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Thursday, September 3, 2009

St. Michael's


Father de la Croix who had given up his lodging before when Mother Duchesne and her first companions moved to Florissant near St. Louis, was again moving out of the rectory of his parish. He begged for the Religious of the Sacred Heart to come. He was given the Church in 1823 and took up a collection among his parishioners and even among priest of other Parishes to make this foundation possible. Within a few weeks he had amassed a small fortune. Mother Duchesne was won over but begged that Mother Eugenie Aude would be sent as superior. So the seven foundresses set out only to find that their new home was not yet ready for them. There were three novices, two coadjutrix sisters, and Mother Hamilton and Eugenie Aude and Father de la Croix presented them at Mass on the Feast of All Saints. They were asked to sing the Mass and did so.
They moved into their new home three weeks later. It was of colonial style but rather bare inside. They mostly lived on rice and milk the first month and did not own seven plates.