verty, privation and
unremitting toil, to which, as she had always done, she added fasts,
vigils and bodily penances, such as have rarely been equalled in the
lives of the greatest canonized saints. She was often without a cent in
the house, but this did not prove a bar to her charity. The poor never
left the convent door empty handed, and the priests, most of whom were
doing missionary work, and were as poor as herself, became the objects
of her particular care. She supplied them with clothes, especially
cassocks, that they might make a suitable appearance at the altar, and
also altar linen and vestments, which she embroidered and made herself.
During the first year of her stay in St. Louis, her greatest privation,
for herself and her community, was the lack of spiritual assistance. On
week days they were often without Mass, and on such occasions Mother
Duchesne would remain fasting until noon, in the hope that some priest
might drop in to offer the Holy Sacrifice at a later hour, as it
sometimes happened, or who at least, might give her Holy Communion.

In the meantime, the Jesuit Fathers had been making great headway, and
they acquired a firm footing in St. Louis, when Bishop Rosati handed
over to Father Van Quickenborne, the head of the newly-organized Mission
of Missouri, the college founded several years previously by Bishop
Dubourg, and which, in the course of time, developed into the present
St. Louis University. But Father Van Quickenborne was replaced some
months later in the office of Superior by Father Verhaegen, who had come
with him from Maryland in 1823. In this same year, 1827, the latter
founded a permanent mission at St. Charles, and made it his
headquarters. He also established, at the same place, a school for boys,
and applied at once to Mother Duchesne to found one for girls. It seemed
a rash undertaking to make two foundations in the same year, with such
scanty resources in subjects and money; but what tempted her was the
spiritual destitution of the people, who were all Catholics, and among
whom the Protestants were busily at work. Mother Barat, tempted in the
same way, gave her consent, and Mother Lucille Mathevon was placed in
charge of the new house. It did a great deal of good, in spite of a long
struggle with poverty and adversity.

Just a little before this time, at Bishop Rosati's desire, Mother
Duchesne, with Mother Barat's approbation, had taken charge of the house
of the Daughters of Ch