St. Emilie de Vialar: Foundress of the Sisters of Joseph of the Apparition SJABorn: 12th September 1797
Place: Gaillac, France
Died: 24th August 1856
Canonized: 24th June 1951
Founded the Congregation: 25th December 1832
St. Emilie, a French nationality, was born in Gaillac, a small well known town of France, on 12 September, 1797, during the troubled revolutionary period of France’s history, the eldest of four children, one of whom died in infancy. Her parents, Baron Jacques de Vialar and Antoinette de Portal, both came from old and respected families in Gaillac, a town in the south of France. Jacques’s father was a High Court judge, while Antoinette’s father was a member of the Academy of Science and First Physician to Louis XVIII and Charles X. Emilie’s eldest brother, Augustin, was destined to become a pioneer colonist in Algeria – a providential event which was to ensure his sister’s first missionary venture.
Since childhood, she felt drawn to the things of God, which her mother had taught her. During a trip to Paris, where she had taken her daughter to complete her education, the young mother died from a severe and sudden illness when Emilie was only 13 years old. She was confided to her aunt and lived with her grand father, Baron Portal, in the Saint Sulpice area. Two years later her father called her back to Gaillac.
Emilie grew into a beautiful young lady. She loved finery and jewelry, which attracted attention to her when she accompanied her father into the worldly society of Gaillac. However, she found this superficial life unsatisfying. There were also many arguments when she dismissed several young men who sought her hand in marriage. She spent considerable time in prayer in the privacy of her room and made many clandestine visits to the church, which was another cause for dissension between herself and her father. She often went to the Church to pray and thus her spiritual experience deepened and she decided to give herself to God and distinguished herself by a life of great piety. At the same time she discovered the poor, the sick and the abandoned children of her town. Urged on by an interior fire, Emilie desired more and more to make known the One whose infinite love for humanity she had discovered. Since she could not keep her great secret to herself she drew other young people to her, full of zeal and devotedness. The idea of founding a Congregation so that the sick and poor could have constant care and attention day and night.
In 1832 her maternal grandfather died and she received a substantial legacy; with this independence she was able to set about bringing her plans to fruition. "Although for twenty years, my life in my father's house was so painful that only the consideration of fulfilling God's will gave me the strength to remain there, nevertheless, it cost me greatly to determine to leave my father on account of the grief I knew the separation would cause him. I left my father's house to found in my own town the work I believed to be advantageous to the interest of God's glory and the well-being of others less fortunate." In the evening of Christmas Day 1832 after leaving a long affectionate letter for her father, and arranging for her younger brother's wife to be attentive to his needs, she left with three companions to set up the fledgling community that was to spread far and wide within her lifetime. She was thirty-five before she felt she had finally discerned what God wanted her to do with her life in his service.
Within six months the little group had increased to twenty-six. Emilie next sought and obtained the approval of the district Archbishop, Mgr de Gualy of Albi. Within a few more months he approved the Rule of the Congregation. Besides providing relief for the poorer classes with soup, linen and remedies, caring for the sick and aged in their homes, the sisters also saw to the free education of children. There was much criticism and malicious gossip in the small town, but the sisters carried on regardless.
In 1833, Emilie's brother Augustin, who had been among the first French settlers to colonize Algeria, suggested that she send some of her sisters to the capital, in particular to staff the hospital just being built. This was Emilie's chance to put into action a long held dream to work in mission countries. The following year an official request came from the Municipal Council of Algiers for staff for the hospital. Emilie accompanied the three sisters chosen to begin this missionary work, arriving in Algiers in August 1835, - in the midst of a cholera epidemic. Muslims, Jews, Europeans were all affected and all received the same unselfish care and nursing without distinction. By the end of 1836 there were twenty sisters at work on this mission, Emilie having purchased buildings with a view to future needs. The Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition as Emilie called it steadily increased in membership. From the time of the inception of the Congregation until 1844, Emilie had made fourteen foundations, all of which drew heavily on her fast disappearing funds.
Through her prayer and spiritual life she had developed a very close relationship with God, who favored her with intimate graces and support. She had learnt from many challenges to depend totally on the Providence of God and such was her faith and confidence that she was able to function, secure in the knowledge that she was following God's will and she pursued her task with untiring zeal, courage and perseverance.
In mid August of 1856 Emilie was taken ill, and at first her illness was thought to be cholera. She gradually worsened and within five days, on 24th August, she died peacefully, surrounded by her Sisters and her nieces. It was only after her death that it was realized that her illness was a strangulated hernia which she had sustained many years before. As a young woman, while attending to the poor on the terrace of her family home she had dragged a large bag of flour up the steps to the terrace, and that had caused the damage. She had suffered intermittently from this act of charity all her life. The funeral service was conducted with the greatest simplicity, and sorrow was tinged with joy, as the life of this valiant woman had been a gift from God to her Sisters.
At her death she was almost fifty nine, and during the brief period of twenty four years that her Congregation had been in existence she had supplied missionaries for countries as varied as Algeria, Tunisia, France, Italy, Cyprus, Malta, Syria, Greece, Burma, Palestine, Turkey, Crete and Australia, having made forty two foundations in all.
Her sanctity was officially recognized by the Church when she was canonized on 24 June 1951 by Pope Pius XII. Her Feast day is celebrated on 17th June.
Since childhood, she felt drawn to the things of God, which her mother had taught her. During a trip to Paris, where she had taken her daughter to complete her education, the young mother died from a severe and sudden illness when Emilie was only 13 years old. She was confided to her aunt and lived with her grand father, Baron Portal, in the Saint Sulpice area. Two years later her father called her back to Gaillac.
Emilie grew into a beautiful young lady. She loved finery and jewelry, which attracted attention to her when she accompanied her father into the worldly society of Gaillac. However, she found this superficial life unsatisfying. There were also many arguments when she dismissed several young men who sought her hand in marriage. She spent considerable time in prayer in the privacy of her room and made many clandestine visits to the church, which was another cause for dissension between herself and her father. She often went to the Church to pray and thus her spiritual experience deepened and she decided to give herself to God and distinguished herself by a life of great piety. At the same time she discovered the poor, the sick and the abandoned children of her town. Urged on by an interior fire, Emilie desired more and more to make known the One whose infinite love for humanity she had discovered. Since she could not keep her great secret to herself she drew other young people to her, full of zeal and devotedness. The idea of founding a Congregation so that the sick and poor could have constant care and attention day and night.
In 1832 her maternal grandfather died and she received a substantial legacy; with this independence she was able to set about bringing her plans to fruition. "Although for twenty years, my life in my father's house was so painful that only the consideration of fulfilling God's will gave me the strength to remain there, nevertheless, it cost me greatly to determine to leave my father on account of the grief I knew the separation would cause him. I left my father's house to found in my own town the work I believed to be advantageous to the interest of God's glory and the well-being of others less fortunate." In the evening of Christmas Day 1832 after leaving a long affectionate letter for her father, and arranging for her younger brother's wife to be attentive to his needs, she left with three companions to set up the fledgling community that was to spread far and wide within her lifetime. She was thirty-five before she felt she had finally discerned what God wanted her to do with her life in his service.
Within six months the little group had increased to twenty-six. Emilie next sought and obtained the approval of the district Archbishop, Mgr de Gualy of Albi. Within a few more months he approved the Rule of the Congregation. Besides providing relief for the poorer classes with soup, linen and remedies, caring for the sick and aged in their homes, the sisters also saw to the free education of children. There was much criticism and malicious gossip in the small town, but the sisters carried on regardless.
In 1833, Emilie's brother Augustin, who had been among the first French settlers to colonize Algeria, suggested that she send some of her sisters to the capital, in particular to staff the hospital just being built. This was Emilie's chance to put into action a long held dream to work in mission countries. The following year an official request came from the Municipal Council of Algiers for staff for the hospital. Emilie accompanied the three sisters chosen to begin this missionary work, arriving in Algiers in August 1835, - in the midst of a cholera epidemic. Muslims, Jews, Europeans were all affected and all received the same unselfish care and nursing without distinction. By the end of 1836 there were twenty sisters at work on this mission, Emilie having purchased buildings with a view to future needs. The Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition as Emilie called it steadily increased in membership. From the time of the inception of the Congregation until 1844, Emilie had made fourteen foundations, all of which drew heavily on her fast disappearing funds.
Through her prayer and spiritual life she had developed a very close relationship with God, who favored her with intimate graces and support. She had learnt from many challenges to depend totally on the Providence of God and such was her faith and confidence that she was able to function, secure in the knowledge that she was following God's will and she pursued her task with untiring zeal, courage and perseverance.
In mid August of 1856 Emilie was taken ill, and at first her illness was thought to be cholera. She gradually worsened and within five days, on 24th August, she died peacefully, surrounded by her Sisters and her nieces. It was only after her death that it was realized that her illness was a strangulated hernia which she had sustained many years before. As a young woman, while attending to the poor on the terrace of her family home she had dragged a large bag of flour up the steps to the terrace, and that had caused the damage. She had suffered intermittently from this act of charity all her life. The funeral service was conducted with the greatest simplicity, and sorrow was tinged with joy, as the life of this valiant woman had been a gift from God to her Sisters.
At her death she was almost fifty nine, and during the brief period of twenty four years that her Congregation had been in existence she had supplied missionaries for countries as varied as Algeria, Tunisia, France, Italy, Cyprus, Malta, Syria, Greece, Burma, Palestine, Turkey, Crete and Australia, having made forty two foundations in all.
Her sanctity was officially recognized by the Church when she was canonized on 24 June 1951 by Pope Pius XII. Her Feast day is celebrated on 17th June.
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