Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Buenos Aires (Agenzia Fides) - National Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) of the American continent have decided to celebrate a year dedicated to Pauline Marie Jaricot, January 9, 2010 to January 9, 2011. The objective of this time is to deepen in the knowledge of her life and strengthen our identity as missionary disciples through the example of this young lay founder of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, declared venerable by Pope John XXIII on February 25, 1963. This year dedicated to Pauline Jaricot proposes to "resume the spiritual fervor and keep the sweet joy of evangelizing, even when we sow in tears" (Document of Aparecida No. 552).
Pauline Marie Jaricot was born July 22, 1799, seventh daughter of a bourgeois family of Lyon (France). Shortly after her seventeenth birthday, after a serious illness and death of her mother, she began a life of intense prayer and a profound spiritual journey. While still young, she entered into an association for the Paris Foreign Missions Society which called for prayers and financial support to help the missions in the Far East.
As Pope Leo XIII wrote to Julia Maurin June 13, 1881, "with her faith, confidence, strength of spirit, her kindness and serene acceptance of her crosses, Pauline showed herself to be a true disciple of Christ. In order to continue the work she started in spreading the Gospel to the ends of the world, I encourage all Catholics of France to deepen in their awareness of this traditional vocation of Christ's witnesses dating back to the martyrs of Lyon and Saint Irenaeus.” A very simple and practical person, Pauline Jaricot created a work that never stops growing around the world and currently supports thousands of projects every year for evangelization in the 5 continents.
Pauline Jaricot invites us to give more attention to the poor, and to love them more and more. The PMS of the Americas, according to the Document of Aparecida, wish to reflect again on this line: "We are aware that the evangelizing mission can not be separated from solidarity with the poor and their integral promotion, and knowing that there are church communities who lack the resources, we need to help them, as did the early Christian communities, so that they may truly see they are loved." (Document of Aparecida No. 545). (CE) (Agenzia Fides 07/01/2010)
