Born in Grenoble, France, in 1769, Rose joined the Society of the Sacred Heart. In 1818, when she was forty-nine, Rose was sent to United States. She founded a boarding school for daughters of pioneers near St. Louis and opened the first free school west of the Missouri.At the age of seventy-one, Rose began a school for Indians, who soon came to call her “the woman who is always praying.” Her biographers have also stressed her courage in frontier conditions, her single-mindedness in pursuing her dream of serving Native Americans, and her self-acceptance.
This holy servant of God died in 1852 and was beatified in 1940 by Pope Pius XII and canonized in 1988 by Pope John Paul II.
PRAYER: Gracious God, You filled the heart of Rose Philippine Duchesne with charity and missionary zeal and gave her the desire to make You known among all peoples. Fill us, who honor her memory today, with the same love and zeal to extend Your Kingdom to the ends of the earth. Amen.