The Life, Influence, and Canonization of Saint Marie Rivier

Celebrating Saint Marie Rivier

Saint Marie Rivier has entered the canon of saints in recognition of her enduring faith, service, and love of neighbor.

On May 15, 2022, Pope Francis elevated Blessed Marie Rivier, Foundress of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary and Rivier University’s namesake, to sainthood along with nine other Blesseds at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy. The Canonization Mass, viewed around the world, drew more than 45,000 pilgrims including a U.S. delegation of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary, Rivier students, administrators, alumni, and friends.

Saint Marie Rivier’s story is remarkable. Despite severe physical limitations and societal barriers, she resolutely opened schools while caring for the sick and orphaned. Through vision and perseverance, with faith and action, she was able to transform her part of the world through the education of women and children with a focus on the poor and vulnerable.

For more than two centuries, Saint Marie’s ministry and mission have endured and spread across the globe. Her legacy and works continue to have an impact on vocations and faith-filled service, on students and communities who are enriched through Catholic education, and on the individuals who are healed and receive graces through her intercession.

A banner with an image of Saint Marie Rivier was displayed at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, site of the May 15 Canonization Mass.

This stained glass window is located in Regina Library on the Rivier campus.

Saint Marie Rivier The Woman Apostle

The Catholic tradition includes recognition of the holiness of life, of doing the ordinary in an extraordinary way. Throughout history men and women who lived a life of virtue, faith, and closeness to God in prayer have been canonized as saints and examples of Christian witness. What is it in Anne Marie Rivier’s life that led to this recognition of sainthood?

Early Life and Healing

Born in 1768 in Montpezat, France, Anne Marie suffered a debilitating fall at 16 months old that left her unable to stand or walk. Immobile, her muscles atrophied, and her legs grew crooked.

Her devoted mother, Jean, a woman of deep faith, made daily trips to the village church carrying Anne Marie with her. For nearly four years Anne Marie prayed at the statue of Mother Mary and Jesus—the Pieta. In response to this faith, Anne Marie experienced a miracle of healing on September 8, 1774, and upon returning from the church she was able to walk with the help of crutches. Her complete healing took place three years later on the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. Though short in stature, standing only 4’4’’, she was able to walk unassisted from that day forward and continued her lifelong mission with boundless energy.

Vocation and Evangelization – Sharing God’s Word

Already spirit-filled and something of a wonder in her village, she took on the roles of educator and caregiver, regularly gathering children for instruction in the faith and tending to the needs of the poor and sick. These kindnesses earned her the name “petite Maman” or “little Mum.”

Anne Marie’s faith and desire to dedicate herself completely to God grew. She attended the Sisters of Notre Dame boarding school in Pradelles, France, expecting to enter their congregation once completing her studies. However, she was denied admittance due to her poor health. This denial only strengthened her resolve. While deeply disappointed, at the age of eighteen she founded a school in her own town.

The French Revolution (1789) launched a period rife with social and economic disruption, inequality, and religious conflict. All religious congregations and practices were suppressed, and religious activities were viewed with suspicion. While religious practice had been banned, Anne Marie secretly gathered followers for Sunday prayer services. She opened Catholic schools and orphanages, trained unemployed women whose husbands were lost to or fighting in the Revolution, and cared for the sick and vulnerable. Her charism, or spirit, was magnetic. Many young women were eager to join her—to experience and expand God’s presence in the world.

In 1796, undeterred by France’s ban on religion, she founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary, a religious order dedicated to education in the faith and service to the poor and vulnerable. It was wartime, and lacking any financial resources, Anne Marie, now known as Marie Rivier, relied on her deep faith and complete trust in God’s grace.

In 1801, religious practice was allowed again, and the Congregation expanded rapidly. Upon Marie Rivier’s death in 1838, the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary counted more than 140 houses and 350 Sisters across regions of France. The Sisters founded 149 schools, continuing and expanding Catholic education.

1933 - 1941

Original site of Rivier College

Hudson, New Hampshire

Boldness of Vision – The Sisters of the Presentation of Mary in North America

For Marie Rivier, the sharing of the Gospel message extended beyond national boundaries, and she believed that “one day my daughters will cross the ocean.” In 1853, 15 years after her death, six Sisters crossed the Atlantic Ocean and established a foundation in Quebec, Canada. The Sisters of the Presentation of Mary quickly expanded their ministry of education across Canada.

Twenty years later in 1873, when many French Canadians were migrating south to work in New England textile and paper mills, a group of Sisters immigrated to Glen Falls, New York. Establishing their Congregation in the United States, they continued to serve the educational and spiritual needs of youth by opening boarding and parish schools. This ministry soon grew to include schools in Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

The Sisters generously responded to a request from Bishop George Albert Guertin of the Diocese of Manchester, establishing Presentation of Mary Academy boarding school for girls in 1926. It is in this beautiful and stately building in Hudson, New Hampshire, that Sister Madeleine of Jesus founded Rivier College in 1933 before moving the College to Nashua in 1942.

Embodying the spirit and zeal of Marie Rivier, Sister Madeleine was a woman of great faith and action. She believed that she and her fellow Sisters should be highly engaged and manifest God’s presence through higher education.

Rivier College (now University) was established 90 years ago at a time when women had limited access to Catholic higher education. Sister Madeleine intended for Rivier to be an American-style college, preparing women for life and the professions.

Virtues that Transcend Time

While the life and ministry of Saint Marie Rivier occurred more than two centuries ago, her message and witness are timeless. Rivier University is fortunate to have the example of Saint Marie Rivier as a guiding vision. Through faith, she overcame disability; with love, she recognized the dignity of the human person in the poor and vulnerable; and through her own life of virtue, she inspired others to follow in her ministry of proclaiming the Gospel message.

As we seek to discover this dynamic through the life of Saint Marie Rivier, we have an opportunity to compare the values that we hold as important today to the virtues which her life so represented.

Prayer

In today’s world mindfulness, well-being, and meditation are used to express the process of getting in touch with our inner self. These methods are designed to center our life. For Marie Rivier these virtues can be encapsulated in the word “prayer.” A lifting of the mind and heart to God in gratitude and intercession. In Marie Rivier’s words, “Let us always have recourse to prayer … never become discouraged.”

Zeal

Today, bookshelves are filled with titles that inspire us to greater achievement. Texts such as North Star or Being in the Zone reflect a popular psychology in which enthusiasm and focus lead to a meaningful life. Marie Rivier’s life reflected these qualities through her zeal—her unwavering commitment to share the Gospel message despite insurmountable odds and her extraordinary care for the poor and the vulnerable despite a lack of financial resources. Her deep faith in

God to provide continuously propelled her forward. In her own words, “My daughters, put your trust in God and leave no stone unturned. Fulfill your duties with enthusiasm.”

Fortitude

Rejection and disappointments are part of the human experience. Today, the quality that calls us to rise above life's setbacks is resilience, the capacity to bounce back. This was true in the life of Marie Rivier as she was denied acceptance to the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame. Undeterred, she founded her own community, which demonstrated the virtue of fortitude, a combination of courage and perseverance that inspires and impels action.

Spiritual Accompaniment

Methods of communication have changed drastically over 250 years. Today, we consume all types of digital content in the form of social media, blogs, podcasts, and more. While interesting, the content is often not enduring. For Marie Rivier, her communications to her Sisters and beyond were through letters. She is often pictured sitting at a desk, pen and paper at hand, encouraging others through their sorrows and setbacks to a life of deeper prayer and service. One can only imagine how she would use contemporary media today to engage others. In Marie Rivier’s words, “If you practice what you preach, your example will be far more persuasive.”

Attribution of Miracles

Saint Marie Rivier has two miracles attributed to her intercession—both healings of severely ill children—which advanced her Cause for sainthood. Countless others report graces received after making prayerful requests to her.

Paulette Dubois was born in 1930 in Bourg St. Andéol, France, and subsequently diagnosed with infantile acrodynia, which is often caused by mercury poisoning. Families in the area asked the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary to pray a novena to Marie Rivier for their child’s healing. On the final day of the novena, all her symptoms vanished, and Dubois was completely healed. Paulette died in 2020 at the age of 90 having been present in Rome for the beatification of Blessed Marie Rivier.

The second miracle was the healing of Angel Marie Vier Albaracin Degamo in 2015. Diagnosed before birth with hydrops fetalis, a deadly disease affecting the heart and lungs, Angel's family, especially her mother, prayed to Blessed Marie Rivier for her healing. Angel was born without any sign of the disease, a true miracle and the necessary final step for Saint Marie Rivier’s canonization by the universal Church. Angel, her mother, and sisters (pictured below) joined in the canonization events on May 15, 2022.

Pope Francis canonized Saint Marie Rivier along with nine other Blesseds at the May 15 Canonization Mass in Rome.

The Legacy of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary

Today, the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary are active in 20 countries spanning five continents. They educate and care for children, and they are a voice for the importance of the education of women. While more than two centuries separate them from the earthly life of Saint Marie Rivier, today's Sisters carry on her apostolic mission of evangelization and work without ceasing to share the Gospel message.

Pictured left: Sisters of the Presentation of Mary from around the world convened at Rivier University in Nashua, New Hampshire, for the 3rd International Congress of Education in 2015.

The Spirit of Saint Marie Rivier

A sculpture of Saint Marie Rivier stands as the focal point of Heritage Plaza on the Rivier University campus. It serves as an enduring symbol of faith, hope, and Marie Rivier's gospel-centered legacy.

Sister Helene Cote, pm, Provincial Superior of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary, shared the following description of the sculpture at the dedication of Heritage Plaza in August 2015:

For those of you who have heard the story of Marie Rivier, you know that she was a very short woman, under five feet, but what the statue depicts really is her spirit. She was in one sense larger than life. She was a woman of great strength and tremendous faith.

Her statue is looking out into the future for she was a woman of vision, one who could found a community in the midst of the French Revolution and dare to believe and say, “One day my daughters will cross the ocean.”

She is carrying a book, for Marie Rivier was a woman of the Word who studied scripture and sought to know Jesus Christ through its teachings. She was also a great believer in education and did all she could to educate the young people of her time.

She is walking, depicting a woman always on the move and ready to go wherever she was called. She was not static or set in her ways, but open to whatever it would take to make Jesus Christ known and loved. Her open cape symbolizes how she lived—always open and attentive to the presence of the Spirit in her life.

Marie Rivier was indeed an incredible woman and her place in the center of the campus is a wonderful reminder of where we come from as Sisters of the Presentation of Mary. It also serves to keep ever before us Rivier’s mission of transforming hearts and minds to serve the world.

Pilgrimage to Rome A Life-Changing Experience

Sisters of the Presentation of Mary and members of the Rivier community were blessed to celebrate Saint Marie Rivier’s canonization in Rome on May 15, 2022. Gathered with pilgrims from around the world at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, they shared in the Canonization Mass and witnessed Saint Marie Rivier’s entrance to the canon of saints.

In addition, the group had the opportunity to explore the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, the Roman Forum, and the Colosseum during the week as well as travel to the Italian countryside. Every day was an adventure and an education. While each person experienced a different dimension of transformation, all gained an appreciation of the vision and boldness of Saint Marie Rivier and her continuing spirit and enduring mission.

“While on this trip, I learned the most from the Sisters. Many of them have lived three to four times my lifetime, so hearing about their experience living in dedication to God was truly enlightening. From them, I learned about the importance of community. They are each a part of a community that stretches across the world. I watched as our Sisters embraced their friends from France and Senegal, their eyes lighting up with enthusiasm to see each other. I hope to create bonds this strong in my life.”

– Thomas Miller, Class of 2023

Rivier Celebrates 90 Years

It is fitting that the visionary Foundress of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary and our University's namesake was canonized as Saint Marie Rivier in this time in which we celebrate our 90th anniversary with the theme Go Boldly. Founded in 1933 to expand access to higher education for women, Rivier has kept its motto—Altiora et Meliora, Higher and Better—in the forefront of its mission and purpose.

“In addition to recognizing the life of Saint Marie Rivier, Go Boldly characterizes the vision of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary and Rivier’s Foundress Sister Madeleine of Jesus in establishing a college for women during the height of the Great Depression,” says Sister Paula Marie Buley, IHM, President.

For the last 90 years, the Sisters and the Rivier community have advanced higher education opportunities with an unwavering belief in the University’s mission of transforming hearts and minds to serve the world. Rivier's history provides a pathway for future initiatives to go boldly in advancing academic programs that serve the needs of the region and create a student experience supporting growth and a deeper understanding of the challenges of the present day. The University continues to recognize the importance of liberal learning and programs that support the 21st -century workforce at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

MINDS