Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher

Canadian religious leader founded and was the first Superior General Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary October 6, 1811, in Saint Antoine-sur-Richelieu, Canada. She died on her thirty-eighth birthday in Longueuil, Quebec, Canada on October 6, 1849. Starting in 1831, Eulalie-Melanie Durocher served as secretary and housekeeper to her brother, Father Theophile Durocher at the rectory in Beloeil. Father Pierre-Adrien Telmon, O.M.I. talks with Eulalie Durocher about her vocation. She tells Fr. Telmon of how she sees a need for the education of Canadian Catholic youth. Bishop Ignace Bourget of the Diocese of Montreal in 1843, asks Eulalie Durocher to found, " a new religious Congregation dedicated to the Christian education of youth." She leaves her brother's rectory; to begin her studies. Eulalie Durocher and her two companions, Mélodie Dufresne (1809-1881) and Henriette Céré (1804-1885), October 28, 1843, start postulate training at Saint-Antoine Church in Longueuil under the direction of Father Jean-Marie Francois Allard, O.M.I. On February 28, 1844, the three postulants begin their Novitiate and receive their religious names: Eulalie Durocher (Sister Marie-Rose); Mélodie Dufresne (Sister Marie-Agnes); Henriette Céré (Sister Marie-Madeleine). The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1844. The three novices, now three foundresses make profession of final vows in the church of Longueuil. Bishop Bourget names Sister Marie-Rose first superior of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. In this same church of Longueuil, on October 6, 1849, Bishop Ignace Bourget presided at the funeral of Mother Marie-Rose. Blessed Marie-Rose was Beatified in Rome by Pope John Paul II on May 23, 1982. Since May 1, 2004, Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher's remains are in the Chapelle Marie-Rose in the right transept of the Co-cathedral of Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue, in Longueuil.