Rose Philippine Duchesne was the first Religious of the Sacred Heart to come to America with a few companions to establish the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1818. She was a valiant pioneer and a humble, hard-working religious, but above all she was a person of prayer. When she finally realized her dream of going to work with the Indians, she spent her days in prayer for them and they called her "the woman-who-prays-always." She founded the first house of the Society of the Sacred Heart in St. Charles, Missouri and spent the last ten years of her life there.
I went to school there and heard about this saintly religious and learned to love her. We celebrated her feast on November 17th; now that she is a canonized saint, the Church celebrates the day of her death, November 18th as her feast. Since tomorrow is a Sunday, I wanted to talk a bit about Mother Duchesne today and add this prayer of hers:
Lord, you alone are the center in which I find rest.
Give my your arm to support me,
Your shoulders to carry me,
Your heart to lean upon,
Your cross to uphold me,
Your body to nourish me.
In you, Lord, I sleep and rest in peace.
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