June
Newsletter
Abbaye Saint-Joseph de Clairval, France
June 22, 2001
Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Dear Friend of Saint Joseph Abbey,
Spring 1805. Shortly after the French Revolution, Pope Pius VII, returning
to Rome after having crowned Napoleon in Paris, stopped in Lyon. Antoine
Jaricot, a silk merchant in this city, seized the opportunity to bring
his family to the Pontiff, asking for a special blessing. Pius VII rested
his hands on little Pauline¹s head. Blessed by the Vicar of Christ,
this child would distinguish herself early on for her love for Jesus and
her tenderness towards all the poor.
Pauline Jaricot was born in Lyon on July 22, 1799. Her parents, Antoine
Jaricot and Jeanne Lattier were deeply Christian. Pauline would later
write, ³Happy are those who have received from their parents the
first seeds of faith. Be praised, Lord, for giving me a just man for a
father, and a virtuous and charitable woman for a mother.² Six children
already crowned this family when Pauline was born.
In the yard of the family home stood a deep well. One day when her mother had just drawn a full bucket of water, Pauline, seven years old, became worried. ³Mommy, tell me, is there still water left in the well?²‹³Of course! The spring doesn¹t dwindle.²‹³Oh! How I¹d like to have a well of gold to give some to all the unfortunate, so that there wouldn¹t be any more poor people at all and so no one would cry anymore.² At the age of ten, the child was placed in a boarding school. ³I had the misfortune,² she would admit, ³of making friends with someone who, having neither the candor nor the simplicity of her age, already knew the ruses and artifices of coquetry. She told me all the Œconquests¹ that she believed to have won over hearts.² At first frightened and concerned, Pauline soon felt arise and develop in her the need to please and to be loved. Fortunately, with the coming of her First Communion, she parted with this questionable companion: ³Jesus Christ triumphed then in my heart,² she wrote, ³and when it was decided that I would receive Him soon, I thought of nothing but of preparing Him a dwelling place that would not be too unworthy of Him.² After a long examination of conscience, she made a good confession, then received Jesus in the Eucharist with immense joy. The same day, she was strengthened by the Sacrament of Confirmation. Nevertheless, the world still tempted her. She liked elegant clothes and hearing flattery.
One day, Pauline fell from a stepladder. The accident resulted in a strange
illness, in which she walked like a drunk, absently, and completely lost
the power of speech. Her mother, who watched over her day and night, fell
seriously ill herself, then died, far from Pauline, on November 26, 1814,
while offering her life to God for her daughter. This death was hidden
from her for some time, so that she might recover her health. With her
convalescence, Pauline rediscovered her desire to please others, and among
the young women in her circle, she distinguished herself as the most elegant.
Yet, she was not happy: ³My heart felt a raging thirst that nothing
could quench, because this poor heart, always slave to the creature, found
in perishable affection nothing but an infinite void, and an unimaginable
torture in resisting the divine call.²
The illusion of vanity
One of the last Sundays of Lent 1816, a priest of singular virtue, Father Jean Wendel Würtz, vicar of Saint Nizier parish in Lyon, gave the sermon. Pauline had come to listen, wearing her beautiful spring dress. The preacher¹s words on the dangers and illusions of worldly vanity won the young woman over. She recognized herself in every detail of the sermon. At the end of the service, she went to the sacristy and opened her heart to the man of God. After a general confession, the penitent, beaming and bathed in tears, was radically changed. She wore a very ordinary purple dress, a white bonnet on her head. But, she wrote, ³It was so difficult to break with my ways of luxury and elegance that, the first months of my conversion, I suffered cruelly when I showed myself in public with my ridiculous attire. At that time, I avoided looking at my friends¹ lovely dresses, for these things still held for me such a great attraction that I would never have been able to overcome this vanity had I been sparing with myself.²
Her soul purified, Pauline clearly heard the call to a more perfect life. She devoted herself fervently to prayer and penance, visiting the poor and the sick, whose most repulsive ulcers she dressed with great tenderness. She organized a little studio for making artificial flowers, for young unemployed women. On Christmas night, in the chapel in Fourvière, Pauline came before the altar of the Black Madonna and offered her life to God through the vow of perpetual virginity. Rewarded with numerous graces from Heaven and endowed with a high level of contemplation and intimacy with the Lord, she heard the call from God to dedicate herself to the service of others. Through contact with Christ in the Holy Eucharist, profound enlightenment on the mystery of the Redeemer was communicated to her, which she wished to share with other souls. Indeed, devout girls, workers or servants, sharing her desire to make reparation to the Heart of Jesus, unknown and scorned, gathered around her.
The Propagation of the Faith
The upheavals of the French Revolution had dried up the resources and
recruitment of missionary congregations. While reading bulletins from
the Foreign Missions, Pauline was moved by the situation and began to
collect some alms for the Missions. After prayer and reflection, she received,
in the fall of 1819, the inspiration for a charitable institute to help
the Missions: ³One evening when I was searching in God for help‹I
mean for the desired plan‹the clear vision of this plan was given
to me and I understood the ease that each person close to me would have
in finding ten associates to give a sou (French coin of little value)
each week for the Propagation of the Faith. I saw at the same time the
opportuneness of choosing, from among the most capable of the associates,
those who would inspire the most confidence to receive collections from
ten persons who were in charge of ten other persons each, and the appropriateness
of a head, gathering the collections of ten other persons in charge of
a hundred each, to deposit all of it at the headquarters.² When consulted,
Father Würtz told her, ³Pauline, you are too stupid to have
thought up this planŠ Clearly, it comes from God. Also, not only
do I permit it, but I strongly advise you to put it into operation!²
Despite much opposition and lack of understanding, the institute of the Propagation of the Faith spread at lightning speed, first in France, then throughout the world, bringing significant help to the Missions. A board of trustees was created. Pauline stepped aside before it: ³I left, to those who wanted to take it, the honor of this divine foundation, the inspiration for which was from Heaven.² In her prayer, she thanked God: ³You have cast Your eyes on her whom You have thought the littlest on Earth, so as to make her the instrument of Your Providence and obtain the glory of Your adorable Name, in order that no flesh might glorify itself before You.²
Pauline¹s intense zeal for the Missions was directly inspired by the Gospel. Before His Ascension into Heaven, the Lord Jesus dispatched His disciples, saying: Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved (Mk. 16:15-16; cf. Mt. 28:18-20). This missionary mandate reveals the goodness of God, who wants humanity to know the truth and be saved (cf. I Tim. 2:4). Indeed, ³Salvation is found in the truth. Those who obey the promptings of the Spirit of truth are already on the way of salvation. But the Church, to whom this truth has been entrusted, must go out to meet their desire, so as to bring them the truth. Because she believes in God¹s universal plan of salvation, the Church must be missionary² (Declaration Dominus Jesus, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, September 6, 2000, no. 22).
Why the Mission?
Nevertheless, in the modern world, observes the Pope, ³some people
wonder: Is missionary work among non-Christians still relevant?Š
Does not respect for conscience and for freedom exclude all efforts at
conversion? Is it not possible to attain salvation in any religion?Š
If we go back to the beginnings of the Church, we find a clear affirmation
that Christ is the one Savior of all, the only one able to reveal God
and lead to GodŠ for there is no other name under heaven given among
men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). This statement, which was made
[by Saint Peter] to the Sanhedrin, has a universal value, since for all
people‹Jews and Gentiles alike‹salvation can only come from
Jesus ChristŠ This definitive self-revelation of God is the fundamental
reason why the Church is missionary by her very nature. She cannot do
other than proclaim the Gospel, that is, the fullness of the truth which
God has enabled us to know about Himself. Christ is the one mediator between
God and mankindŠ (cf. 1 Tim. 2:5-7). No one, therefore, can enter
into communion with God except through Christ, by the working of the Holy
Spirit. Christ¹s one, universal mediation, far from being an obstacle
on the journey toward God, is the way established by God Himself²
(John Paul II, Encyclical Redemptoris Missio, RM, December 7, 1990, no.
4 and 5). To the question, ³Why the Mission?² the Holy Father
replies that in Christ, ³and only in Him, are we set free from all
alienation and confusion, from slavery to the power of sin and death.
Christ is truly our peace (Eph. 2:14); the love of Christ impels us (2
Cor. 5:14), giving meaning and joy to our life² (RM, no. 11).
With the saints throughout the ages, Pauline recognized the necessity
of the Missions. The work of the institute she founded continues today,
as the Propagation of the Faith comes to the assistance of more than 900
dioceses in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania, awarding to each
diocese an annual ordinary grant and extraordinary grants according to
need. The money comes from collections and gifts made throughout the world,
and gathered together in Rome.
Between 1822 and 1826, illness as well as the need for greater intimacy
with the Lord forced Pauline to retreat into silence. The divine illuminations
that she received at that time urged her once more to action. Very much
attached to the Holy Rosary, she wished to spread devotion to it. Noticing
that few people had enough time and fervor to pray it in its entirety,
she had the inspiration to divide it among fifteen people who would each
have just a decade to recite every day while meditating on a mystery.
³It seemed to me that the hour had come,² she would later write,
³to carry out the plan, formed long ago, of an association open to
everyone, which would bring about union through prayer, and the unique
and short practice of which, frightening no one, would make easier for
the faithful the practice of daily meditation, be it nothing more than
a few minutes, on the mysteries of the life and death of Jesus Christ.²
Thus was founded the ³Living Rosary² in 1826. With the help
of a Jesuit priest, Pauline added to this work the distribution of religious
items and good books to awaken and maintain the faith. Through prayer
and the spreading of sound doctrine, the Living Rosary would contribute
to countless conversions.
Perceiving distress
So as to give a way of life to the young women who had gathered around
her, Pauline founded the institute of the Daughters of Mary, dedicated
to the care of the sick, in a little house she called ³Nazareth,²
on Fourvière hill. She then bought a large neighboring property,
³Lorette,² which became the official headquarters of the Living
Rosary. In the month of April 1834, Pauline was seriously ill, to the
point that she received Extreme Unction. She nonetheless went to Italy
and, encouraged by Pope Gregory XVI, begged for and obtained her cure
from Saint Philomena. The Holy Father, filled with admiration and joy
at the news of this miracle, received her at the Vatican. Returning to
Lyon in 1836, Pauline noted that ³Lorette² had become a place
of encounter and spiritual life visited more and more, where the guests
were welcomed with respect and warmth. Among them were Saint Peter Julian
Eymard, Saint John Vianney, Saint Thérèse Couderc, Saint
Claudine ThévenetŠ Always at her post, Pauline listened, comforted,
enlightened, opening her heart and her purse. One day in 1842, a young
woman, Françoise Dubouis, brought her a letter from the Curé
of Ars: ³Miss Jaricot, I am referring to you a soul which God in
His goodness has surely made for Himself and for youŠ The Blessed
Virgin has protected her from all evil up to the present‹now it is
your turn to protect her, and teach her to love Jesus and Mary even more.²
Françoise became Pauline¹s confidant until her death.
For a long time, Pauline had been aware of workers¹ financial difficulties
brought on by the Industrial Revolution. The situation of the silkworkers
was particularly tragic in Lyon: some were housed and fed by the head
of the shop where they were employed, crammed in close quarters with their
families, earning a ridiculous amount for sixteen hours of work a day.
Pauline noted, ³Poverty little by little weakens the workers¹
courage and virtue. The rich have no idea, in the midst of their abundance
and security, of what a father or mother feels whose children are begging
them for bread when they have no work, or when sickness makes it impossible
to workŠ Bread! But then, in order to have it, they have to beg,
and not everyone has the strength to do soŠ It seems more and more
apparent to me that we must first give back to the worker his human dignity,
snatching him from his slavery to relentless work. We must give him back
the dignity of a father, having him find again the tenderness and charms
of family life; the dignity of the Christian, in obtaining for him, with
the joys of the family circle, the consolations and hopes of religion.²
After praying at length, Pauline decided to dedicate her wealth to the
creation of an industrial center where prudently paced and justly compensated
work would permit Jesus to reign in workers¹ hearts. Taking advantage
of a good opportunity, she laid the foundations of an enterprise which
would be a veritable way of the cross for her from 1841 until her death,
in other words, for twenty years.
To launch the factory, Pauline entrusted the sum of 700,000 gold francs to individuals who had been recommended to her. At first, the enterprise seemed to operate satisfactorily‹the reports were optimistic. But the businessmen to whom she had entrusted the money diverted the capital for their own profit. ³I have fallen,² she wrote, ³like the man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, into the hands of thieves.² Pauline lost her fortune and found herself burdened with debt, hounded by creditors. In this dramatic situation, her concern turned first to the many poor who had lent her small sums of money for the factory. She was firmly resolved to repay them to save them from extreme poverty, and, to this end, made up her mind to beg. But this business had cost her reputation. The direction of the institute of the Propagation of the Faith, which she herself had founded, gave this ruling on her request for assistance: ³Seen that we do not recognize her office as foundress, of which she avails herself, the council refuses to grant financial assistance.²
³More than others,² said Pope Paul VI, ³Pauline had to encounter, accept, and overcome with love a number of objections, defeats, humiliations, and renunciations which would give her work the mark of the Cross and its mysterious fecundity.² Indeed, all the doors closed in the face of her who had opened so many for others, and, with each new suffering, she repeated, ³My God, forgive them and, in the degree that they have showered me with sufferings, heap blessings upon them.² The saintly Curé of Ars exclaimed one day from the pulpit: ³My brethren! I know a person who knows well how to accept the cross, even the heaviest of crosses, and who bears them with great love. This person, my brethren, is Miss Jaricot, of Lyon!²
True happiness
In 1852, it was suggested to Pauline that she create a shortcut through
the ³Lorette² property leading to the sanctuary in Fourvière,
in exchange for the discharge of a right of passage. The revenues thus
earned would allow her to pay back all of her debts. Unfortunately, in
1856 a neighbor started a rival path which, in defiance of the right of
property, crossed the ³Lorette² garden. In spite of a court
decision in her favor, Pauline refused to act against her neighbor. Thus,
she would have the sorrow of dying without being able to reimburse her
debts.
What is more, the factory no longer existed‹it had been sold for
a profit by one of her creditors. On the surface, Pauline had indeed failed.
In reality, by her well-accepted sufferings, she had fertilized other
charitable works of the same kind which would be undertaken after her.
Within the Church, hers was one of the first voices to be raised against
the abuses of the Industrial Revolution, thus preparing for the Encyclical
Rerum Novarum (1891) by Leo XIII, on workers¹ rights to a fair salary
and decent living conditions. Today, the Church, confronted by new situations,
continues to emphasize the duties of justice and solidarity. On November
4, 2000, Pope John Paul II declared to political leaders, during their
jubilee in Rome: ³With the phenomenon of the globalization of markets,
the rich and developed nations tend to improve their economic status further,
while the poor countriesŠ tend to sink into ever more grievous forms
of povertyŠ Truly there needs to be a greater spirit of solidarity
in the world, as a means of overcoming the selfishness of individuals
and nationsŠ Those Christians who feel themselves called by God to
political life have the dutyŠ to conform the laws of the Œunbridled¹
market to the laws of justice and solidarity. Only in this way can we
ensure a peaceful future for our world and remove the root causes of conflicts
and wars: peace is the fruit of justice.²
After a thirty-five year remission, Pauline¹s heart condition worsened.
Languishing for several months, the Servant of God again received Extreme
Unction the evening of the First Sunday of Advent 1861. The following
January 9, well before dawn, she was heard murmuring: ³As we forgive
those who trespass against usŠ Mary! Mary! Yes, yes, fiat!²
finally: ³Mary, my MotherŠ I amŠ all yoursŠ !²
These were her last words. At five o¹clock in the morning, a smile
upon her lips, Pauline breathed her last breath and entered, quite young,
quite beautiful, quite radiant into true life, Eternal Life. On February
25, 1963, Blessed Pope John XXIII declared the heroism of her virtues,
which earned her the title of Venerable.
Six years before her death, Pauline had written a spiritual testament
in which we can read: ³My only treasure is the Cross! In abandoning
myself to You, Lord, I subscribe to my true happiness. I take possession
of my sole true good. What does it matter to me, then, oh will of my God,
so loved and so lovable, that You take away my earthly goods, reputation,
honor, health, life, that through humiliation You make me go down into
the deepest pit and abyssŠ I accept Your cup. I acknowledge that
I am entirely unworthy of it, but again, I wait for Your help, Your transformation,
Your union, and the consummation of the sacrifice for Your greater glory
and the salvation of my brethren.²
In Lyon and Paris, from September 17 through 19, 1999, celebrations were
held in honor of the bicentennial of Pauline Jaricot¹s birth. On
this occasion, Pope John Paul II addressed a letter to the Archbishop
of Lyon, praising the Venerable: ³By her faith, her trust, the force
of her mind, her gentleness and her serene acceptance of all crosses,
Pauline showed herself a true disciple of ChristŠ Highlighting this
person, distinguished at a young age by an unprecedented spirit of initiative,
should encourage love for the Eucharist, a life of prayer and the missionary
activity of the whole Church, whose goal is to be united with her Savior,
to make Him known and to draw all humanity to HimŠ Learning from
Pauline, the Church must find encouragement to strengthen her faith which
opens to love of others, and to continue her missionary tradition in its
most varied forms.²
May Saint Joseph, Protector of the Church and her Mission, obtain for
us the grace to imitate Venerable Pauline¹s examples, and to work
untiringly for the salvation of souls.
Dom Antoine Marie osb
P. S. This monthly letter is free of charge, and is also published in
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Also available free of charge are: tract about the Truths of the
Catholic Religion; scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, with explanatory
notice; the promises of the Sacred Heart; the mysteries of the Rosary.
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