THÉVENET, CLAUDINE, ST.

Religious name: Marie Saint-Ignace; foundress of the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary; b. Lyons, France, March 30, 1774; d. Lyons, Feb. 3, 1837. Claudine's life, spent entirely in Lyons, was shaped by the French Revolution. From the age of nine until the outbreak of unrest, Claudine was entrusted to the Benedictines at Saint-Pierre Abbey for her education. Lyons was overrun by revolutionary troops May 29, 1793, leaving misery in its wake. Claudine witnessed her brothers—Louis-Antoine (age 20) and François-Marie (age 18)—executed while pardoning their executioner, and begging her to do the same (January 1794).

Wishing to alleviate some of the distress around her, Claudine became involved in acts of charity. In 1815, a young priest, Father Coindre, brought her two orphans he had found in the cold, whom she placed in the care of Marie Chirat. In the next several days, the Providence of the Sacred Heart was founded when five more children were taken into Chirat's home. On July 31, 1816, the small community became the Association of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Thévenet was elected president. Two years later the sisters became the Religious of Jesus and Mary, a second Providence was opened, and Claudine left her mother's home (Oct. 5, 1818) to become Sister Marie Saint-Ignace.

The "Providences" were homes designed to provide education for young women, where they were taught household management, and to undertake the smallest chore with great care and love. As the congregation expanded, it established boarding schools, academies, and residences for poor girls and women involved in the literary profession. She was both beatified (Oct. 4, 1981) and canonized (March 21, 1993) by John Paul II.

Feast: Feb. 3.

Bibliography: g. papÁsogli, Una vita, una missione. Claudine Thévenet (Vatican City n.d.). Acta Apostolicae Sedis (1981) 952; (1993) 404–06. L'Osservatore Romano, Eng. ed. 41 (1981): 1, 12.

[k. i. rabenstein]