Duchesne, Saint Rose Philippine

Duchesne, Saint Rose Philippine düshĕnˈ [key], 1769–1852, French educator in the United States, a Roman Catholic nun, b. Grenoble, France. She entered the order of the Visitation, but was forced (1791) by the antireligious decrees of the French Revolution to leave her convent. In 1804 she joined the Society of the Sacred Heart, which sent her to the United States in 1818. From the convent and school she founded at St. Charles, Mo.—later moved to Florissant, Mo.—she traveled over a wide area, founding schools for girls, doing charitable work, and finally ministering to Native Americans. Duchesne was a valiant missionary and a well-known benefactress. She was beatified in 1940 and canonized in 1988. Feast: Nov. 18.

See biography by L. Callan (1957, abr. ed. 1965).

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