REFLECTION:
    The saint we are remembering today was a tough woman, probably one of the toughest who ever walked this earth and probably also one of those who suffered the greatest possible hardships.
    She was born of a rich family in Grenoble, France in 1769. At 18 she entered the convent against the opposition of her parents. Then came the French Revolution a year later and her convent was closed. For a while she worked with the poor. When things cooled down, she managed to fulfill her lifelong dream to go to America and work with the Indians. But she had first to do all kinds of other works out of obedience. During those long years she experienced poor lodgings, shortage of food and drinking water, lack of fuel and money, forest fires, cramped living quarters, etc. She also founded the first free school for girls west of the Mississippi. Finally at 72 she was able to work with the Indians, the Potawatomi, at Sugar Creek, Kansas. Though she was by then too old to learn the language, she was soon popular among the Indians, who nicknamed her “Woman-Who-Prays-Always.” She died in 1852 at the age of 83.