Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon

Adele de Trenquelleon FMI-Agen

The Venerable Mother Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon, F.M.I., (1789–1828) founded the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, or Marianist Sisters, a Roman Catholic religious institute of Religious Sisters and one of the four branches of the Marianist Family.

Early life

De Trenquelléon was born on 10 June 1789 in the Castle of Trenquelléon, located in Feugarolles, in the ancient Province of Guyenne. She was the daughter of the Baron Charles de Trenquelléon, a member of an ancient and aristocratic family which had been known for its allegiance to the Catholic faith at least since 1588, the time of King Henry III of France, when a distant ancestor had taken part in the Day of the Barricades. In 1791, in the early days of the French Revolution, the Baron led his military forces as part of the attempt by the Prince of Condé to rescue King Louis XVI of France. The attack was repulsed and the Baron fled to England for refuge.^[1]

In September 1797, the Baroness de Trenquelléon was allowed to leave France with her children to seek refuge in Spain. The following spring, they and other refugees from France were expelled from Spain at the request of the French Revolutionary government and took refuge in Portugal. It was there that the Baron was finally able to rejoin his family in 1798. The following year they were allowed to return to Spain and it was there that Adèle made her First Communion on the Feast of the Epiphany 1801. Later that same year, the family was finally able to return to their ancestral home.^[1]

From a very young age, De Trenquelléon had expressed an interest in entering monastic life as a Carmelite nun. Shortly after their return to France, she again indicated a desire to enter a Carmel. Due to her age, her mother was able to persuade her to wait, but had her son's religious instructor write a little Rule of Life for Adèle, to prepare her for life in an enclosed religious order.

The Little Society

While she was still a teenager, and with the encouragement of the family religious instructor, in 1804 De Trenquelléon and some friends formed a spiritual union called the "Little Society" (French: Petite Société) to provide mutual support in the care for their souls. The marriage the following year of one of her closest friends in this association made her fear for its future. As a consequence, from the isolation of the family castle, she began a practice of writing to all members of the Society. This association quickly grew to include some 60 members by 1808, including members of the clergy of the district. She maintained a commitment during this time of visiting the sick and teaching the children of the region the fundamentals of the Catholic faith.^[1]

In that same year, during a visit to her own mother, the Baroness became aware of another association in that region, the Congregation of Mary, a faith community formed in Bordeaux by the Blessed William Joseph Chaminade in the face of Revolutionary persecution of active Catholics. Although it was divided into groups by age and gender, the Baroness saw a similarity of purpose with her daughter's group. She brought the group to her daughter's attention and Chaminade was made aware of her efforts and the group she had helped to form. He soon sent some information about the Sodality to Adèle. Within the year, the Little Society had re-shaped itself in according with the organization and spirit of the Congregation.^[1]

The following year, however, in 1809, the Congregation was suppressed by government authorities. Thanks to Adèle's social position and caution, however, the Little Society was able to continue in its goals. That same year, she chose to reject an offer of marriage made to her and decided to renounce marriage forever.^[1] Despite suffering from a severe illness in 1810, upon her recovery, she resumed her work of care for the sick and the education of the poor, as well as her correspondence with the members of the Little Society.^[1]

At that time and over the next several years, De Trenquelléon began to envision the formation by the young women of the Little Society of a religious community under the traditional religious vows, but actively engaged in the care of the needy. Chaminade saw a parallel to developments in his own foundations and invited her to join them. This she was unable to do, in part to her nursing her father through a critical illness and in part due to the restrictions on Church organizations then in place. Finally, in 1813, the young women of the Little Society were formally merged with the work of the Congregation of Mary.

Daughters of Mary Immaculate

After the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1814, the Catholic Church began to experience a new freedom from the restrictions imposed on it during his rule. De Trenquelléon immediately saw an opportunity to realize her dream of a religious community, and sought the required permissions, both civil and ecclesiastical, to establish the women of her Society as such, based in the family castle. She sought Chaminade's guidance and support in this. What he proposed to her was that the community she envisioned take on the character of a missionary society, a vision he had guarded for nearly fifteen years. She and the other women enthusiastically accepted this vision and began to form a new religious congregation along these lines. They all made a private vow of celibacy and began to wear a silver ring in indication of this fact.^[1]

The canonical establishment of the new congregation was put off by Chaminade while the group developed its sense of its mission and way of life. This was interrupted briefly upon the return of the Emperor Napoleon to power in March 1815. Chaminade was arrested and transferred to central France, where he was forbidden contact with the various religious groups he was leading.

By the Fall of 1815, the rule of Napoleon had finally ended and Chaminade was freed. The death of the Baron and the change in civil law left De Trenquelléon free to embark on community life. Chaminade also saw the time as finally being opportune and authorized her to rent part of an ancient monastery in the local capital of Agen. This was done in 1816, at which time Adèle renounced her inheritance in favor of her brother.

In 1816, members of De Trenquelléon's group and female members of the Sodality formed a religious congregation, the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, that sought to combine the Sodality's missionary character with the contemplative nature of the Carmelite Order, which she had once aspired to join.^[2] The local bishop, however, delayed permission for the women to take religious vows over the issue of the enclosure which was normally required with this step, and they were allowed to wear a religious habit only during the Octave of Christmas. Finally, in July 1817, he permitted the women to take vows, but they were to do so privately, in the secrecy of the confessional. Chaminade accepted their vows individually in this manner.^[1]

The congregation began to grow and spread by 1820. De Trenquelléon 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] In 1824, the French government authorized the existence of religious congregations of women.

Death and veneration

By 1825, De Trenquelléon had became ill that Chaminade had to plead with her to restrict her service. Nevertheless, she continued her correspondence with the Sisters of the congregation, most especially the local superiors and the novices. She spend her last years working for the legal recognition of the congregation. She died in Agen on 10 January 1828 and was buried in the convent cemetery.^[1]

The Roman Catholic Church has formally approved the cause for her canonization, marking a step on the path to her being declared a saint.

References

External links

Daughters of Mary Immaculate (FMI)

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