Anne-Marie Javouhey

Infobox Saint
name=Blessed Anne-Marie Javouhey
birth_date=birth date|1779|11|11|df=y
death_date=death date and age|1851|7|15|1779|11|11|df=y
feast_day=15 July
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church

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imagesize=250px
caption=A holy card of Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey
birth_place=Jallanges, Côte-d'Or, France
death_place=Paris, France
titles="Liberator of the Slaves"
beatified_date=15 October 1950
beatified_place=
beatified_by=Pope Pius XII
canonized_date=
canonized_place=
canonized_by=
attributes=
patronage=
major_shrine=
suppressed_date=
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Blessed Anne-Marie Javouhey (November 11 1779 - July 15 1851) was a French nun who founded the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Cluny. She is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church. She is known as the "Liberator of the Slaves" in the New World, and as the mother of the colony of Mana, French Guiana.

She was born in the commune of Jallanges, Côte-d'Or, the fifth of ten children of a local wealthy farm couple, Balthazar and Claudine Javouhey.When she was very young , she smelt wine and was about to drink the wine , when one of the servants saw her and asked her not to drink the wine . She never drank wine for the rest of her life . Through her teen years, she helped to hide and care for a number of priests persecuted by the French Revolution, including keeping watch for them as they said Mass. She became a nun when she was nineteen years old . She is reported to have a vision of Negro children at a convent in Besançon which would pronouncedly influence her later life.

She moved from convent to convent, never being fully satisfied, until she and eight others founded the Institute of Saint Joseph of Cluny at Cabillon in 1805. The order was recognized by the local bishop in 1807. In 1812, they bought an old religious house and moved the congregation to Cluny. She founded the congregation to help reduce the miseries which arose out of the French Revolution. In 1819, the scope of the order expanded to include missionary work, and it established a mission presence in Gorée in 1822. Two years later, she left for St. Mary's in Gambia, where she worked tirelessly to help the victims of an epidemic in the area. She returned to Senegal later, and received the help of the government in her attempt to develop native-born Christian missionaries after educating them in Europe. This plan was later abandoned, as a number of the potential missionaries died trying to acclimatize themselves.

Later, the government of French Guiana contacted her to try to establish a colony in the interior of the country. After receiving full approval for her plans, Mother Javouhey left with 36 nuns and 50 emigrants. She soon established a self-supporting colony, and returned to France in 1833. Two years later, she returned to the area, at the request of the French government. This time, she was to try to educate and evangelize a group of 520 natives the government was intending to set free. By the time she finished, the majority of her "students" had become Christians and learned the ways of European civilization and value of their own labor. There were no scenes or other troubles at the liberation of this group of slaves which were quite common in other, similar cases.

Her order had established a leper colony on the banks of the Accarouary River some years earlier. They encountered great success, and whole tribes are said to have asked to be baptized.

She returned to France again in 1843, facing several difficulties, including ecclesiastical opposition. She and her order continued to establish new mission houses of her order all over the world, including in Tahiti, Madagascar, and over 30 foundations in France.

When news of her death in 1851 reached the black population of French Guiana, there was general grief for "the mother of the blacks". The cause for her beatification was introduced on February 11 1908.

References

* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08326a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia article on Anne-Marie Javouhey]
* [http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0715.htm Anne-Marie Javouhey article at saintpatrickdc.com]

Persondata
NAME=Javouhey, Anne-Marie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=19th century French nun
DATE OF BIRTH=November 11 1779
PLACE OF BIRTH=Jallanges, Côte-d'Or, France
DATE OF DEATH=July 15 1851
PLACE OF DEATH=