CLAUDINE THÉVENET was born in Lyon on 30th March 1774, the
second of seven children, in a family of silk merchants.
"Glady" as she was affectionately known had a strong influence
on her brothers and sisters, thanks to her goodness,
gentleness and self-sacrifice in the desire to make others
happy.
The French Revolution broke out when she was fifteen. In 1793,
she experienced the tragic hours of the siege of Lyons by the
government army and she witnessed the execution in revenge of
her two brothers after the city fell in January 1794. Their
last words, "Forgive, Glady, as we forgive" remained deep in
her heart and her mind and were to change the course of her
life. From now onwards she would dedicate herself to the
relief of the great suffering caused by the Revolution. For
her a main source of distress was the people's ignorance of
God and thus was born in her the great desire to make Him
known to everyone, but it was to be the children and the youth
who would be the main object of her zeal and her desire to
make Jesus and Mary known and loved.
Her encounter with a holy priest, Father Andre Coindre, would
help her to discover more clearly what God was asking of her
and would be decisive in the orientation of her life. When
Father Coindre found two little shivering children abandoned
on the steps of the church of St. Nizier, he took them to
Claudine who did not hesitate to take them into her care.
Her compassion and love for destitute children is, therefore,
at the origin of the "Providence" of St. Bruno in Lyon (1815).
Companions soon joined Claudine and they formed an
association, the Association of the Sacred Heart of which
Claudine was immediately elected president. On July 31st 1818,
the call of the Lord was heard through the voice of Father
Coindre who told some members of the Association to form a
community without hesitation. "God has chosen you", he said to
Claudine. And so the foundation of the Congregation of the
Religious of Jesus and Mary at Pierres Plantees on the hill of
the Croix Rousse took place on October 6th 1818. In 1820 the
new Congregation moved to Fourviere, in front of the famous
shrine, to some land bought from the Jaricot family where it
received canonical approval from the Diocese of Puy in 1823
and that of Lyon in 1825.
The first aim of the young Institute had been to receive poor
children and care for them until they were twenty, giving them
working skills and elementary education, as well as a solid
religious and moral formation. But Claudine and her sisters
wanted to do more and so with the foundation of a boarding
school their hearts and their arms were opened to young girls
of richer families. The apostolic aim of the Congregation was
therefore the Christian education of all social classes, with
a preference for children and young girls and among them the
poor.
These two activities developed simultaneously in spite of the
difficulties that the Foundress was to encounter during the
last twelve years of her life: the suffering caused by the
deaths of Father Coindre (1826) and the first sisters (1828);
the struggle to prevent the fusion of her Congregation with
another; the revolutionary upheavals of Lyon in 1831 and 1834,
with all their consequences for those who lived on the hill of
Fourviere, forming, as it did, a strategic area between the
two warring parties.
The undaunted courage of the Foundress was never to be
overcome by adversity; she bravely undertook new
constructions, including that of the chapel of the Mother
House, and at the same time, with great care and dedication,
began to draw up the Constitutions of the Congregation. She
was about to complete this when death overtook her on February
3rd 1837, when she was sixty three. Claudine experienced the
goodness of God; she trusted in Him completely and with the
strength drawn from that trust undertook adventure which found
its highest expression in her dying words: “How good God is!”.
"To do everything in order to please God" seems to have been
the goal of her life. This constant search for God's will in
order "to a lead a life worthy of Him and to please Him in
everything" was to give her that deep spiritual insight which
would enable her to read the signs of the times and there
discern God's plan, in order to give a full and complete
response to His call; such was the life which was to make her
worthy "to join the saints and with them to inherit the light"
(Col 1: 10, 11).
"To see God in all things and all things in God" is also to
live in a spirit of constant praise. In a world in which hope
is all too often absent, the rediscovery of God's goodness,
both in His creation and in people, restores purpose to life
and leads to thanksgiving. Claudine made of her religious and
apostolic life an act of praise of God's glory; her last words
"How good God is" expressed her conviction that God is good,
something that she had come to know, even in the most painful
moments of her life.
Her Congregation was to be profoundly influenced by her strong
personality. Gifted with an unusual determination,
intelligent, a perfect organizer, she was above all
kind-hearted and wanted her daughters to be true mothers to
the children confided to their care: "Be mothers to these
children", she would say, "yes, true mothers of both body and
soul". She would tolerate no preferences, no partialities:
"The only preferences I will permit are for the most poor, the
most miserable, those who have most defects; those you will
love a great deal".
The strength of a building is revealed only with the passage
of time. Barely five years after the death of Mother Claudine,
her daughters set out for India (1842) where they established
their first English Medium School, Orphanage and Boarding
establishment-St Patrick's at Civil Lines Agra.
The Archbishop of Meerut requested the sisters to come to
Mussoorie to set up a school for girls. This led to the
establishment of one of the most important Catholic
educational institutions in North India, Convent of Jesus and
Mary, Waverley, in the year 1845
Thousands of girls Catholic and non-Catholic alike have passed
through the portals of this esteemed institution. The once
small bungalow that housed the school's very first students,
has given way to a group of tastefully constructed buildings
that house the hostels, administrative block, classrooms,
auditorium, infirmary and laboratories.
The vision of St. Claudine survives in each generation of the
Religious of Jesus and Mary who continue striving to carry out
the dream of their beloved Mother Foundress. With joy and
gratitude, they welcomed the canonization of the humble and
generous daughter of France whom the Lord chose to be their
Foundress on 21 March 1993 by Pope John Paul II.
The bicentenary of the Congregation established by Saint
Claudine Thevenet was celebrated in the 2017, with grand
programmes and prayer services all over the world. Here at
Waverley there was a magnificent three day programme
commencing with a Holy Mass and a Dance Drama depicting the
life of Saint Claudine Thevenet.
May the spirit of our Mother Foundress continue to animate
her Congregation spread throughout the world.
