Universal Living Rosary Association of Saint Philomena (ULRA)

VATICAN – More than 300 dioceses in the world celebrate Pauline Jaricot, pioneer of the mission ad gentes

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – More than 300 dioceses in the world, in five continents, will celebrate on 9 January, the 150th anniversary of Pauline Jaricot’s death: this is what Father Timothy Lehane Barrett, Secretary General of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith tells Fides. By joining in the jubilee celebrations, over 300 dioceses will celebrate Holy Masses, pray and reflect on the figure of Jaricot, as a “woman of our time”. “She was a lay woman who lived the universality of the Church and the universality of the mission ad gentes as a genuine pioneer. Even the Pontifical Mission Societies today want, in her memory, to renew the spirit and the universal call to mission. We hope that the missionary animation, in the year of Porta Fidei, may find new life and new dynamism”, remarked the Secretary.

EUROPE/FRANCE-“Pauline Jaricot, a woman always present”: international meeting for the Jubilee Year

Lyon (Agenzia Fides) – Pauline Marie Jaricot (1799-1862), declared “venerable” by Pope John XXIII on February 25, 1963, devoted her life to the mission, prayer and service to the poor: she founded the Society for the Propagation of the Faith (May 3, 1822) and the movement of the Living Rosary (1826). January 9, 2012 marks the 150th anniversary of her birth to heaven, and the Pontifical Mission Societies of France have launched an international meeting on “Pauline Jaricot, a woman always present”, which aims to reflect on the occasion of the jubilee year, on how a simple, young girl, was able to give new dynamism to the universal Catholic mission and foreshadowed the movement of social Catholicism. This international meeting (see Fides 12/10/2011) will be held on Monday, January 9 in Lyon (France), where Jaricot was born and is buried in the presence of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon, Primate of the Gauls, President of the French Association of the Pontifical Mi ssion Societies, the Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, His Exc. Mgr. Savio Hon Tai-Fai and the Secretary-Generals of the Pontifical Mission Societies

It is no coincidence that the official Feast of St. Philomena falls on the 10th of August, for that is the very day that the Great Miracle of Mugnano occurred and the day that St. Philomena granted the Venerable Pauline Jaricot a wonderful healing. It was the miraculous cure of Pauline Jaricot which led to Philomena’s being raised to the status of Saint.

Pope Pius XI canonized St. Jean-Marie Vianney in 1925 and named him “Patron of all Parish Priests” and said that his spirituality in its totality should be followed by them. This would necessarily include his deep devotion to St. Philomena.

The present Pope dedicated 2009 as the “Year for Priests” and has honored St. Jean Vianney by elevating him to be the “Patron of all Priests“. Because he was such a dear friend of the Ven. Pauline Jaricot, her cause for sainthood takes on new fervor. Pauline was not only the foundress of the Propagation of the Faith, she also founded the Living Rosary Association to promote faith through the united prayer of the Daily Decade of the Holy Rosary, and the distribution of good Catholic literature in the wake of heresy and persecution, which was rampant in her own day in the aftermath of the French Revolution.

These three lives are very closely intertwined in other ways. Note their influence on these Leaders of the Church:

• Pope Gregory XVI raised Philomena to the status of Saint and also named her the Patroness of the Living Rosary Association. Pope Pius IX granted to her the glorious title: Patroness of the Children of Mary.
• The Living Rosary Association founded by Pauline Jaricot in Lyon, France was approved and richly indulgenced by Pope Gregory XVI and accorded official canonical status on January 27, 1832.
• On January 13, 1837, Pope Gregory XVI named Philomena, Patroness of the Living Rosary Association and declared her to be the “Thaumaturga,” the “Great Wonder-Worker of the Nineteenth Century.“
• The Confraternity of Saint Philomena was founded by Fr. Louis Petit in Paris and on November 30, 1886 his Holiness, Pope Leo XIII, raised this Confraternity of Saint Philomena based in France to the rank of Archconfraternity.
• On June 16, 1907, the Supreme Pontiff Pius X, receiving in audience Fr. Petit, exclaimed, “…the great argument in favor of devotion to St. Philomena is the Curé of Ars. By her, in her name, and through her intercession, he obtained innumerable graces and continual prodigies.“
• Saint Pope Pius X named St. Jean Vianney Patron of the Archconfraternity of St. Philomena.
• In an apostolic brief on May 21, 1912, Saint Pope Pius X extended the Archconfraternity of St. Philomena to the entire Church, by raising it to the status of Universal. He stated “All the decisions and declarations of his predecessors regarding St. Philomena should in no way be altered.“

Saint Philomena’s influence was life-changing for both Pauline Jaricot and St. Jean Vianney. Pauline’s miraculous cure by St. Philomena on August 10, 1835 provided the impetus for formally elevating St. Philomena to the Altar. She then became the only person recognized as a Saint solely on the basis of her miraculous intercession.

When Pauline shared the story of her healing with her dear friend St. Jean Vianney (Curé of Ars, France) and bestowed upon him the relics of St. Philomena obtained from the Shrine in Mugnano, Italy, she prophetically said to St. Jean Vianney, “Have full confidence in this great Saint. She will obtain for you all that you ask.” Both St. Jean Vianney and Ven. Pauline Jaricot grew up in the same historical period and both suffered very much from the persecution of the Church during the French Revolution. Priests were hunted down and sent to prison if they would not take an oath to the State. Pauline, herself, was baptized at home by a priest faithful to Rome. The holy Curé saw in St. Philomena a New Light for the Church Militant.

Pauline was greatly distressed by the plight of the Catholic Family whose members, young and old, served in factories for very long hours each day and even on Sunday. She longed to establish for them a Community in which they could make a living and have time to pray, attend Holy Mass and spend quality time with the family. She invested her entire fortune in this venture and borrowed heavily from good people who knew of her sound judgment and practical ability to make a success out of all that she undertook for God and country. Pauline was betrayed by a treacherous thief who absconded with her fortune. All that had been invested in this inspired dream of rescuing the working man from the slavery of the industrial age was lost. She was left destitute, calumniated and in ruin. On January 9, 1862, Pauline died bankrupt and abandoned by all. Stripped of everything, she had followed Christ as a victim for souls to the end. She signed her letters: “Your poor beggar”. Clothed in a rusty black dress, her face worn with suffering, breathless with heart disease and dropsy, her expression was not merely one of courage or charity, but it was majestic. Pauline showed royal dignity, her features were full of authority and she possessed a spiritual power that nothing could defeat! Pauline loved without measure! Cardinal Tomko, prefect of the Community of Evangelization, visited Lyon in 1999 and greeted her as a “great figure for the Universal Church, who founded missionary works of world dimensions”.

Ven. Pauline Jaricot has rightfully gained her place as the patroness of those in financial distress. She is mother of the poor, advocate of debtors, help to all those treacherously deceived by others, persecuted and maligned. She understands their plight and the accompanying anxieties which haunt them. Call upon Pauline who suffered to the extreme at the hands of the greedy and the proud. She will hear your prayers, ease your burden and obtain for you the special graces needed to carry your heavy crosses with courage and hope! Her heart is sensitive and she will dress your wounds with the balm of the merits she obtained from the Heart of God through the slow martyrdom which she endured day after day. Maria was entrusted with her care by St. Jean Marie Vianney, and tells us, “Often, a halo of light shone around the head of our mother Pauline as she prayed for long hours before the Blessed Sacrament”. Many documents exist which record the special gift of prophecy which Pauline possessed.

We have been given by the custodian of Ven. Pauline Jaricot’s artifacts a blood relic; a piece of the cloth upon which her magnificent heart rested during its embalmment. It is soaked with the blood from the victim heart of our beloved Foundress. If you wish to have a piece of cloth touched to this relic, and a prayer to offer Pauline in beseeching her help in your financial needs, write to us and send $3.00 to cover the costs of materials and postage. If you are not yet a member of her Living Rosary, this too will be a healing balm for your sufferings and further win her favor in your behalf.

Jubilee Prayer for Debtors
(for private use only)

For the intercession of Ven. Pauline Marie Jaricot (1799 – 1862) Foundress of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and the Association of the Living Rosary (and of the model Christian Community at Rustrel, France, ruined by dishonest managers)

O Pauline! You were once rich and beautiful and admired; yet, you became poor and miserable and despised. Help us to bear poverty, misery and contempt, mild or extreme, for the love of God, the salvation of souls, and for the preservation of the Faith in all its purity. You were the seventh child in a family of nine; your father was the thirteenth child born to poor but generous parents. Help us to accept, with loving surrender, all the children God may entrust to our care, and obtain for us the means needed to provide for their needs, both spiritual and physical.

O Pauline! You desired to love without measure and without end. You were full of hope that your Christian Community would provide a singular atmosphere in which the family unit could wax strong, increase and have a deep spiritual formation. To this end, you invested your resources, and borrowed heavily, forming your own trust: Heaven’s Bank What a bitter cup, then, must have been yours, to find that those you had entrusted with all your earthly wealth were smooth-talking thieves who defrauded you of all your assets! Without any respite until death, you struggled to repay your debtors. Besides the bitter anguish produced by your destitution, you were assailed by creditors and tribunals, rebuffed, scorned, and ridiculed by friend and foe alike.

O Pauline, how valiantly you bore this heavy cross for the glory of God! How lovingly you embraced the humiliations heaped upon you! With eternal wisdom, you placed your suffering in the tender Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Martyrs. We wish to honor you, Venerable Pauline Marie Jaricot, as the Patroness of Debtors for the entire world. Pray for us and for all who have need of your intercession. Obtain for us the means to pay our debt in full, or to be released from it but, most importantly, help us to bear it with patience for the glory of God.

O Heart of Pauline, furnace of charity for all mankind, comfort and help me in this my urgent necessity. (Here mention your petition.) You have loved Jesus Christ more than all the earth, and for love of Him, you have loved, more than yourself, all those who are in travail and pain. One Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.

The Venerable Pauline Marie Jaricot may rightly be called the Patroness of the poor, debtors, the deceived, the persecuted and the maligned. This great daughter of Holy Mother the Church was born into a family of wealthy silk merchants. She is the Foundress of the two greatest works of the Church in the Nineteenth Century: The PROPAGATION OF THE FAITH and THE LIVING ROSARY.