Based on the article "Martyr of Charity: Blessed Sr. Rosalie (1786-1856)," by Jean-Pierre Renouard, C.M. Vincentiana: Vol. 49 : No. 2, Article 12. Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentiana/vol49/iss2/12

1. What does Rosalie Rendu
teach us today?

2. 1. She teaches
us to dedicate
our lives to
the poor.

3. She was
“totally given
to the service
of the poor,”
and in that she
is an icon of
Jesus Christ.

4. She knew, without
any theorizing, that
in the poor person
hides the Christ
who is always
suffering and
always worthy of
love and respect.

5. 2. She teaches
us to help
others to take
responsibility.

6. In her involvement with
the poor in the Mouffetard
neighborhood,
Sr. Rosalie put a whole
system in place. Rich,
poor, intellectuals,
lowly people, women,
men, everyone was
pressed into service. The
poor are the masters of all
and compel us to equality.

7. “Her meetings with
all classes of society
allowed many
people to discover
the reality of misery
and poverty and the
limitations of
‘traditional charity.’”
-Sr. Elisabeth Charpy, DC

8. She teaches us to
work in a network.
Particularly through
her work with the
young in the
foundation of the
Society of St.
Vincent de Paul,
Sr. Rosalie becomes
a witness and a
leader for our times.

9. 3. She teaches
us that dignity
precedes
charity.

10. She
teaches us
respect for
the poor.
Dignity
precedes
help.

11. To the young students
from the Sorbonne who
came to help her, she
constantly explained:
“Remember that the poor
person is more sensitive to
proper treatment than
help… Even if you have
something with which to
reproach him, studiously
avoid all hurtful and
cutting words.”

12. 4. She teaches
us to be
prophetic
witnesses.

13. Rosalie lived in a world of
death and violence and
misery. And she shared in its
joys as well. She lived out
what John Paul II, in his
document on consecrated
life, said: “In our world,
where it often seems that the
signs of God’s presence have
been lost from sight, a
convincing prophetic witness
on the part of consecrated
persons is increasingly
necessary…”

14. [Her consecrated life is
a prophetic witness to
the primacy of God,
and to the things that
do not pass away. We
who try to follow in her
footsteps may not be
extraordinary people,
but we point to
something
extraordinary.]

15. Sr. Elisabeth Charpy, DC
wrote of Sr. Rosalie that her
“every social action is rooted
in an evangelical mysticism.”
Here we see the very essence
of Sr. Rosalie’s message for
today: our Vincentian action
can never be anything other
than evangelical. [The
community of Christ is an
instrument the Lord uses to
show His presence to a lost
and sinful world.]

16. 5. She calls us
to be inventive.

17. It is possibly in this regard
that she most resembles
St. Vincent and St. Louise.
These two saints, faithful to
events and to the needs of
the poor, always
responded in ways which
were pertinent to the
needs of their times; and
so too did the sister of the
Mouffetard neighborhood.

18. She invented, originated,
created, concretized; as
soon as she saw a need,
she came up with an
appropriate response,
ready to shake up, even
annoy, officials and
superiors. She recognized
only the needs of the poor
and she knew that “charity
is above all rules.” In this,
she is deeply Vincentian.

19. 6. She reminds us
to be people of
prayer.

20. Sr. Rosalie was a person of prayer
and an excellent formator. As a
true Daughter of Charity, she
immersed herself daily in prayer
and willingly went into the
chapel, either for the community
exercises or for daily Mass.
She knew M. Vincent’s “leave God
for God” but if an emergency
presented itself, she hastened to
say “Let us begin our prayer!”
Many of the sisters spoke of her
doggedness in prayer.

21. And the sisters especially
spoke of her teaching.
She, who was also Sister
Servant, well knew how
to “draw out the lesson”
and “encourage others to
virtue.” She herself had
not had much formal
training. But she knew
how to set humility,
charity and simplicity
above all.

22. 1. She teaches us to dedicate
our lives to the poor.
2. She teaches us to help
others to take responsibility.
3. She teaches us that dignity
precedes charity.
4. She teaches us to be
prophetic witnesses.
5. She calls us to be inventive.
6. She reminds us to be people
of prayer.

23. “Maybe we can surrender some of our comfort in
order to make a place for those who have no comfort
at all. It does not mean that we will lose our own, but
will make it more worthy.”
- Abbé Pierre, who is only taking up Sr. Rosalie’s
message when he urges us to get off our couches…

24. Adapted from “Martyr of Charity: Blessed Sr. Rosalie (1786-1856),"
by Jean-Pierre Renouard, C.M.
Vincentiana: Vol. 49 : No. 2, Article 12.
Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentiana/vol49/iss2/12
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