The following was designed and compiled by Sister Marie de
Lourdes Pilgrimage Leader also Contributed
to the production of the booklet. PILGRIMS Neasa Bourke Maggie Nuala Corbet Mary Coss Margaret Doyle Marie Doyle Dorothy Fagan Grace Fayne Rita Gill Una Heffernan Mary Keegan Robert Molloy June Mulholland Brid Ui hUiginn Terri ODonnell Marie ORourke Nuala Staines Rita Smyth Ann Thornton Fidelma Farrell Mary Cassidy Sr. Marie de Lourdes INDEX
page Brief History
of the order Sr. Jallanges
.........................................................................
1 Chamblanc
........................................................................4 Souvans
.................................................................
...........
8 Seurre
..................................................................................
..............12 Chalon
...................................................
.............15 . PRAYERS
and HYMNS Prayers
page
Hymns:
(Oh,
Blessed Anne-Marie we praise)
7 ( Lord we
thank you for Anne-Marie
..
24
BRIEF HISTORY 1798 Anne-Marie Javouhey
consecrated herself during Mass in Etiennes barn, Chamblanc. She promised to spend her life educating the
young and looking after the poor 1793 1800 Reign of Terror No priests officiated
publicly. 1801 Anne-Marie Javouhey tried her vocation at Sisters
of Charity in 1803 Dom de Lestrange re-established
his monks at Val Shinte in 1805 No more great outbursts from Balthasar.
She spent a short time as Choisey no great success. In April she
met with Pope Pius VII in Chalon 1806 Signing of Decree of Authorisation of Sisters of 1806 1807 Establishment of sisters as Sisters
in Chamblanc, Chalon in Diocese of Autun 1807 Due to difficulty of termination
of lease of properties at Chalon, Anne-Marie wanted more permanent
roots 1812 Purchase of
PRAYERS
TO BLESSED ANNE-MARIE JAVOUHEY O Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey, who following the example of Our Lord Jesus
Christ, found the
nourishment of your soul in the Holy Will of God and the exercise
of your zeal in works for the salvation of souls,
obtain for us your vivid faith, enabling us to recognise, love and
accomplish all that God wills, your heroic
confidence and your perfect abandonment to Divine To your powerful intercession we confide
For the greater glory of God and the good of
our souls. Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey, pray for us. Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey, whose heart beat only for God and souls, teach us
to love as you loved, to pray as you prayed, to suffer and to pardon,
to give ourselves as you did. Obtain for us a heart like yours,
loving intensely Gods Holy Will, believing in His love in everything,
a heart strong and kind, ardent
and pure, loyal and faithful, humble and confiding, a heart
ready for every sacrifice, a heart like to the hearts of Jesus, Mary
and Joseph. Amen Proper
of the Mass of Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey Mass
Dilexisti with the following Collect: O powerful and eternal god, who adored Blessed
Anne Marie,
your virgin, with apostolic virtues, and who by her raised up
a new family in your Church, grant to us, in your mercy, that by imitating her
patience and her charity, we may merit to attain to heavenly glory. Through Our Lord
O
Glorious and Blessed Anne Marie, solidly establishes in the love and
fear of God, obtain
for us that same clear-sighted faith in the and
perfect reliance on the sanctity of His Holy Will. Obtain
for us the grace to trample on self-pity and with patience and long-suffering to walk and wait with
Jesus and Mary on the Way of the Cross.
Obtain
for us light in our minds and determination in our wills, with mercy
and compassion in
our hearts towards all, especially the ignorant, the poor and the
erring. Obtain for us the complete docility to the teachings
of faith and
continual responsiveness to the Holy Spirit of God: through Jesus
Christ Our Lord. Amen Beata Anna Maria, Ora pro nobis Prayer to Obtain the Canonisation of Anne Marie Javouhey Lord our God You enabled Blessed Anne Marie to consecrate herself to the carrying out
of Your Holy Will in all
things and to be ever attentive to your calls as manifested through
the poorest of her brothers and sisters. Grant that we, in the Church of our day may zealously continue the Work
you confided to her. Through her intercession hear the prayers we address to You
In your goodness grant us the favour of her canonisation for your glory
and to promote Your reign of love, justice and peace
JALLANGES Early childhood from 1779 to 1786 importance of
this period of her life for everyone of us
childhood memories, tenderness of a father and mother, relationships
between brothers and sisters. Anne-Marie was fifth of a family of ten. Four children died at an early age; Balthazar,
Claudine, Jeanne and Jean-Baptiste, followed by Etienne, Pierre, Anne-Marie,
Pierette, Mie Francoise and Claudine. Anne-Marie, the first surviving daughter had to help
her mother in caring for the younger children. She is presented as the head of the household,
dragging the others in her footsteps. You can imagine childrens games, the closeness to
farm life, animals, hens, cocks, ducks, geese, rabbits and horses.
With the changing of the seasons they were involved with work in the
fields sowing, harvesting, grape-picking
all part of the love of the land which is close to the
ASSOCIATES PRAYER O, Blessed Anne-Marie, Following the example
of Christ, You lived your whole
life Attentive to the
Will of the Father You were completely Convinced of His
loving plan for you, Led by the Spirit You wished to announce the
gospel in distant lands And to reveal to
all people their dignity. Help us, we pray
you, to be, in our turn, Seekers
of the Fathers Will. Grant us your ardent
desire To
help others to grow. We confide to you
our families, our relatives, And
our places of work. May each of us discover
Gods plan for our new lives So that together We may build a world
of love, The
sign of the Kingdom to come. AMEN Hymn Now Thank We All Our God Now thank we all
our God, With hearts and
hands and voices, Who wondrous things has done, In whom this world
rejoices; Who from our mothers
arms, Has blessed us on
our way With countless gifts
of love, And still is ours
today.
CHAMBLANC
Eglise
Chamblanc Childhood, adolescence, youth. First Communion Anne-Maries first meeting
with her God in the Eucharist. Later her suffering from lack of priests and especially her exclusion
from the Eucharist, which wounded her deeply. The years during which Anne-Maries personality becomes
established through circumstances caused by the uncertainty of history
French Revolution, civil constitution of the clergy, non-jury priests,
closing of churches. Abbe Rapin, cure of Chamblanc, goes into exile - Going out at night
to bring Abbe Ballanche to the sick.
Nightly celebrations and catechism in her uncle Jean-Baptiste and
older brother Etiennes barn.
Years marked by risk and daring. Years during which her relationship
with God deepens. Gods
call becomes firm, her choice of life matures. This she will have
to defend through many conflicts with her father. Balthazar Javouhey
is torn between his duties as head of the family, worried about the
future, his duty as mayor who must enforce the laws and his Christian
conscience, appealed to by his daughter.
He has difficulties with political situations and gives an
image to his children of an honest, devoted man, responsible for a
common good. In Mana, Anne-Marie is inspired by what she saw being
lived in Chamblanc. It is from
there she got her sense of service to others, responsibilities, solidarity,
community and organisation. During
these years, very strong bonds are formed between brothers and sisters.
She goes to Etienne when the conflict gets too severe with Balthazar.
He seems to have been established in the agricultural world has
his farm and his barn, which Anne-Marie uses for catechism and celebration
(Mass). My
dear daughter, she writes to Claudine who became Sr. Rosalie, I
feel my heart sadder as I write to you. How weak I am! You can laugh
at me. I deserve it but I cant help wanting the three of you. L.28.3 When
Pierrette (who became Sr. Marie Therese) died, Anne-Marie was seriously
ill. They had had no news from her in Time
has seemed so long, not being able to reply sooner to your letters,
which made me very downhearted. I cannot get used to the idea of never
seeing again this worthy mother whom I loved more than myself. I
cannot be consoled on the death of our dear and beloved Sr. Marie
Therese. I envy her fate, I can only think of going to
join her with God. Everything else has become foreign to me. PRAYER / REFLECTION We can remember our own family story, our searches
in adolescence, the decisions we took to shape our lives, the
support we received, our new adult relationships with parents, brothers,
sisters, how to give and receive. We
call to mind our young people, their dreams, plans, difficulties,
how we are with them, how we help them to
grow in independence, freedom, responsibility in their Faith. What
example do we show them in our lifestyle, in our helping others, in
how they may discover God? We
can confide all of that in Anne-Marie. She
had such a strong family life biological and religious family
to all of those whom she loved as a
mother and to whom she gave so much. SOUVANS early mistakes total
trust in God Anne-Marie was always searching for what God wanted
for her. In turn, she went
to A new attempt One morning Anne-Marie leaves for
Souvans a little village in the One day Anne-Marie makes an inventory of what she
has left. In a week she will
have nothing. Well have
to restrain and fast she says to her companions, in order to last
as long as possible. God will take pity on us Anne-Marie remembers a sentence of Dom de LeStrange If you cant manage/succeed, you must think about
coming back to work with us. Was this the moment to admit her failure, to decide
to give up on these children who belonged to nobody, she asks herself. With all this troubling her, Anne-Marie goes to the
church. On her knees, eyes fixed on the tabernacle, she blames herself
foolishly, My god, I have undoubtedly gone beyond your wish.
If I have gone astray, punish me, but take pity on my little
family Then, as if to give strength to her prayer, she goes
to the Choir and knocks on the door of the tabernacle. The naοve action
of a small child! Suddenly
she sees the light. The conviction comes to answer her prayer. With a light step, she returns to her class.
Her face is joyful her companions remain serious.
She understands. Nothing
has happened. Call the children together, she says, and let
us go to pray until meal-time. There wasnt even a salad to put on the table. The children had barely started praying, when a voice was heard outside,
breathless, insistent. You are Mlle. Javouhey? Someone wants you. Anne-Marie goes out and she stands speechless on
the doorstep. Her father and brother are there, with a wagon full
of food. Praise be God, the children are saved. Yes, Nanette, its your father, says Balthazer,
I couldnt close my eyes last night. I saw you unhappy. I
had promised to leave you to get on with things, But
the good God doesnt want me to abandon you. Their hearts full of emotion they started unloading
the food. Prayer/Reflection We
perhaps have also been in painful situations which seemed hopeless
suddenly become resolved and we cried with joy and relief. Let us remember, in our hearts, those strong
moments and let us celebrate the Lord and thank Him for His faithful
love Certain
that God will never abandon us, regardless of what difficulties we
have in life, we will now renew the act of confidence of Anne-Marie. We
approach the Tabernacle and in an Act of Faith, welcoming in advance,
the Lords answer. We knock on the door as if to call him.
Baptistere SEUERE
It
is here that Anne-Marie was baptised on Anne-Marie
always looked on her Baptism as her real birthday.
Her strong sense of family made her aware of the importance
of this Sacrament. In Baptism she enters Gods family she enters
into a relationship daughter God. Sons
and daughters of God, you did not receive a spirit of slavery leading
you back into fear, St. Paul tells us, but a spirit of adoption
through which we cry out Abba (which is Father). Rm. 8.15 Baptism
invites us to put our steps in the steps of Jesus. It invites us to
promote around us, a civilization of love, a world of sharing, fraternity
and hope. All her life, Anne-Marie
wanted men and women to stand up, restored to dignity, saved. Baptism
makes us a people the Church. It gives us thousands of brothers and sisters
throughout the world. Anne-Marie
always maintained her attachment to the Church despite the opposition
she met. She received the call to the mission abroad
across the seas a universal call. PRAYER/REFLECTION
We renew our awareness of the gift of Baptism. We rediscover our joy of sons and
daughters of the Father: O Father, I am your child, I have a thousand proofs of your love I want to praise you in song The song of joy of my Baptism
CHALON
At
the end of 1805 the four sisters were reunited in Chalon. The community
is established in Citadelle area 19, Rue de lObelisque. The The
school quickly becomes very successful. It gets local support. All
students are treated equally, given a good education development
of helping each other is encouraged among the students wish to develop
all skills including manual skills e.g. weaving for the girls. Anne-Marie
prepares an oratory in the house. Under whose patronage do you wish
to place your chapel? asks the Cure Ollivier. Under
the patronage of St. Bernard, she answers, thinking of the great
patron of the Trappists. Why
not St.
Therese placed her first foundation under the patronage of this great
Saint. So this is how Anne-Marie
and her companions became the Daughters of St. Joseph. On
The
ceremony, presided over by Mgr. Imberties, took place in this very
same church where in 1805 they had been at Mass of the Holy Father
and received the Apostolic Blessing.
A large number of clergy was present as well as civil authorities. It was such a new sight as, since the revolution,
such celebrations no longer took place. There was besides, plenty
to attract the attention of a curious public four sisters, a rare
event, coming before the diocesan bishop to get a religious habit,
for so long forbidden. They
came to consecrate themselves to God by their religious vows and to
dedicate themselves to the education of youth. The eldest, the promoter
of this Holy enterprise, Anne-Marie was only 27years old and the youngest
was barely 17. Five other young girls, drawn by their example followed
them to the altar to make the same commitments.
That was a rare spectacle, which moved minds and touched hearts. When
Monseigneur had received their vows and blessed their religious habits,
they retired to the sacristy to dress. They then returned to the Church
in their new habits, which showed everyone that they belonged, from
now on, totally to Jesus Christ. We
cannot tell if it was during the ceremony that they exchanged their
Baptismal names for their religious ones. What is certain, however,
is that from that moment the girls of M. Javouhey were only called
Sisters Anne-Marie, Marie Therese (Pierrette), Marie-Joseph(Marie-Francoise)
and Rosalie (Claudine) REFLECTION Together we wish to make our own, the joy which Anne-Marie had then. We
give praise to God. Hymn: Praise and glory to your Name, Alleluia, alleluia! Lord, God of the Universe, Alleluia, alleluia! Glory to God, Glory to God, In the highest of Heavens, In the highest of Heavens. There
is no completed will of God. Since 1798, date of her first religious
consecration in Etiennes barn, until Prayer Come, let us pray to the Lord, Alleluia He is our Creator, Alleluia, Alleluia Glory to God Glory to God In the highest above In the highest above After
Anne-Marie said: Here I am Lord, to do your Will, thousands of sisters
have been called to take her way of the gospel. Because today
we are among these, Praise be to You, O Lord.
We have come to to meet her in her native land, in the places where
you spoke to her. With her we wish to learn to discern the Will of
the Father through the events and situations in our life. We wish
to build a more human world, more fraternal with respect for everybody. Prayer For us he did marvellous things,
Alleluia, alleluia Eternal in his love, Alleluia, alleluia Glory to God Glory to God In the Highest of Highs
In the Highest of Highs Blessed be you, Lord for the Congregation of the Sisters
of St. Joseph of Cluny, announcing the Good News of your Gospel throughout
the World. Thank you for having given it to the Church. We pray especially for the most exposed missions Hymn I want to sing for my God, Alleluia,
Alleluia Every day of my life, Alleluia, Alleluia Glory to God Glory to God In the Highest of High In the Highest of High
Growth,
maturity, passage through the Pascal Mystery Very
quickly the growing congregations develop. After several attempts,
Anne-Marie procures a portion of the buildings of the lay seminary
in Autes for her novitiate for three years. At the end of the three years it is 1810 and
the Spanish War is in full swing.
One wing of the seminary is allocated to receive a contingent
of wounded and ill prisoners. Anne-Marie
becomes a nurse, contracts typhoid and her life is in danger for a
while. The
Community has to move to a poor area of the town, Rue
de Roz. There one day in January 1812, Anne-Marie reads this advertisement
in the paper: M. Roberjob is putting the former Convent des Recollets,
bought by him as a national gift, up for sale.
The building is situated on the St. Odile Hill and dominates
the Benedictine Abbey. This
is like a message from above to Anne-Marie. She tells her father of her desire to acquire
this building. Balthazar, with
his four daughters, makes the journey from Chalon to The
sale is signed on the 29th May. The installation takes
place a month later and the Institute gets its definitive identity,
becoming Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny In
1827 the laws ruling the life of the Congregations are approved by
King Charles, by authorising the Congregation forever. However, during the General Chapter of 1835,
the Bishop of Autun, Mgr. DHericourt wishes to improve a change of
status. His aim is to have himself
recognised as the Superior General of the Congregation, which means
that Anne-Marie could not undertake any journey abroad without his
permission. In
a moment of weakness and under threats and blackmail from Mgr. dHericourt,
Anne-Marie signs his agreement. However, she soon realises that she has lost
a lot of liberty with regard to decisions and travelling overseas. It is the missions which are in danger. She takes charge again. From this on the Monsignor does everything in
his power to put her under pressure as far as he can, even as far
as The
Abbe Aucherat is named Chaplin to the Novitiate in It
was on one fine day that she called together ninety postulants and
novices to say to them: I did not go searching for you. You are free
to follow the Rule of my Congregation or to be guided by the Chaplin. You have been told that it is a sin to follow
me. I tell you that it is not
a sin to follow Mgr. dHericourt.
All those who wish to stay in the Congregation will follow
me to Only
two novices and five postulants remained seated. A
commemorative plaque recalls this painful moment. The dispute lasted until1846, When Mgr. dHericourt
agreed to negotiate and gave up his wish to be Superior General of
the Congregation. Today,
Anne-Marie
was deeply affected by the dispute with the bishop of Autun.
She was hurt by the spiteful attitude and the untruths about
her. However, she forgave and
always affirmed her attachment to the Church. Reflection We too can experience situations of power struggles, of rivalry in our
relationships, in our professional life, our Associate
life or even in our involvement in the Church, We meet the Pascal
mystery on our journey. Let us ask Anne-Marie to know, like she did, how to draw our strength,
our serenity, our firmness from our Faith in god May she affirm in us, a sense of
service of the common good and the gift of ourselves.
May we be elements and instruments of peace in
our respect for the truth. |
