|
| | 
Jean Pierre Medaille
Jean Pierre Medaille was a Jesuit missionary whose journeys
took him through the towns and villages of south-central France
from about 1640-1670. He was well formed in ignatian spirituality.
He was a skilled spiritual director and zealous priest whose life
was divided between administrative posts in Jesuit communities
and the home missions of his order in southern France.
In 1650, the first six Sisters of St. Joseph gathered in LePuy, France.
With the assistance of Jean Pierre Medaille, these women, without
cloister of habit, formed what they called a "little design." This enabled them to live together
in community, pray together, and offer their lives to address the needs of the day.
Father Medaille urged them to "the practice of all the spiritual and corporal works
of mercy of which woman is capable and which will most benefit the...dear neighbor."
(Primitive Constitutions) | |