Produced by Michael Gray [Frontispiece: MOTHER PHILIPPINE DUCHESNE] Venerable Philippine Duchesne BY G. E. M. A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND WORK OF THE FOUNDRESS OF THE SOCIETY OF THE SACRED HEART IN AMERICA NEW YORK THE AMERICA PRESS 1914 NIHIL OBSTAT ANGELUS MARIANI, S.C., ADV. _Sacr. Rit. Congregationis Assessor_ NIHIL OBSTAT REMIGIUS LAFORT, S.T.L. _Censor_ IMPRIMATUR JOHN CARDINAL FARLEY Archbishop of New York COPYRIGHT 1914 BY THE AMERICA PRESS _In accordance with the decrees of Urban VIII. and other Sovereign Pontiffs, we hereby declare that the terms holy and saintly, as applied to the Venerable Philippine Duchesne, or other personages mentioned in the following pages, are used merely in their ordinary and untechnical sense, without any thought of anticipating the decision of the Church which alone is empowered to pronounce authoritatively in such matters._ PREFACE. There have been many heroic figures in the history of American Catholicity. The sowing of the faith in our beloved land was not accomplished lightly. Anguish of soul and weariness of body were required of our pioneers, no less than of those of other lands. Our predecessors in this portion of God's vineyard left home and kindred and friends and cast themselves on a strange shore, wanderers for God's cause, giving their lives in labor and anguish of spirit, that the glad tidings of salvation might be spread far and wide. Some of these folk were martyrs in very truth. Through the mercy of Christ their heart's blood has sanctified our soil. Others by living their length of days in the midst of privations and sorrows, that Christ might be known and glorified, fell little short of the martyrdom of blood itself. The memory of these still lives, enshrined in hearts that love them for their tireless zeal and their dauntless courage. Of such pioneers was the Venerable Philippine Duchesne, a truly valiant woman, to whom the American Church owes a debt of gratitude too great for payment. The following pages are too few to give more than a glimpse of her heroic labors, but they have caught inspiration from their subject, and something, too, of her fragrant piety. No one will read them without admiration for one who was so weak and yet so strong, so humble, and yet so daring in work for God. Mother Duchesne has a lesson for this age of softness and indolence. She has shown us the way to heroism and offers us motives for entering thereon. For this gratitude is due. This sketch is conceived in a spirit of thankfulness, a tribute of appreciation that will speak a clear, forceful message to sad hearts and selfish hearts and timorous souls, inspiring all with great ideals and holy ambitions to do a mite for the leader, Christ. R. H. T.