Claudine Thévenet

In Lyon, Claudine Thévenet first committed herself to helping poor and abandoned children in the aftermath of the revolutionary unrest. With the help of Father André Coindre, who became her spiritual guide, she opened a "Providence" as early as 1815-1816 to welcome destitute young girls and founded an "Association of the Sacred Heart," of which she took the lead. From this charitable work, the congregation itself was born: on the night of October 5 to 6, 1818, at Les Pierres-Plantées, on the hill of La Croix-Rousse, Claudine Thévenet founded the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus-Mary. The community moved to Fourvière in 1820. The institute received diocesan approval in Le Puy in 1823, then in Lyon in 1825. Its purpose was the Christian education of young girls of all social conditions, with a marked preference for the poorest: Claudine added the learning of a trade, notably silk weaving, in order to give the young girls the means to live with dignity. Superior of the congregation until her death, she ensured its development and consolidation for nearly twenty years.

The spirituality of Claudine Thévenet is rooted in the experience of forgiveness lived at the heart of the Revolution, transformed into a life of concrete charity. Her devotion is centered on the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, which give their name to her congregation. Testimonies describe her as animated by a deep trust in the goodness of God, which she sought to help children broken by the violence of the era (re)discover. Tradition attributes to her this exhortation to her sisters: "Be mothers to these children," as well as an assumed predilection for the most destitute, whom she declared to be the only "preferences" she allowed herself. Her final words, reported by the official biography, summarize her entire spiritual life: "How good God is." Her reputation for holiness, initially local and linked to the influence of her educational work, spread with the international expansion of the congregation, leading to the opening of her cause for beatification.

The process for the recognition of the holiness of Claudine Thévenet concluded under the pontificate of John Paul II. She was beatified on October 4, 1981, in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican. The recognition of a miracle attributed to her intercession, validated in Rome in the early 1990s, paved the way for canonization, which was celebrated by the same pope on March 21, 1993. Her liturgical feast is set for February 3, the anniversary of her death (the "dies natalis"). Hagiographic sources agree on all these dates, which are confirmed by the documentation of the Holy See, the calendar of the Church of France, and the congregation itself. The precise details of the healings accepted as miracles are not explained in the sources consulted and are therefore not reproduced here.

The legacy of Claudine Thévenet is perpetuated through the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary, which she founded in Lyon in 1818. Dedicated to Christian education, and particularly to that of the poorest young girls, the congregation has spread far beyond France. According to data reported by hagiographic sources, at the time of her canonization, it numbered approximately one thousand eight hundred religious sisters distributed across some one hundred and eighty houses on five continents, running schools, boarding schools, and educational works. The memory of the foundress remains vivid in Lyon, the cradle of the congregation, and in all the educational establishments that claim her charism. Her message of forgiveness, trust in the goodness of God, and service to the most destitute continues to inspire the pedagogy and spirituality of the institute.