orphans.”
La Marsa being
established and the work well on the way, Mother Emilie left for Tunis, passing
through Bone en route, and then returned to France. The boat was quarantined at
Toulon and the passengers had to spend some time in isolation. When this period
was completed, the foundress continued her journey to Gaillac where a very warm
welcome awaited her from the sisters who always felt secure when she was in
their midst.
The Congregation and its
works were now becoming well-known and calls for sisters came from far and
near. Even distant Cyprus asked for the sisters: Mother Emilie, it must be
realized, was a very poor traveller and had a dread of the sea. This, however,
she conquered in the interest of her life’s great work and, bravely, faced the
many journeys it entailed. She liked to accompany the sisters whenever possible
to any new foundation:
While she was away the
financial state of the Institute had greatly deteriorated, owing to the fraud
and dishonesty of those who had been trusted to guard its interests. Mother
Emilie endeavoured by gentle means at first, then through the medium of the Law
Court, to have her affairs adjusted, but without success. She did not even have
the satisfaction of knowing what had happened to her money.
In 1845, while in Malta,
the foundress met Father Bruno, an Oblate of Mary Immaculate, who was on a
holiday from Burma. The Sisters of Saint Joseph and the Oblates of Mary
Immaculate have been associated since the early days of both Congregations. In
Western Australia they together helped to pioneer the work of Christian
education and planted the faith firmly in the port of Fremantle, where, today,
the Sons of Eugene de Mazenod and the Daughters of Saint Emilie de Vialar still
carry on their grand work in the traditions of the first missionaries to that
part of Australia.
Father Bruno asked for
sisters for Burma. A moment’s reflection will reveal the difficulties in a
pagan oriental country. However, when later Mother Emilie asked for volunteers
for this arduous mission she was overcome and overjoyed by the spirit of
sacrifice displayed by her sisters. All who volunteered could not be sent so
she made a judicious selection of six young sisters for the distant mission.
A very astonishing and
striking incident occurred as the missionaries were journeying to their new
home. There was no Suez Canal at that time and the voyage was trying and
hazardous. The route from Alexandria to Suez was through desert. However, the
sisters felt that He Who had to flee through the same desert to escape the
anger of a jealous, impious King, would protect those who had become voluntary
exiles for Him.
During this part of the
voyage they met an old man who, each time the coach stopped, approached them
and said, “It is I, my children, fear not, I am here.” This aged man had a long
white beard and carried a staff. He took their small parcels and helped them
back into the coach. He finally accompanied them to the boat and said,
“Good-bye, my children. A pleasant trip. Fear nothing for I am here.”
Then he disappeared. The
sisters looked at one another in amazement as each felt that it was their
father and protector Saint Joseph who had come to them.
The successor of
Archbishop de Gualy in the archdiocese of Albi was not in many ways favourably
inclined towards Mother Emilie, and, when her financial position became so
involved, due to no fault of hers, he condemned her as incapable. With her
usual foresight, she predicted that eventually it would become necessary to
leave Gaillac, so she looked towards Toulouse as the place for the Mother House
of the Congregation. She did not yet realize that this was but a stepping-stone
to Marseilles, where God had destined her to establish the Mother House. There
we find it today but not at the same location as in the days of the foundress.
By a strange coincidence
the sisters were invited back to Gaillac in 1867 while Mother Emilie Julien was
Mother General. The influential families of that town appealed for a return of
the Sisters of Saint Joseph to educate their daughters. The sisters returned to
inhabit the very house that they had been virtually forced to leave some years
earlier.
Once again, Mother
Emilie, in the interests of the Congregation, attempted to have the money of
which she had been deprived restored to her. Again she failed. In the midst of
all these trials her calmness was unruffled. One day a Sister, astonished at
seeing her so calm and happy in her poverty, remarked the fact to her and
received this reply: “If I had not become poor, I would never have established
the Congregation. Blessings would not have come. All must be stamped with the
seal of the Cross. Let us thank Our Lord for this grace. Let us have
confidence. His Providence will never fail us. He is our Spouse. It was for Him
we left all and He has undertaken to care for us.” Could anything be more
beautiful than these sentiments? How differently we, act and react when deprived
of even a trifle!
For four years the Mother
House was .at Toulouse, then Mother Emilie decided that Marseilles being a port
would be much more convenient now that sisters were constantly leaving for
distant missions fields. The first house taken there proved too small, so a
larger one was acquired at Marengo Street, and it was here that the foundress
lived until her death. It was in Marseilles that she met the saintly Bishop de
Mazenod, the founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, to whom reference has already
been made. The help that this holy man gave to Mother Emilie was invaluable.
The arrival of the
sisters in Marseilles is recorded by one of them as follows. “Never did we
enjoy a meal better than the one we had the first evening, seated on the ground,
in a room littered with boxes and trunks. The menu was a piece of bread and
boiled potatoes. Each one deemed herself happy to share the poverty of Our Lord
Who said to Saint Peter, “Leave there your nets and follow Me.”
Mother Emilie wrote a
little later, “We are very happy at Marseilles. The Bishop is good to us. He is
a grand man. The spirit of the clergy is good and the inhabitants are
well-disposed towards us. We have arranged things in the house and are
comfortably lodged. I have four unoccupied rooms ready to open as classrooms.
The Providence of God, Who assists me so powerfully, makes me feel that He
wished us to come to Marseilles and that pupils will be forthcoming.”
The change of air greatly
benefited the health of the foundress upon whom the strain of so much
travelling and worry was visibly beginning to take its toll. Another sorrow,
however, came to her. The only link with her dear mother was severed by the
death of her cherished aunt, Mme. Lamourié. It was to this aunt, it will be
recalled, that the dying mother had confided her three tiny children. How she
had watched over their interests, rejoiced in their successes, grieved in their
sorrows and how proud she was of her devoted and saintly niece
September, 1854, found
the sisters in Oxford. This was the first opening in an English-speaking
country. However, this foundation, owing to a very strong and bigoted
Protestant element in the town and the attitude of the new parish priest, was
short-lived, as Mother Emilie considered it wise to withdraw the sisters. This
was a keen disappointment to her. It seems to be a peculiarity of the
Congregation that it has always been invited to return to the very places it
has had to abandon years earlier. So it was with Oxford. After a space of
ninety-nine years, the sisters have returned and the foundation has rapidly
advanced and is well established.
As a soothing balm to
Mother Emilie’s disappointed spirit over the failure of Oxford, a call for
sisters came from the most unexpected source. Dr. Serra, of Perth in Western
Australia, approached the foundress and asked for sisters to work in the port
of Fremantle where there were no nuns. Mother Emilie acceded to his request and
appointed four brave young sisters to this distant mission field. They were
Mother Julia, Sister Emilie, Sister Lucy and Sister Zoe. In January, 1855, the
sisters accompanied by Bishop Serra left from London. The journey took four
months. On 24th May, Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, the sisters reached
Fremantle. This anniversary is always celebrated with great solemnity by the
sisters in Australia. The journey was full of hardships. The colony was but in
its infancy and those who know the history of the early days of the settlement
are able to appreciate the privations these gallant pioneers must have endured.
The first house occupied
by the Sisters was invaded by swirling waters during the winter months, so the
sisters had to seek shelter elsewhere until the rains subsided. Perhaps their
greatest difficulty was their ignorance of the English tongue. Their only
knowledge of the language of the colony was what they had acquired during the
four months at sea. However, goodwill and perseverance surmounted all
difficulties and, in July of the same year, they opened their first school. In
1856, two Irish sisters arrived. These were the last to receive their
obediences from the Mother Foundress.
At Marseilles everything
was flourishing. Bishop de Mazenod granted the sisters the privilege of Sunday
Mass in their own chapel and he appointed a chaplain to the convent. Again His
Grace showed his appreciation of the sisters, when he approved in the following
words of the Statutes of the Congregation. “Having taken cognizance of the
Statutes of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition,
and having learned through experience that the said sisters, by their fidelity
in fulfilling with zeal the ends of these Statutes, have, since the
establishment of their community in the town of Marseilles, done the good that
they propose and will do more by the development of their works and considering
besides that these religious by their work in the foreign missions can render
great service to France, we have approved the Statutes of the Sisters of Saint
Joseph of the Apparition.”
Mother Emilie earnestly
desired to have the Congregation legalized according to civil law. She had
tried to procure this legalization several times before, but there always
seemed to be some obstacle in the way. No doubt, feeling that she did not have
much longer to live, she wished to leave her sisters in security. This time
after much negotiation she secured imperial approbation. This was signed at the
Palace of Saint Cloud, 17th October, 1855. The foundress was now overjoyed and
had inserted in the four leading newspapers the following: “An imperial decree
dated 17th October, 1855, has officially constituted the Association of the
Sisters of Saint Joseph, of the Apparition, whose Mother House is at 35 Marengo
Street, Marseilles, a religious congregation recognized by law. The principal
aim of this Congregation is devotion to teaching and to works of charity in
foreign missions.” Mother Emilie hastened to convey the good news to all the
houses of the Institute. These glad tidings brought untold joy to all.
Mother Emilie returned
from Paris in 1858. Her sisters remarked that she did not look well and that
she seemed very exhausted after the journey. Hence they were greatly alarmed.
However, after a few days, she seemed to revive and the sisters’ hopes soared
high. On Thursday, 20th August, she took the evening meal as usual with the
community and, at the recreation that followed, she was her accustomed bright
and happy self. After night prayers she retired to her room without anyone
realizing how she felt. The next day she was seized with terrific abdominal
pains and at once cholera was suspected. After hours of excessive vomiting, the
trouble was diagnosed as a strangulated hernia. She had developed a hernia
while still at home, when, one day she dragged a bag of corn to distribute to
her dear poor. Although she suffered much from this all her life, she never
complained of it and very few knew of her disability. Now it had reached its
climax. The worn-out body could no longer support the strain.
Mother Emilie realized that
her end was near so she asked for a priest and with child-like trust and
simplicity received the Last Sacraments, surrounded by her sorrowing sisters.
Her two nieces, the daughters of Augustine, who had lost their mother when they
were babies, were in Marseilles at the time and so were summoned to their
aunt’s death-bed.
Joyfully and peacefully
the soul of the foundress winged its flight to its Creator. When the news of
her death was circulated in the town, cries of “The Saint is dead,” rang out on
all sides. There were also the pessimists who predicted the end of the
Congregation now that Mother Emilie was no longer there.
The funeral took place on
26th August. From the Church of Our Lady of the Mount at Marseilles the mortal
remains of this great woman were taken to the cemetery of Saint Charles. Four
years later they were transferred to the cemetery of St Peter. Now, except for
the parts that are enclosed in reliquaries scattered over the globe, they are
at the Mother House.
At the time of the
foundress’s death, the sisters received condolences from far and near. Although
she was only fifty-eight, she had accomplished much and above all she had
sanctified herself. The good work she commenced is carried on by her daughters
in four continents. Since her death there has been a great expansion of the
works.
A short time after her
death, the sisters were worried about the future of the Congregation so some of
them approached the saintly Cure of Ars, Saint John Vianney, who said,
“Sisters, remain in peace; the Congregation of Mother de Vialar is the
cherished flock of Jesus Christ and of your patron Saint Joseph. The
Congregation will not fail. On the contrary, it will extend far, for, my
Sisters, you are called to do much good. You are poor like Saint Joseph, your
patron, who worked all his life to provide for the daily bread of the Holy
Family.”
The world was to hear
much more of Emilie de Vialar for on 18th June, 1939, she was beatified by the
present Holy Father, who affixed the final seal to her sanctity when, on 24th
June, 1951, he canonized her amidst the usual pomp and ceremony that
accompanies this great event.
This article has the
Nihil Obstat of D. P. Murphy, Censor Deputatus, and the Imprimatur of
Archbishop Daniel Mannix, Archdiocese of Melbourne, Australia, 19 October 1954.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/a-saint-with-a-fortune-by-s-m-r/
Sant' Emilia de Vialar Vergine,
fondatrice
Gaillac, Francia, 12
settembre 1797 - Marsiglia, Francia, 24 agosto 1856
Nasce a Gaillac, in
Francia, il 12 settembre 1797 da una famiglia aristocratica distintasi nella
magistratura. A diciotto anni decide di servire il Vangelo dedicandosi ai
poveri. Donna dal carattere estremamente forte, le sue attitudini corrispondono
alle necessità per la Chiesa francese di riorganizzarsi dopo l'età napoleonica.
Fa dono di tutti i suoi beni e della sua casa ai molti poveri e anziani della
Parigi post rivoluzionaria. Costretta a lasciare l'Algeria, dove aveva aperto
un ospedale, Emilia sceglie Marsiglia come sede di una congregazione rivolta
alle missioni e fonda la congregazione delle Suore di san Giuseppe
dell'Apparizione. Qui incontra l'appoggio del vescovo Eugenio de Mazenod, noto
per la sua sensibilità e l'interesse per le terre extraeuropee. La capacità di
lavoro, di relazioni e di dialogo si accompagnano in Emilia ad una profondità
spirituale che le fa incontrare il Signore: in mezzo alle preoccupazioni, ai
viaggi faticosi, non perde mai il contatto con il divino. Muore a 59 anni il 24
giugno 1856. Pio XII la canonizza nel 1951. (Avvenire)
Martirologio
Romano: A Marsiglia in Francia, santa Emilia de Vialar, vergine, che,
dedita alla diffusione del Vangelo in regioni lontane, istituì la Congregazione
delle Suore di San Giuseppe dell’Apparizione e la diffuse con dedizione.
Sua madre muore mentre in carrozza accompagna lei tredicenne al collegio parigino delle Dame dell’Abbaye-au-Bois, per signorine di alta condizione. Dal lato paterno, Emilia appartiene a un casato di uomini di legge; e il suo nonno materno è il ricchissimo barone Antonio Portal, scienziato e medico del re Luigi XVIII. Da Parigi, Emilia ritorna quindicenne a Gaillac per stare col padre e i due fratelli, più giovani di lei. Ma il padre sembra ormai indifferente a tutto e a tutti. Chi manda avanti la casa è una domestica fidata, laboriosa, decisionista.
E per Emilia questi sono anni confusi: bella e ricca com’è, non si sposa, e pare che non sappia cosa fare. Durante una missione popolare, i predicatori la orientano verso i drammi della povertà, e lei dà una prima risposta aprendo casa sua a molti infelici. Ma così entra in conflitto col padre e con Toinon (Antonietta), l’autoritaria domestica, che l’accusa di rovinare la famiglia. Intanto ha radunato un gruppetto di ragazze che condividono il suo aiuto ai poveri e le sue speranze in qualcos’altro. E questo “altro” giunge nel 1832: la morte del nonno materno procura una ricca eredità a Emilia, che subito compra una casa, raccogliendovi le compagne, e con l’aiuto del vescovo di Albi fonda la congregazione delle Suore di San Giuseppe dell’Apparizione. Si è ispirata al Vangelo di Matteo, là dove narra dell’Angelo che appare a san Giuseppe per rassicurarlo: "Giuseppe, figlio di Davide, non temere di prendere con te Maria, tua sposa, perché quello che è generato in lei viene dalloSpirito Santo" (Mt 1,20).
Agostino de Vialar, fratello di Emilia, vive in Algeria, già occupata dai francesi, e le propone di aprire un ospedale a Boufarik, presso Algeri. Lei arriva con le prime compagne, in tempo per affrontare un’epidemia di colera. Col denaro del nonno crea ospedali e scuole, tra l’ammirazione dei musulmani. (Uno di essi, mentre lei gli medica una gamba in cancrena, le indica il Crocifisso dicendo: "Lui deve essere molto buono se ti spinge a fare questo per me"). Ma nel 1843 il vescovo francese di Algeri fa richiamare tutte le suore in Francia, e si tiene le loro opere. Così Emilia è anche povera, adesso: ma non ha visto ancora il peggio. Riparte dalla Francia portando scuole e ospedali a Malta, Cipro, Tripoli, Beirut; viaggia nel mondo spingendosi fino all’Australia.
E intanto arriva, per lei, il disastro proprio in casa: a Gaillac, nella sua prima comunità. Qui la superiora locale rovina tutto con un’amministrazione disastrosa, e poi se ne va facendo anche causa a madre Emilia, per avere indietro la dote. Povertà, debiti, ondate di maldicenza, sembra davvero la fine. Ma lei è tranquilla: "Il nostro Ordine deve prosperare nella povertà". Abbandonata Gaillac, il cuore della Congregazione trova sistemazione definitiva nel 1852 a Marsiglia, con l’aiuto del vescovo che è un padre di missionari e futuro santo: Eugenio di Mazenod, fondatore degli Oblati di Maria Immacolata. Emilia non ha più eredità da spendere, ma avrà sempre più esempi da mostrare, dovunque operino le Suore dell’Apparizione, in Europa, in Asia, in Africa.
Muore a 59 anni, e già la dicono santa quelli che l’hanno conosciuta in Francia
e fuori, cristiani e non cristiani. Pio XII la canonizza nel 1951.
Autore: Domenico Agasso (Famiglia Cristiana)
Nata nel 1797 in Francia, a Gaillac, Emilia de Vialar è figlia di nobili. Il nonno materno, famoso medico e scienziato di Parigi, è un barone molto ricco. La bambina, con i suoi due fratellini, viene educata dalla mamma ai valori cristiani. A tredici anni viene accompagnata dalla mamma in collegio a Parigi per farle frequentare una buona scuola. Purtroppo, durante il viaggio, la giovane mamma muore e questo per la ragazzina è un grande dolore. Dopo due anni di studio, la ragazzina viene richiamata a casa dal padre affinché accudisca i fratelli minori. Emilia deve sopportare le angherie di Toinon (Antonietta): una domestica dispotica. Anche il padre, abbrutito dalla vedovanza, si dimostra collerico e scorbutico. Emilia sopporta con pazienza perché nel suo cuore si è rivelato il Signore, con tutto il suo amore.
La ragazza va in chiesa ogni mattina, prega, fa la comunione. Ha delle visioni di Gesù, sente la sua voce che le indica una missione anche se non le spiega quale. Emilia non sa cosa desideri il Cielo da lei, ma sa che deve seguire il Vangelo e aiutare i poveri e i bisognosi. Quando il padre intende farla sposare poiché è diventata una bella ragazza, oltre che intelligente e colta, Emilia rifiuta ogni proposta perché ha deciso di dedicarsi solo a Dio. Il padre si infuria, ma Emilia non cede, anzi, porta in casa anziani e bambini abbandonati per donare loro un tetto e cibo. In un’occasione il padre, molto arrabbiato con la figlia, le fa cadere dalle mani una pentola piena di brodo destinata ad una povera famiglia. Un giorno, mentre si carica in spalla un sacco pieno di grano da distribuire agli affamati, Emilia si ammala di ernia. Un dolore che l’accompagnerà per tutta la vita. La città mormora, c’è chi la deride e si dice che Emilia sia impazzita. Aiutata, però, da un vescovo che ha fiducia in lei, Emilia fonda la Congregazione di San Giuseppe dell’Apparizione.
Grazie alla ricca eredità lasciata dal nonno, Emilia può finalmente realizzare
il suo sogno: edificare una scuola e una casa di accoglienza dove si stabilisce
con altre ragazze, desiderose di servire il Signore. Emilia si reca, poi, in
Algeria dove fa costruire, a sue spese, un ospedale. Deve affrontare
un’epidemia di colera; senza esitazione cura cristiani, ma anche ebrei e
musulmani, meritando la loro ammirazione. Instancabile viaggia in tutto il
mondo, da Malta a Cipro, da Tripoli fino in Australia, dove fonda scuole e
ospedali. Infine torna in Francia, a Marsiglia, dove muore nel 1856.
Autore: Mariella Lentini
EMILIA de VIALAR, fondatrice delle Suore DI S. GIUSEPPE DELL'APPARIZIONE, nacque a Gaillac, nel Tarn, il 12 settembre 1797 da una famiglia aristocratica distintasi nella magistratura. Sua madre, figlia del barone Portal, scienziato e celebre medico di Parigi, la allevò con tenerezza e religione, come i suoi due fratellini. A tredici anni fu affidata alle Dame dell'Abbaye-au-Bois, in Parigi, per completare la sua educazione. La signora de Vialar morì nel corso del viaggio. Allorché due anni più tardi Emilia tornò a Gaillac, trovò un padre rattristato per la sua vedovanza e la casa sotto la direzione di Toinon, serva devota ma dispotica, che intendeva conservare la sua autorità. Questo dramma domestico ne nascondeva un altro: quello di un'anima combattuta fra le attrazioni mondane e gli appelli ad una vita totalmente consacrata a Dio. Nel 1816, in occasione di una missione, la Grazia trionfò. Questa giovane di diciotto anni, carina, intelligente, corteggiata, chiude definitivamente il suo cofanetto di gioielli per ubbidire alla voce interiore. "Che cosa volete da me, Signore?". In attesa di una risposta precisa ella si dà a Cristo che soffre nei poveri, nei vecchi e negli infelici. Presto essi invadono la casa. Toinon grida. Il signor de Vialar, deluso di non aver maritato la figlia, si lascia trascinare a violente scenate. "Soffri tutto per mio amore", dice la voce interiore. Passano quindici lunghi anni. Prima di porre la pietra della fondazione, Dio la cesella lungamente. Infine nel 1832 la svolta decisiva. Nonno Portal muore lasciando ai nipoti un'immensa fortuna. È per Emilia Ia possibilità di cominciare la sua opera, lungamente maturata. Ella acquista una grande casa e la sera di Natale, passando sopra alla dolorosa opposizione del padre (per molti anni egli rifiuterà di rivederla), col cuore spezzato, ma nella gioia di un dono totale, vi si insedia con le compagne.
Gaillac, da buona città meridionale, si riscalda, schernisce, chiacchiera, poi si calma davanti al successo manifesto. Le postulanti affluiscono.
Il vescovo di Albi, mons. de Gualy, prende sotto la sua protezione "Le Suore di s. Giuseppe delI'Apparizione". Emilia ha preso per patrono e per modello il grande umile dell'Evangelo che, sulla parola dell'angelo, credette per primo al mistero del Bambino-Dio.
I poveri, i malati, i fanciulli non bastano al suo ardore apostolico: ella ha sempre sognato le Missioni. Non è chimerico per un Istituto appena nato? Dio non lo pensa. Tre anni più tardi le vie si aprono.
Agostino de Vialar, suo fratello, che dimora in Algeria dalla conquista ed è colpito dalla miseria degli indigeni, fa appello a sua sorella a nome del console di Reggenza per aprire un ospedale a Bouffarik. Appena sbarcata, scoppia una violenta epidemia di colera e madre de Vialar e le sue figlie fanno fronte a tutto con una efficacia e una dedizione che attirano la venerazione dei musulmani sulle "marabutte bianche".
In un breve soggiorno a Gaillac, madre Emilia scrive, in ginocchio, davanti al tabernacolo, le costituzioni del suo Istituto che mons. de Gualy approva calorosamente. Ella riguadagna l'Africa, I'anima piena di vasti progetti. Il suo Istituto è giovane, ma le avventuriere del cielo contano nella Grazia, che soffia in tempesta. Le fondazioni si scaglionano: Algeri, Bona, Costantina, Tunisi... Noviziati, ospedali, asili, scuole.
Mancava a questa meravigliosa riuscita ciò che la madre de Vialar chiamava il sigillo della Croce. Il vescovo di Alieri è generoso, confusionario, autoritario; egli ha tanta stima di Emilia de Vialar che vorrebbe monopolizzare per sé il nascente Istituto. Ciò sarebbe tagliare ad esso le ali. Madre de Vialar "difende il suo diritto", dice Gregorio XVI. Il vescovo di Algeri tormenta Parigi che ritira alle religiose l'autorizzazione a risiedere in Algeria. Nel genn. 1843 madre Emilia deve abbandonare il paese lasciandovi la maggior parte della sua fortuna. Dice alle figlie: "Non piangete, non è che una prova, Gesù ha sofferto molto di più". Chiusa l'Algeria, resta il vasto mondo. Niente arresta lo slancio della madre de Vialar. Per quindici anni ella solca il mare per impiantare le sue figlie ovunque la Prowidenza le chiami. "E' sempre lei che le chiama", diceva con la sua semplicità. In periplo intorno al Mediterraneo fonda quattro prospere case: Malta, dove la tempesta la getta come s. Paolo, Cipro, Tripoli, Beiruth. Visita la Palestina del Cristo, l'Egitto della Sacra Famiglia, Aleppo ed Erzerum e, più tardi, la Birmania lontana, l'Australia degli antipodi. Quindici anni di fatiche, di audacia, di abbandono alla Provvidenza perché tutte le fondazioni continuino sotto il segno della Croce. Dopo le persecuzioni, le rovine: a Gaillac la superiora locale, ingannata da un uomo d'affari senza scrupoli, ha accumulato dei debiti. In luogo di scusarsi abbandona la Congregazione ed ordisce processi su processi per la restituzione della sua dote. Tormentata dalle calunnie, con i creditori "come lupi divoranti", madre de Vialar è costretta a lasciare la sua città natale "ove non può più fare del bene". Tolosa è una tappa sulla via dell'esilio. Quivi mangerà il pane secco della povertà, condito di un energico sorriso. "Se io non fossi divenuta povera l'Ordine non avrebbe prosperato". Ma quale dolore per la madre vedere le figlie nella privazione completa! Infine in Marsiglia, la terra promessa, nel 1852. La "Porta dell'Oriente" era indicatissima per diventare la sede di un Ordine missionario tenuto a conservare uno stretto contatto con le sue fondazioni. Madre de Vialar vi trovò il benevolo accoglimento del suo vescovo missionario, mons. de Mazenod, fondatore degli Oblati di Maria Immacolata. Fu un incontro provvidenziale fra due anime fatte per comprendersi. La fondatrice aveva finito il suo compito. Morì, quasi improvvisamente, come se avesse voluto essere umile fino alla fine, il 24 agosto 1856. "La santa è morta", disse la povera gente che conosceva la sua bontà. La Chiesa ha ratificato questo giudizio popolare il 24 giugno 1951, fissandone la festa al 24 agosto.
La santità utilizza i doni della natura. Quelli di madre de Vialar erano notevoli. " Dio mi ha dato un cuore forte, nessuna prova lo può abbattere". Ella aveva tutte le qualità del capo, univa l'audacia alla prudenza, non tentava nulla di impossibile, ma pensava che la grazia di Dio allarga molto i limiti del possibile per coloro che s'abbandonano a lei. Il suo cuore era forte come la sua intelligenza. Non si può dimenticare la grazia del suo sorriso, il calore della sua accoglienza; aveva gesti delicati che le aprivano i cuori più induriti. Sapeva che nella carità niente è piccolo. In Algeri durante il colera spese una piccola fortuna per dare ai malati quella limonata, che l'amministrazione rifiutava. Le sue figlie, che ella mandava ai confini del mondo, restavano l'oggetto della sua sollecitudine materna. Ella raggiunse i musulmani, i giudei, i pagani che si sentivano immersi nell'irraggiamento di una vera tenerezza.
Autore: Paola Hoesle
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/Detailed/90278.html
Emilia de Vialar
(1797-1856)
Beatificazione:
- 18 giugno 1939
- Papa Pio XII
Canonizzazione:
- 24 giugno 1951
- Papa Pio XII
- Basilica Vaticana
Ricorrenza:
- 24 agosto
Santa Emilia de Vialar: Raccoglimento e zelo apostolico
Vergine, che, dedita alla
diffusione del Vangelo in regioni lontane, istituì a Marsiglia la Congregazione
delle Suore di San Giuseppe dell’Apparizione e la diffuse con dedizione
"Il nostro Ordine
deve prosperare nella povertà"
Anne-Marguerite-Adélaïde-Émilie
de Vialar nasce a Gaillac il 12 settembre 1797.
Santa Emilia consacra la
sua vita ai poveri che accoglie nella sua casa, coinvolgendo anche alcune
compagne in una vera e propria organizzazione di carità. Insieme a loro, nel
1832, inaugura a Gaillac una nuova forma di vita religiosa dedicata al servizio
di tutte le miserie e all’istruzione delle bambine. Il sostegno
dell’arcivescovo di Albi, François-Marie de Gauly, darà all’istituto di San
Giuseppe dell’Apparizione un tale slancio, che nel giro di pochi anni esso si
diffonderà in tutti i continenti.
Nel 1951, la Chiesa la
proclama santa e il suo corpo, trasferito a Gaillac nel 1972, viene offerto
alla venerazione dei cristiani della terra che l’ha vista nascere.
Emilia de Vialar è morta
il 24 agosto del 1856, giorno in cui la si festeggia a Marsiglia, dove aveva
operato a lungo. Fondò la sua congregazione nel Natale del 1832. Con il
pensiero di diffondere il Vangelo nei Paesi più lontani, fondò la Congregazione
delle Sorelle di San Giuseppe dell’Apparizione e nonostante le difficoltà, le
persecuzioni e la povertà riuscì a fondare 42 case dall’Africa del Nord alla
Birmania, conferendo così un notevole sviluppo al suo Istituto.
Emilia è stata
canonizzata il 17 giugno 1951 da Papa Pio XII. Oggi le sue sorelle sono
presenti nei cinque continenti. La festa canonica è il 24 agosto, ma nelle sue
comunità viene festeggiata il 17 giugno.
SOURCE : https://www.causesanti.va/it/santi-e-beati/emilia-de-vialar.html
24 de agosto de 2015
Santa
EMILIA DE VIALAR. (1797-1856).
Martirologio Romano: En
Marsella, en Francia, santa Emilia de Vialar, virgen, que tras haber trabajado
con denuedo por difundir el Evangelio en países lejanos, fundó la Congregación
de las Hermanas de San José de la Aparición y la propagó ampliamente.
Nació en Gaillac, en
Tarn, en el seno de una familia noble, con título de baronía; perdió muy pronto
a su madre. Estudió en París en el pensionado de l’Abbaye-au-Bois, regentado
por las religiosas de Nuestra Señora. Volvió con 18 años a su casa y gobernó la
casa del padre hasta los 35 años, ejercitando la oración y las obras de caridad
con los más pobres algo que no entendían ni su padre ni su ama de llaves (una
persona despótica que la hizo sufrir mucho). Durante este tiempo tuvo que
soportar con paciencia, a causa de una depresión, el carácter iracundo de su
padre.
Como recibió una fuerte
herencia, decidió dedicarse a la fundación de un Instituto religioso (Hermanas
de San José de la Aparición (la Aparición del arcángel Gabriel a San José) en
el 1832. En 1835, accedió a una invitación de su hermano Agustín, que era
concejal en Argel, y partió para fundar en Argelia, pero sobre todo para
atender a los enfermos de cólera. Después vino otra fundación en Túnez.
Superó grandes pruebas:
como las luchas con el obispo de Argel, monseñor Dupuch, que quiso inmiscuirse
en el régimen interno de la Congregación. Emilia se opuso enérgicamente durante
tres años, por lo que el obispo las expulsó de Argelia en 1843, con la connivencia
de la diócesis de París. Vino también la mala administración y dilapidación de
los bienes de la Congregación por parte de una de las cofundadoras, Paulina
Gineste, que una vez fuera la Congregación, denunció a Emilia para exigir su
dote hasta traicionarla y humillarla, de manera que Emilia y otras compañeras
tuvieron que salir de la casa madre de Galliac y establecerse en un modesto
local de Toulouse. Pero aquí también tuvieron la desaprobación del obispo,
hasta que establecieron la casa madre en Marsella. Obtuvo la aprobación del
obispo de Marsella, san Eugenio de Mazenod, y en 1842 de la Santa Sede y en
1855 del gobierno francés; cuando murió a causa de una hernia estrangulada ya
había fundado en Europa, África y Asia. Su canonización tuvo lugar en 1951
por SS Pío XII.
Publicado por Cristina
Huete García en 0:06
SOURCE : https://hagiopedia.blogspot.com/2013/08/santa-emilia-de-vialar-1797-1856.html
Voir aussi : http://www.emiliedevialar.org/
