Philippine had so many difficult years that it is hard to just summarize what she had to go through during the years between the time she made the foundation of the City House in St. Louis and when she was finally allowed to leave the burden of superior in 1840. She had three houses in Louisiana that were causing her difficulty. although they seemed to flourish more than the three houses in Missouri. She was always short of personnel to fill the positions in her houses; she lacked funds, class materials, books, and often felt the weight of the financial situation of the houses in Missouri. She hated being in debt but she had to provide for so many: not only the children and the orphans, but the novices who were finally coming and increasing the numbers for the Society of the Sacred Heart in America.
The Religious who did arrive from France were critical of the way things were being done. They did not understand the cost of living on the frontier. Philippine had no money to hire men to cultivate the land and no money to enclose all the land. She was doing the best she could with what she had and, fortunately, the Bishop understood what she was accomplishing with so little help. She found her strength in prayer.
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