Saint Marie-Madeleine Postel

Life story

Julie Françoise-Catherine Postel was born on 28 November 1756 at Barfleur in Normandy, into a fishing family. She was educated by the Benedictine nuns at Valognes and then returned home to open a school for girls when she was about eighteen.

When the French Revolution broke out her school was closed. She sided with the priests loyal to Rome and sheltered fugitive priests in her home, where Mass was celebrated in secret. After the concordat between Napoleon and the Holy See in 1801 she returned to religious instruction and education.

On 8 September 1807 at Cherbourg she and three other teachers took vows before Abbé Cabart, which marks the beginning of the Sisters of the Christian Schools of Mercy; she became superior and took the name Marie-Madeleine. The community lived in hardship and moved several times. In 1832 it settled in the former abbey of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, and it grew from then on. She died there on 16 July 1846. She was beatified in 1908 and canonized by Pope Pius XI on 24 May 1925.

Works and witness

• Opened a school for girls at Barfleur as a young woman
• Sheltered fugitive priests during the French Revolution
• Resumed teaching and religious instruction after the 1801 concordat
• Took vows with three other teachers at Cherbourg on 8 September 1807
• Moved the community to the former abbey of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte in 1832

Saints from the same country

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Louis IX of France, Saint Joan of Arc, Saint Francis de Sales

References

• Catholic.org, “St. Mary Magdalen Postel” (saint profile, saint_id=803)
• Give Us This Day, “St. Mary-Magdalen Postel” (16 July 2024)
• Wikipedia (English), “Marie-Madeleine Postel” – dates of 1807, 1832, 1846, 1908 and 1925 cross-checked; not independently re-fetched elsewhere

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.