Rosalie Rendu

Having become Sister Rosalie, she took her vows in 1807 and was appointed superior of her community in 1815. In the particularly destitute Mouffetard district, she multiplied her works: home visits, free education for young girls, the creation of a nursery, a kindergarten, a sewing workshop, an orphanage in 1851, and a hospice in 1852. She distinguished herself by her courage during the cholera epidemics of 1832 and 1849, as well as during the insurrections of 1830 and 1848, caring for the wounded from both sides. In 1852, she received the Cross of the Legion of Honor from Napoleon III.

Nicknamed 'the mother of the poor', Sister Rosalie died on February 7, 1856, at the age of 69, after contracting pleurisy. Her funeral at the Saint-Médard church brought together approximately fifty thousand people. She is buried in the Montparnasse cemetery. Her cause for beatification was introduced at the diocesan level in 1953, and Pope John Paul II proclaimed her venerable on April 24, 2001, by recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues.

The beatification of Sister Rosalie Rendu is based on the recognition of a miracle: the sudden and unexplained healing of a progressive paralysis in a nun in 1952. The decree approving this miracle was promulgated on April 12, 2003. She was solemnly beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 9, 2003, in Saint Peter's Square in Rome. Her liturgical memorial is set for February 7, and the Archdiocese of Paris celebrates it on February 9.

Sister Rosalie's spirituality is based on the service of Christ through the poor, nourished by an intense life of prayer. She played a major guiding role for the founders of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul in 1833, notably Frédéric Ozanam, by initiating them into home visits. In Paris, the Sainte-Rosalie church and the Avenue Sœur-Rosalie perpetuate her memory.