Pauline-Marie Jaricot (1799–1862): A Soul on Fire � �

Introducing

u Beatified May 22 u

Father Philippe Curbelié

As the French Revolution was disrupting Europe and affecting both society and the Church, Pauline-Marie Jaricot was born in Lyon on July 22, 1799, to pious, middle-class parents who were deeply devoted to the Church. The youngest in a family of seven children, she enjoyed an intimate relationship with the Lord very early in life through her visits to the Blessed Sacrament and frequent reception of Holy Communion. Later on she enjoyed elegance and worldly things, until one Sunday in 1816, in the church in Saint-Nizier, a sermon by young Father Würtz on vanity launched her true interior conversion: at the age of 17, she decided to abandon her fancy clothes, her jewels, her novels, etc.

On December 25 of that same year, Pauline took a vow of perpetual chastity in the chapel in Fourvière. She made progress in the interior life on The mystical path of reparation and charity. She started a group of young working women and servants to lead a life of piety and charitable work, which became the Réparatrices, an association of lay women who made reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the offenses and indifference of sinners, by repairing the spiritual ruin caused by the Revolution, taking in and educating street children, and caring for sick people in the charity hospital.

In the autumn of 1819 she hit on the idea of collecting money for the missions by organizing her associates in tens, hundred, and then thousands. This simple idea spread rapidly until it became the driving force for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, which was officially founded on May 3, 1822. This work, which was to spread throughout the world, would be declared of pontifical right in 1922, and consequently Pauline has often been described as “the mother of the missions.”

During that same year 1822, Pauline composed Infinite Love in the Divine Eucharist, which testifies that all her activity was rooted in the Eucharist, “the divine fountain and source of all the other sacraments.” Three years of contemplative life, away from the hectic routine of her activities, made her understand the power and the necessity of prayer.

Following the Jubilee Year 1825, she gave birth in 1826 to the Living Rosary: “an association accessible to everyone, which would produce prayerful union; its sole, brief requirement, which should intimidate no one, would make it easier for the faithful to practice daily meditation, if only for a few minutes, on the mysteries of the life and death of Jesus Christ.” This work, too, would develop in

a remarkable way, so that at Pauline’s death it numbered 2,250,000 associates in France alone.

On August 15, 1832, Pauline settled on the slopes of Fourvière for a life of adoration and prayer geared to practical work. By that time she was well known and respected.

In 1835, she came back cured of an illness from a pilgrimage to Mugnano del Cardinale, not far from Naples, and promoted devotion to Saint Philomena, which spread to Ars.

In 1845, Pauline launched a new plan for evangelization. She invested in a model factory that provided decent living conditions for the laborers so as to catechize them and enable them to convey the faith better to their families. In the hands of managers who behaved like crooks, the business went bankrupt and the factory was sold in deplorable conditions in 1852. She considered the losses incurred by her managers as a debt of honor, and spent the rest of her days trying to repay it; she ended up registered officially as an indigent in the city of Lyon. The Curé of Ars once said of her from the pulpit: “O my brothers and sisters, I know someone who has many crosses, very heavy ones, and yet bears them with great love: it is Mademoiselle Jaricot.”

In 1861 Pauline’s heart deteriorated. After receiving the last sacraments, she died in Lyon, in her house in Lorette, on January 9, 1862, after forgiving all her detractors.

Her extraordinary vocation adorns a long tradition of local witnesses to Christ, going back to the martyrs of Lyon and Saint Irenaeus, and continues the enterprise to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

(Translated from the original French by Michael J. Miller.)