Marie Rose Durocher, Religious

Eulalie Durocher was born in St. Antoine, Quebec, on October 6, 1811, the tenth of eleven children. When she was sixteen, Eulalie felt a calling to a religious life, but her frail health caused her to be turned away by religious orders. While working in a parish, she became very concerned about the quality of religious education being offered there. Knowing Eulalie’s concern for the education of children, her confessor, Fr. Pierre Telmon, with the concurrence of Bishop Bourget, urged her to start such a teaching order. Although reluctant due to her poor health, Eulalie agreed and, together with two companions, founded the Sisters of the Holy Name of Jesus and Mary.

Frailty and ill health did not stop this saint from answering God’s call, first to recognize a need and then to establish an order of nuns to meet that need. Indeed, God gives us all of the strength that we need to answer his call.