Blessed Marie Rose Durocher

Today, we celebrate a memorial for the United States, Blessed Marie Rose Durocher. She was born on this day (October 6) in Canada. Her brother, Eusebius, was a parish priest and Blessed Marie served as his housekeeper. It was during this time that she took care of sick priests and seminarians. She also established a sodality and operated charitable programs in the parish. Blessed Marie had a beautiful devotion to our Blessed Mother. On December 8, 1844, she took vows as a Sister of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. She founded convents and schools in Canada and her work even reached to the United States. Blessed Marie Rose died on October 6, 1849. She was declared a "Venerable" in 1979 and "Blessed" on May 23, 1982. This is what our beloved Holy Father, Pope John Paul II said at her beatification Mass: "Marie Rose Durocher acted with simplicity, prudence, humility, and serenity. She refused to be halted by her personal problems of health or the initial difficulties of her new-born work. Her secret lay in prayer and self-forgetfulness, which, according to her bishop, reached the point of real sanctity" (John Paul II's Book of Saints, 268-69).