Shrine of St. Rose Phillipine Duchesne

I have always wanted to visit this shrine.  I think I have been trying to visit it for at least 7 years!  I would be in the neighborhood and not have time.  I would have time and it would be closed for some reason.  I did not think that the time I would visit it would be during a pandemic, but I found myself wanting to visit a shrine and my thoughts turned once again to this saint.

Historic St. Charles was where I was born and where I was raised.  St. Charles, MO is the site of Missouri's First State Capital building, the site of where Merriweather Lewis would rendezvous with William Clark to begin their expedition west and where Mother Rose Phillipine Duchesne was placed to start a school for girls.

Rose was born in France in August 29, 1769.  Mother Duchesne felt God's call to be a religious sister at a young age (8) , which did not please her father, who was a wealthy lawyer and had the idea of arranging Rose into a suitable marriage.  When Rose was 19 years old her father had 3 eligible suitors lined up for her.  Rose traveled with her Aunt to visit a religious order known as the Visitation of Holy Mary.  Upon arrival to the order, Rose begged to be taken into the order.  Rose was accepted instantly.  Her Aunt had the pleasure of informing Rose's father that his daughter had chosen to be a bride of Christ's.  Rose heard about the Native Americans in America and felt that she was called to create a school for them.

It was not until Rose met Madeleine Sophie Barat, who founded the Society of the Sacred Heart that God began opening doors for Rose.

Bishop DuBourg the Bishop for the Louisiana Purchase was looking for religious to join him to set up schools in America.  Mother Barat was hesitant to send any from her order since her order was small.  Sister Duchesne  had been eavesdropping on the conversation.  She burst into the room, fell on her knees and begged to go to America.  Mother Barat gave her blessing and Sister Duchesne embarked on her journey to the New World.

Sister Duchesne and her religious companions arrived in New Orleans where they waited for Bishop DuBourg to send for them.  The Bishop had thought to send them to St. Louis to set up a school, but after a brief stay in St. Louis he assigned them to set-up in St. Charles, MO. 

Mother Duchesne and her sisters taught the children of the French fur-traders during the day and ended up boarding 3 students that year.   Bishop DuBourg sent them to Florissant, MO since the school was not profitable enough to keep it open in St. Charles.  Ten years later, the sisters would return to St. Charles and the Sacred Heart Academy has been on the same grounds since their return.

Mother Duchesne always hoped to teach the Native American children, but tribes had been pushed west and were no where near St. Charles.  At the age of 71, her dream was realized when the Jesuits asked the Sisters of the Sacred Heart to join them in opening a school for girls of the Potawatomi tribe in eastern Kansas.  Mother Duchesne was not able to teach since she could not master the language of the tribe, but she witnessed to them through her every day labors and her long periods of prayer.  The Potawatomi students would place pebbles, sticks, and leaves on the hem of her habit as she was praying in the evening and they would discover that they would be in the same place in the morning when they found her at prayer.  She earned her Potawatomi name "Quahkahkanumad" which translates to Woman Who Prays Always. 

My guide informed me that St. Rose Phillipine Duchesne had quite an impact on the Potawatomi tribe and members of that tribe still make pilgrimages to her shrine yearly.

After a year of being among the Potawatomi, Mother Duchesne was sent back to St. Charles, MO out of concern for her health.  She would live another 10 years and resided in her room which was located near the chapel. She died on November 18, 1852 at the age of 83.

She was first buried in the cemetery of the grounds of the Academy of the Sacred Heart.  Locals believed that she would be a saint and had her body exhumed 3 years after her death to be moved to the "Round House" on the grounds, which had been set as a chapel to Our Lady of the Pillar.  When her body was exhumed it was found incorruptible.

Her body would remain in the "Round House" until her beatification in 1940.  It now resides in an alcove in a Chapel which seems fitting.

I took the tour which was just myself and the guide.  We both wore masks and kept social distance.  The school part of the tour is closed for the safety of the students once they return to school.  I had to make reservations for my tour, which I believe made me accountable to finally visiting this saint.

I was struck with the landscape of where St. Rose Phillipine Duchesne resides.  I am wondering if anyone else will see what I saw when I first set eyes on the icon of Rose Phillipine Duchesne and Madeleine Sophie Barat.

St. Rose Phillipine Duchesne, pray for us!