Mary Magdalene Postel bravely hid priests and brought Communion to the faithful during the French Revolution. Afterwards she founded the Sisters of the Christian Schools of Mercy to educate poor children.
Life
Saint Mary Magdalene Postel was born in 1756 in Barfleur, in Normandy, France. While still young she opened a school for girls and taught there.
During the French Revolution, when the Church was persecuted, she sheltered priests in hiding and, at great risk, helped bring the Eucharist to the sick and the dying. After the Revolution, in 1807, she founded the Sisters of the Christian Schools of Mercy to educate poor children, and after long years of poverty and hardship the community settled in the old abbey of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte. She died in 1846 and was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1925.
Spirituality
Saint Mary Magdalene Postel's spirituality is courage that protects the Church in crisis and love for poor children. In a time of persecution she guarded the Eucharist and the priests, and when peace came she gave herself to children left out of education. Through many setbacks she trusted in God's providence and waited.
Reflection
Saint Mary Magdalene Postel never stopped teaching the faith, even in hard times. What prayer or help could I offer today for our parish religious education and its teachers?