Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon
The Venerable Mother Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon, F.M.I., (1789–1828) founded the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, or Marianist Sisters, a Roman Catholic religious institute of Religious Sisters and one of the four branches of the Marianist Family.
Early life
De Trenquelléon was born on June 10, 1789 in the Castle of Trenquelléon, located in Feugarolles, in the ancient Province of Guyenne. She was the daughter of the Baron Charles de Trenquelléon, a member of an ancient and aristocratic family. In 1791, in the early days of the French Revolution, the Baron led his military forces as part of the attempt by the Prince of Condé to rescue King Louis XVI of France. The attack was repulsed and the Baron fled to England for refuge.[1]
In September 1797, the Baroness de Trenquelléon, Adele's mother, was allowed to leave France with her children to seek refuge in Spain. The following spring, they and other refugees from France were expelled from Spain at the request of the French Revolutionary government and took refuge in Portugal. It was there that the Baron was finally able to rejoin his family in 1798. The following year they were allowed to return to Spain and it was there that Adèle made her First Communion on the Feast of the Epiphany 1801. Later that same year, the family was finally able to return to their ancestral home.[1]
From a very young age, De Trenquelléon had expressed an interest in entering monastic life as a Carmelite nun. Shortly after their return to France in 1801, she again indicated a desire to become a Carmel. Due to her age, her mother was able to persuade her to wait, but had her son's tutor write a little Rule of Life for Adèle to prepare her for life in an enclosed religious order.
The Little Society
In 1804, while Adele was still a teenager, she and some friends formed a spiritual union called the "Little Society" (French: Petite Société), which is also referred to as the Association. The goal of the Little Society was to create a network of young women who would support each other in faith and pray for each other that they might have good deaths. As the Association grew, Adele began writing directly to all members from the Chateau de Tranquelleon, her family home. The Little Society quickly grew to include some 60 members by 1808, including some members of the clergy of the district. Also during this time, Adele began visiting the sick and teaching the children of the region about the fundamentals of the Catholic faith.[2]
In 1808, the Baroness de Tranquelleon visited a friend who works at a hospital in Figeac. While telling this friend in the hospital waiting room about Adele's Association, another man in the waiting area overhears their conversation and tells the Baroness that the Association's goals and purposes sound very similar to another group he belongs to, the Sodality of the Immaculate Conception in Bordeaux, a faith community formed by Blessed William Joseph Chaminade that began as a project to renew the Catholic Church after being persecuted in the French Revolution. This man suggests that Adele and Chaminade begin corresponding. The Baroness brings the group to her daughter's attention, and Adele and Chaminade begin corresponding. He soon sends some information about the Sodality to Adèle. Within the year, the Association had re-shaped itself in accordance with the organization and spirit of the Sodality. [3]
The following year, in 1809, the Sodality was suppressed by government authorities. Thanks to Adèle's social position and caution, however, the Association was able to continue in its goals. That same year, Adele chose to reject an offer of marriage made to her, which later turned into a choice to renounce marriage forever. [1] Despite suffering from a severe illness in 1810, upon her recovery, she resumes her work of care for the sick and the education of the poor, as well as her correspondence with the members of the Association.
At that time and over the next several years, Adele began to dream about founding a religious community composed of some of the women of the Association. This would be a religious community under the traditional religious vows, but actively engaged in the care of the poor. Chaminade saw a parallel to developments in his own foundations and invited her to join them. However, Adele would have to wait to fulfill her dream, for she had to nurse her father through a critical illness, not to mention because of the persisting government restrictions on Church organizations. [4]
Daughters of Mary Immaculate
After the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1814, the Catholic Church began to experience a new freedom from the restrictions imposed on it during his rule. De Trenquelléon immediately saw an opportunity to realize her dream of a religious community, and sought the required permissions, both civil and ecclesiastical, to establish the women of her Society as such, based in the family castle. She sought Chaminade's guidance and support in this. What he proposed to her was that the community she envisioned take on the character of a missionary society, a vision he had guarded for nearly fifteen years. She and the other women enthusiastically accepted this vision and began to form a new religious congregation along these lines. They all made a private vow of celibacy and began to wear a silver ring in indication of this fact.[1]
The canonical establishment of the new congregation was put off by Chaminade while the group developed its sense of its mission and way of life. This was interrupted briefly upon the return of the Emperor Napoleon to power in March 1815. Chaminade was arrested and transferred to central France, where he was forbidden contact with the various religious groups he was leading.
By the Fall of 1815, the rule of Napoleon had finally ended and Chaminade was freed. The death of the Baron and the change in civil law left De Trenquelléon free to embark on community life. Chaminade also saw the time as finally being opportune and authorized her to rent part of an ancient monastery in the local capital of Agen. This was done in 1816, at which time Adèle renounced her inheritance in favor of her brother.
In 1816, members of De Trenquelléon's group and female members of the Sodality formed a religious congregation, the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, that sought to combine the Sodality's missionary character with the contemplative nature of the Carmelite Order, which she had once aspired to join.[5] The local bishop, however, delayed permission for the women to take religious vows over the issue of the enclosure which was normally required with this step, and they were allowed to wear a religious habit only during the Octave of Christmas. Finally, in July 1817, he permitted the women to take vows, but they were to do so privately, in the secrecy of the confessional. Chaminade accepted their vows individually in this manner.[1]
The congregation began to grow and spread by 1820. De Trenquelléon continued to see the formation of female lay communities as part of her mission. Each of the Daughters' convents sponsored sodalities for young women and for married women, as well as a Third Order Secular which carried on the community's mission beyond the walls of its enclosure.[5] In 1824, the French government authorized the existence of religious congregations of women.
Death and veneration
By 1825, De Trenquelléon had become so ill that Chaminade had to plead with her to restrict her service. Nevertheless, she continued her correspondence with the Sisters of the congregation, most especially the local superiors and the novices. She spend her last years working for the legal recognition of the congregation. She died in Agen on 10 January 1828 and was buried in the convent cemetery.[1]
The Roman Catholic Church has formally approved the cause for her canonization, marking a step on the path to her being declared a saint. Pope John Paul II named her as Venerable on 5 June 1986 and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints ratified the diocesan process of a potential miracle attributed to her on 5 December 2014. A medical board approved the healing as being an actual miracle on 12 May 2016.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Marianist Sisters "Chronologie biographique de Mère Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon" Archived April 27, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. (French)
- ↑ Adele by Joseph Stefanelli S.M. chapter 6
- ↑ Adele by Joseph Stefanelli, S.M. chapter 7
- ↑ Adele by Joseph Stefanelli S.M.
- 1 2 "Dedicated to the Mission of Mary, She Brought Hope to a Broken World", Office for Mission and Rector, University of Dayton Archived July 12, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.