On August 26, Butler’s Lives of the Saints commemorates St. Joan Elizabeth Bichier des Âges, virgin and co-founder of the Daughters of the Cross.

Born in France in 1773, Elizabeth came of age during the upheaval of the French Revolution. After defending her family’s property from confiscation, she dedicated herself completely to Jesus and Mary and intensified her life of prayer, charity, and service to the poor.

Under the direction of St. Andrew Fournet, she was told that her vocation was not to flee the world, but to rebuild what religious division and revolution had destroyed: “There are in it many ruins to rebuild and much ignorance to remedy.”

Elizabeth instructed children, cared for the sick and needy, helped restore Catholic life, and eventually co-founded the Daughters of the Cross. The congregation spread rapidly throughout France, opening schools and convents and serving rural communities.

Her life was marked by hardship, obedience, physical suffering, exhausting travel, and relentless work. Yet witnesses remembered her as kind, resolute, intelligent, hardworking, profoundly humble, and calm in every storm.

She died on August 26, 1838, after ten days of agony borne with heroic patience, and was canonized in 1947.

St. Joan Elizabeth Bichier des Âges, pray for us.

#StJoanElizabeth #CatholicSaints #ButlersLivesOfTheSaints #CatholicHistory #FrenchRevolution #DaughtersOfTheCross #CatholicFaith #SaintOfTheDay #CatholicWomen #SensusFidelium

00:00 St. Joan Elizabeth Bichier des Âges
00:17 Childhood & Compassion for the Poor
00:51 Convent School in Poitiers
01:15 Her Father Dies During the Revolution
01:24 Fighting to Save Her Family Property
02:01 A Life Consecrated to Jesus & Mary
02:31 Prayer, Piety & Good Works
02:48 Keeping the Faith During Religious Upheaval
03:02 Meeting St. Andrew Fournet
03:17 “Many Ruins to Rebuild”
03:33 Serving the Sick, Poor & Children
03:55 A Radical Choice of Simplicity
04:29 The Call to Found a Religious Community
04:54 Formation for Religious Life
05:17 The New Community Takes Shape
05:25 Teaching Children & Caring for the Sick
05:33 Reparation to the Blessed Sacrament
05:50 Founding the Daughters of the Cross
06:07 Trials, Fasting & Austerity
06:31 A Great Test of Obedience & Humility
07:03 Thirteen New Convents
07:20 Expansion Across Rural France
07:45 St. Michael Garicoïts
08:16 Death of St. Andrew Fournet
08:31 Declining Health & Severe Suffering
08:54 Her Holy Death — August 26, 1838
09:02 Canonization & Stories of Her Charity
09:10 Helping a Sick Enemy
09:52 Living the Christian Ideal
10:01 Her Extraordinary Character
10:18 Serenity in Every Storm

https://sensusfidelium.com/the-lives-of-the-fathers-martyrs-and-other-principal-saints/august/

Get Butler's Lives of the Saints here: https://loretopublications.idevaffiliate.com/idevaffiliate.php?id=102&url=1

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