Mortal remains of Venerable Marie Madeleine moved to Paris

Friday 19 October 2012

IN the histories of various religious orders there are often highlights or special events that resound meaningfully throughout the community concerned. These events are often times of pause or renewal or a time to reflect again on the founding story and celebrate how this story persists in enriching a particular charism in contemporary society.

For the Society of the Sisters Faithful Companions of Jesus, the recent relocation of the mortal remains of the foundress, the Venerable Marie Madeleine de Bengy de Bonnault d’Houët, has been one such occasion. On the anniversary of her birthday on 21 September 2012 her mortal remains were respectfully transferred from her tomb in the chapel at the FCJ Generalate in Broadstairs, Kent and were accompanied to her final resting place in the church of St Dominique in Paris. Many of the sisters were delighted that Marie Madeline was home at last!

Having founded the order in 1820 in post-revolutionary France, Marie Madeleine soon travelled abroad to found schools in England, Ireland and Belgium. Maria Fidelis, Euston, is the oldest Catholic school in London. After her many years of religious life Marie Madeleine died in Paris in 1858. At her request, her body was initially interred in the grounds of the FCJ Convent in Gentilly, as she requested to be buried near the orphans.  However, because of the heightened anti-clericalism in France at the beginning of the 20^th century, and the threatened expulsion of all religious, it was decided to bring her body back to England and she was laid to rest in the cemetery of Upton Hall Convent FCJ in the Wirral in 1904. In 1980, on the recommendation of the Postulator, her body was transferred to the FCJ Generalate, Stella Maris, North Foreland, Broadstairs, Kent.

The removal of the mortal remains of Marie Madeleine to Paris this year is necessitated by the Generalate moving, after more than a hundred years, from Stella Maris to Gumley House, Isleworth, and London.  It was fitting that her mortal remains be placed in the church of St Dominique, just around the corner from the convent where she died. Her room has become a place of pilgrimage for many FCJ staff and students across the globe and it is hoped that with this new reliquary Marie Madeleine and her legacy will become better known to the public at large; this woman of heroic virtue, mother, wife, daughter, widow, friend, loving grandmère and foundress who, in 1970, was declared by Pope Paul VI as being a woman who practised virtue to an heroic degree.

This delicate relocation was undertaken with the thoughtful collaboration of civic and ecclesial authorities on both sides of the Channel. Her limewood casket, inscribed with her full name and the FCJ cross, is now in a permanent recess in the Lady Chapel of St Dominique. The design of the grill behind which the casket resides is inspired by the flames of the Pentecost, a reminder of the power of the Holy Spirit behind all great apostolic endeavours. The sisters themselves, in their Mass of Fidelity and Joy in Paris on 21 September asked to be blessed such that …the Spirit breathes in us creative ways to spread our charism and spirituality. They asked that …we, too, stand strong in our commitment to carry forward our timeless story.  The gospel reading from Ephesians reminded all to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

Descendants from the de Bengy and the de Bonnault d’Houët families, along with many FCJ sisters and parishioners and musicians from the nearby FCJ school Notre Dame de France were among members of a joyful congregation who celebrated Marie Madeleine’s homecoming. FCJ communities worldwide were united in joy over this great occasion in the Society’s almost two hundred year history.
For the FCJ sisters this has been an especially uplifting event.  With Marie Madeleine’s relocation the sisters themselves are on the move, responding as is their mission, to the call of the world around them, ready to carry on in Marie Madeleine’s footsteps, ready to write the next chapter in the FCJ story.