Two women of vision and courage stand at the origin of our Congregation, women who lived in response to the Spirit, attentive to the needs of the time, open to the challenges of the future.
The complete writings of Rose Philippine Duchesne, published in French in 2017, have now been published in English by the Society of the Sacred Heart.
The recent reports from the General Chapter have called our attention to the other passengers who crossed the Atlantic with Philippine in March to May, 1818. Here are some of the things we know about the other four RSCJ and some of the other passengers.
An intellectually gifted child, Janet was the youngest of the thirteen children in the Anglican Rectory at Cottesmore, in Rutland, England. Typically of her social class and time, she was educated at home and was fortunate in her governesses who included very capable, well trained German and Swiss teachers with whom she learned fluent German and French, and studied philosophy, maths and literature. With the help of one, she pursued a theological interest that began when she was 13, sparked by a conversation with a brother who was reading Aristotle and who declared to her that all creatures had a ‘last end’ or ultimate purpose and goal in their lives, and asked her what hers was. Janet did not know, but set herself to find out.
Anna du Rousier was born on 20 December 1806 in Poitou, France. Desiring to be a missionary, she entered the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1821, at the age of 17. In 1853, along with two RSCJ, she was sent by Madeleine Sophie Barat to found the Society in Chile. After 27 years of work in Chile, Anna died on 28 January 1880, in Santiago, at the age of 74. In her last conference to the religious, she said: “Let us think of nothing other than glorifying the Heart of Jesus, in loving it. This is the whole reason for our being. What a consolation it is to think that whatever we do, has nothing other than this as its end. Become holy, my sisters, become holy: you should have no other preoccupation”.
