Marie-Eugénie of Jesus

Encouraged by Abbé Théodore Combalot, who saw in her the instrument of a new congregation, Anne-Eugénie Milleret founded the first community of the Religious of the Assumption on April 30, 1839, in Paris; she then took the name Mother Marie-Eugénie of Jesus. The first boarding school opened shortly after, around 1841-1842, in the Saint-Sulpice district. The new congregation set itself the mission of uniting contemplative life with apostolic action, making the education of young girls an instrument of evangelization and the transformation of society. Marie-Eugénie wanted to form solid women, capable of judgment and faith, blending the great spiritual tradition of the Church with a pedagogy open to the demands of the time. In this work, she benefited from the collaboration of Kate O'Neill, in religion Mother Thérèse-Emmanuel, co-founder and intimate companion, and above all from the spiritual support of Father Emmanuel d'Alzon, founder of the Augustinians of the Assumption, who would be her director and support for forty years. Under her leadership, the congregation gradually spread throughout France and then abroad.

The spirituality of Marie-Eugénie de Jésus is rooted in a passion for Christ born of her conversion. Coming from unbelief, she discovered faith as a burning love and the desire to extend the Reign of God, a motto that would become that of her congregation. She conceived religious life as an intimate union between contemplation and apostolate: seeking God in prayer and adoration, and serving Him in the education of youth. A woman of governance and discernment, she led her congregation for more than half a century, until her resignation from the office of Superior General in 1894. Her final year was marked by paralysis and suffering, which she endured with abandonment. Her reputation for holiness, based on her fidelity, her spiritual intelligence, and her educational influence, spread within the Assumption and beyond. During her canonization, Benedict XVI praised her as an educator who invites the transmission to young people of values capable of making them solid adults and joyful witnesses of the Risen One.

Marie-Eugénie de Jésus died in Paris, in the Auteuil district, on March 10, 1898. Pope Paul VI beatified her on February 9, 1975, in Saint Peter's Square. On December 16, 2006, Benedict XVI authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing a miracle attributed to her intercession: the unexplained healing of a child from the Philippines, Risa Bondoc (born in February 1995), who suffered from a severe cerebral malformation. On the basis of this miracle, Benedict XVI canonized her in Rome on Sunday, June 3, 2007, in Saint Peter's Square, during a ceremony that also proclaimed Giorgio Preca, Szymon of Lipnica, and Karel van Sint Andries Houben as saints; according to the Catholic press, she was the first French woman canonized by this pope. Her liturgical feast is celebrated on March 10, the anniversary of her death, particularly within the religious family of the Assumption.

The legacy of Saint Marie-Eugénie de Jésus continues above all in the congregation she founded, the Religious of the Assumption. Dedicated to Christian education and evangelization through teaching, the congregation has spread far beyond France: at the beginning of the 21st century, it is present in about thirty countries across five continents, bringing together approximately one thousand two hundred religious sisters in some one hundred and seventy communities, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The Assumptionist spirituality she shaped, uniting adoration of Christ and educational commitment, continues to inspire schools, boarding schools, and training works. A figure of a pedagogue as much as a foundress, Marie-Eugénie is honored as a model of a Christian educator; her memory is particularly alive in Metz, her hometown, and in Paris, the cradle of her foundation. The influence of her educational work explains why she is readily presented as a reference for the transmission of faith and values to young generations.