Rivet, of
the Society of the Sacred Heart recently founded by Mother Madeleine
Sophie Barat, under the guidance of Father Joseph Varin. It was through
the latter that she applied for admission into the new Society. Father
Varin, in reporting the case to the holy Foundress, declared that Madame
Duchesne was a soul worth seeking for even to the end of the world. Lack
of space does not permit us to dwell upon the beautiful humility,
submission and childlike docility this valiant woman displayed in her
intercourse with her new superior, who was ten years younger than
herself, or her joy at finding herself under religious discipline and
obedience. Nor can we stop to describe her heroic devotedness, zeal and
charity toward all; her incredible activity, her self-immolation, the
wonderful spirit of prayer that held her motionless the livelong night
before the Tabernacle, when holy obedience allowed her the privilege.

The ten years that followed her profession were spent at Sainte Marie
d'en Haut, toiling with an unflagging energy vivified and made fruitful
by her intimate union with God. It was during that interval that the
death of her father occurred. In his last illness, she surrounded him
with the most loving care, and had the consolation of bringing him back
to the faith of his baptism, and seeing him atone for the errors of a
lifetime by a sincere repentance and an edifying end.

In the depths of her heart, Mother Duchesne had felt from the first an
intense longing to devote herself to the evangelization of the barbarous
tribes still sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death; but
hitherto she had not seen any opening in that direction. So she was
patient and put out her hands to all the strong things that Divine
Providence placed in her way. One day, however, the illustrious Dom
Augustin de Lestrange, Abbot of La Trappe, visited Sainte Marie d'en
Haut, on his return from a tour among the North American missions. It
was on the feast of Pentecost, a circumstance that did not escape the
piety of Madame Duchesne; and the account he gave of the labors, dangers
and fatigues endured by the missionaries in the New World, communicated
a new and almost uncontrollable intensity to her apostolic yearnings.
After this, she was possessed by one thought and one desire, that of
devoting herself to the conversion of the savages of America. A few days
later, she wrote to Mother Barat to tell her of Dom de Lestrange's visit
and of t