Rose Philippine Duchesne

Died - November 18, 1852, St. Charles, MO

Rose was born into a family with 7 sisters and 1 brother. She was educated by nuns at Sainte Marie-d’en-Haut, the Visitation convent in Grenoble. She felt called by God at an early life to join the religious life and at the age of 18 entered the Visitation convent as a novice. The convent closed during the French Revolution, so several years later she joined the Society of the Sacred Heart.

Rose opened free schools for children in St. Charles and Florissant, Mo. She also opened the first novitiate for her order of the Sacred Heart in St. Louis to train women to be missionary nuns like herself. In 1827, she founded the City House school in St. Louis, with programs for boarders, a free day school and an orphanage.

Rose Philippine Duchesne spent 34 years on the American Frontier establishing schools and conducting charitable work. She opened the first free school west of the Mississippi in a log cabin in St. Charles, Missouri.

In 1841 she was asked to travel to Kansas to mission to the Native Americans. This was a dream come true for her, something she had always wanted to do. Unfortunately her health was so bad that she was only able to spend 1 year in Kansas and then returned to St. Charles until her death. In 1940, Philippine was beatified, which is the first step in becoming a saint, by Pope Pius XII and then in 1988 she was canonized a saint by Pope John Paul II.