Dates

• Existence: 1769 August 29 - 1852 November 18

Biographical note

Born at Grenoble in 1769, she joined the Visitation nuns. When these were scattered during the Reign of Terror, she stayed with her family at Grenoble and, in spite of the difficult times, gathered together a community there. In 1804, at the suggestion of Saint Magdalene Sophie Barat, she incorporated her community into the Society of the Sacred Heart. Her life's desire was to work in the missions, and in 1818 she landed at New Orleans and set up a missionary center at St. Charles, Missouri. She founded six more mission stations and went herself to work among the Potawatomi people at Sugar Creek, Kansas. Later she worked in the Rocky Mountain mission area. In her old age she returned to St. Charles, and died in 1852. Beatified in 1940.

(paraphrased from The Book of Saints : A Dictionary of Persons Canonized or Beatified by the Catholic Church. 5th edition. New York: Crowell, 1966.)

Alternate names

Philippine Duchesne

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