Jewels from Jane - July 15
Pictured: Mother St. John Fontbonne
July 15, 1808
"The first increase in numbers came on the day following this ceremony [July 15, 1808] [refers to the refounding of the Congregation by Mother St. John Fontbonne on July 14, 1808]. Seven devout women, drawn by their common desire for a life of prayer and charity, were living together in a house in the Rue Micareme. On the advice of Cardinal Fesch they petitioned Mother St. John to receive them into her newly-formed community. The Cardinal's words to them find an echo in many a pronouncement of the hierarchy today: '...for the children, for the mothers, for the old, and for everybody, we need apostles. The Church needs them. The number of priests is insufficient. Enter the community of the Sisters of St. Joseph. You will be the auxiliaries of the clergy. You will serve God and souls.' Those who responded to this exhortation, receiving the habit nine months later, were:
Charlotte Beneyton - Sister St. Ursula
Marie Beneyton - Sister St. Bernard
Jeanne Marie Besson - Sister St. Pierre
Anne Cornillon - Sister St. Benedict
Marie Ginod - Sister St. Louis
Etiennette Lachaux - Sister St. Etienne
Marguerite Rigaud - Sister St. Angela
"The house on Rue Micareme, which included a chapel, became the property of the congregation and its first motherhouse. The congregation now numbered twenty."
From The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet by Sister Dolorita Marie Dougherty et al c. 1966 p. 43
