Subj : =?UTF-8?Q?September_26th_=E2=80=93_Saint_Marie_Victoire_Therese_Coud?= To : All From : rich Date : Wed Sep 25 2019 08:55:14 From: rich September 26th =E2=80=93 Saint Marie Victoire Therese Couderc Sister Teresa, born in 1805 and christened Mary Victoria, came of good farming stock at Sabli=C3=A8res, Marie Victoire Couderc was the daughter of a prominent farmer of Sablieres in southeast France. After finishing boarding school, she decided to join a religious teaching community, the Daughters of St. Regis, founded recently at Aps by the local pastor, Abbe John Terme. She took the name Therese. This was in 1826. In 1824, Abbe Terme had been sent to LaLouvesc to work among the peasants of the area and at the same time to take charge of the shrine of the popular local missionary and saint, John Francis Regis. Father Terme soon concluded that there should be a hospice for women connected with the shrine. In 1827, therefore, he summoned Sister Therese and two others of his teaching sisters at Aps to manage the hospice. In Sister Couderc he discovered =E2=80=9Ca sound head, sound judgment and a power of spiritual discrimination.=E2=80=9D Therefore, he named her superior of the hospice, although she was only 23. In 1828 Father Terme decided that the guests at the hospice should henceforth be restricted to laywomen who were making retreats according to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. Retreats for women were a great novelty then, and the undertaking caught on at once. The Jesuit fathers took over the shrine and the hospice shortly before Father Terme's death in 1834. Gradually the retreat-group at LaLouv= esc was separated from the teaching community at Aps and turned into a new religious order devoted solely to retreat-related work. Eventually it took the name =E2=80=9CCongregation of Our Lady of the Retreat in the Cenacle.=E2=80=9D (The =E2=80=9Ccenacle=E2=80=9D was the =E2=80=9Cupper roo= m=E2=80=9D in which Jesus and the apostles partook of the Last Supper, and in which, after the Resurrection, the disciples and Mary gathered daily to pray.) When Sister Therese, superior since 1828, made her final vows in 1837, she also made an act of consecration in which she abdicated her authority. She resigned in 1838, blaming herself (though it was not her fault) for the debts the community had incurred. The three women named superiors to follow her were ill-chosen. The third of these nuns held Mother Therese in so small regard that she assigned her only menial tasks and tried to see to it that she had no contact with the other nuns. Mother Couderc's fourth successor left the order becaus= e of the continued internal strife. During this whole period Therese was even denied the credit of being co-foundress, with Father Terme, of the order. What is remarkable is that throughout St. Therese's 80 years she he= ld herself so =E2=80=9Cuseless=E2=80=9D that she was not disturbed by the conf= usion around her and the way in which she herself was =E2=80=9Cdiscarded.=E2=80= =9D Although there was much to criticize, she never criticized. She continued to work for the betterment of her religious community by prayer, penance and the acceptance of her rejection. In the end, she was able to say, =E2=80=9CGod has always given me peace of soul, the grace to leave myself i= n His hands and to want nothing but to love him and be ever closer to Him.=E2=80=9D The Congregation of the Cenacle eventually steadied and expanded into many nations. (Under Bishop James E. Kearney, the sisters opened their Rochester Cenacle Retreat House at 693 East Avenue in 1948). Stabilization and growth were no doubt largely due to the intercession of the foundress. Therese Couderc was beatified in 1951 and canonized in 1970. St. Therese's steadfastness amid trials has set for us all, I think= , an admirable example. She belonged to an institution that was good in itself, though it came upon difficult days. If we were in the same position, we might easily grow impatient, say =E2=80=9CWhat's the u= se?=E2=80=9D, and resign from the community. She didn't. Because her order was good i= n itself, she stuck with it, trusting that God would not let it go under. There is a parallel today with the Church itself. Some Catholics, faced with the Church's trials during a period of transition, have said, =E2=80=9CWhat's the use?=E2=80=9D and have left the Church al= ong one avenue or another. But the church is a good thing. We should therefore stick with it in steadfast prayer. Our faith assures us that Christ, in due time, will rebuke the wind and say to the sea, =E2=80=9CQuiet. Be still!=E2= =80=9D Will he then turn to us and say, =E2=80=9CWhy are you so terrified? Why are you lacking in faith?=E2=80=9D (Mk. 5:39-40) Towards the end of her life Mother Teresa's health began to fail badly, and for the last nine months she suffered terribly in body. At Fourvi=C3=A8re on September 26, 1885, Mary Victoria Couderc, Mother Teresa, died =E2=80=93Father Robert Saint Quotes by Marie Victoire Therese Couderc: I have just one desire, that God be glorified. My heart embraces the whole world. Let me live by love, let me die of love, and let my last heartbeat be an act of the most perfect love. All places are alike to me, because everywhere I expect to find God, who is the only object of all my desires. What does it matter if my feet, bare and torn, fill my wooden shoes with blood? I would willingly begin the journey all over again, for I have indeed found the good God! --Marie Victoire Therese Couderc Bible Quote: "the land is filled with blood, and the city is filled with perverseness: for they have said: The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not. Therefore neither shall my eye spare, nor will I have pity: I will requite their way upon their head"=C2 =C2 (Ezechie= l 9:9-10) <><><><> CROSS MY HEART FOREVER, JESUS Place Your hand upon my heart, Seal my future with Your kiss; Take this soul forever homeward. To Your land of love and bliss. Free my spirit from the shackles, Bound on earth by body pleasures; Let me fly unto the Kingdom, Shining there with godly treasures. Light my way through earth's bleak darkness; Place the seal that makes me free. Feed my soul with Heaven's manna; Give me eyes and heart to see. Share Your friendship with the weak soul; Strengthen us with Heaven's power. Set the road just straight before us; Send the essence from the flower. --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .