Venerable Pauline-Marie Jaricot, Apostolic Soul

Optional Memorial - January 9th

Pauline Marie Jaricot was born in Lyon on July 22, 1799, to a profoundly religious family of silk merchants. Her entire life was given completely to God and her Holy Mother, the church. From her conversion at the age of 16, she devoted herself to a life of prayer and service. At age 18, she composed a treatise on the Infinite Love of the Divine Eucharist. She founded societies of prayer that continue today.

At this time, Catholics in France faced persecution. Pauline and her family lived in isolation. Had Pauline not been withdrawn from the world in this way, she would not have fully understood the necessity of prayer. With this insight, she dedicated herself to works of charity. She found that to serve the poor and afflicted was to serve Christ himself. Dividing her efforts between helping others and her life of prayer, she soon realized that to truly help others, she must bring them to God.

The French Revolution had wrought havoc and destruction to the evangelization efforts of the Church. The entire attitude of the Church toward missionaries was undermined. There were no viable initiatives or collections to help them. Pauline prayed much on this and had a sudden inspiration, thus The Association of the Propagation of the Faith was born from God, for her to spread across the world.

In 1826, she established the Association of the Living Rosary. The fifteen decades of the Rosary were divided among fifteen associates, each of whom had to recite daily one determined decade. A second object of the new foundation was the spread of good books and articles of piety. A venture of Pauline's in the interest of social reform, involved her in financial difficulties and failed. She died January 9, 1862 and was declared venerable on February 25, 1963, by Saint John XXIII.

Venerable Pauline-Marie Jaricot's apostolic soul longed to bring the knowledge and love of Christ to the world. Never did she cease to sing the glory of God and to praise His name. She said: "Receive us in thy embrace as we are, and give us all that thou hath, so that disappearing in thee, an ocean of love and perfections, nothing will remain of us any longer but thyself wherein we are hidden."