St. Jeanne Jugan was born on October 25th, 1792, in Cancale, a fishing area in Brittany, France. Jeanne was the sixth child out of eight in her family. Her parents were Joseph and Marie Jugan. Their fisherman father was lost at sea when Jeanne was only four. From her Mother and the place of her birth, Jeanne inherited a lively, deep faith and a profound determination that could overcome any difficulty. She began working at an early age and would pray her Rosary while tending the herd on the high cliffs above the Bay of Cancale. The beautiful view uplifted her soul. At 15, she left home and worked in a wealthy family near Cancale. With her new employer, she went to help those in need.
To the marriage proposal of a young sailor, she answered, "God wants me for Himself. He is keeping me for a work which is not yet known, for a work which is not yet founded." She enrolled in the Third Order of St John of Eudes. From that time, her one desire was to "be as humble as Jesus." One winter evening in 1839, she came across a poor and blind old lady. Jeanne did not hesitate to give the lady her bed. This was the initial spark that kindled a great blaze of charity, and thus, "The Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor," with its mission of hospitality to the elderly, was born.
Because of the great poverty in France in the years following the French Revolution, Jeanne's bold gesture of charity toward the elderly answered a pressing need. Her small apartment soon became too small to accommodate the growing number of elderly people who knocked at her door seeking hospitality. Several young women came to assist Jeanne in caring for the Aged, and the group moved from one building to another until they could obtain a suitable home. By 1879, the community Jeanne founded had 2400 Little Sisters and spread across Europe and North America. That year, Pope Leo XIII approved the Constitutions of the Little Sisters of the Poor. The younger sisters, ever-increasing in number with the expansion of the Congregation, did not even realize that Jeanne was their Foundress. She, living in their midst, with her serenity and wisdom, transmitted a constant spirit of praise. "Love God very much; he is so good. Let us entrust ourselves to him". She died peacefully on August 29th, 1879. On October 3rd, 1982, Pope John Paul II declared her a Blessed, and on October 11th, 2009, at St. Peter's Square in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI declared Jeanne Jugan a Saint!
St. Jeanne Jugan, obtain for us the courage to follow Jesus with the radical love you emulated.
Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love
(Blessed and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)
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