Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon (1789–1828) founded the Daughters of Mary Immaculate (FMI), or Marianist Sisters, a Roman Catholic order of nuns and one of the four branches of the Marianist Family. Adele was born to a wealthy, aristocratic French family that was exiled for several years during the French Revolution. While she was still a teenager, she and some friends formed a spiritual union to care for their souls. This association quickly grew to include around 200 young women, and it formed ties with the Sodality of the Madeleine, a faith community formed by William Joseph Chaminade in the face of Revolutionary persecution of active Catholics. In 1816, members of Adèle's group and female members of the Sodality formed a religious order, the Daughters of Mary, that sought to combine the Sodality's missionary character with the contemplative nature of the Carmelite order, which Adele had once aspired to join.[1]
Adèle continued to see the formation of female lay communities as part of her mission. Each of the Daughters' convents sponsored sodalities for young women and for married women, as well as "a Third Order Secular which carried on the community's mission beyond the walls of its enclosure."[2]
The Roman Catholic Church has declared Mother Adèle to be venerable, marking a step on the path to sainthood.