Emily de Vialar

She found that her father, overwhelmed with grief had relinquished management of the household to Toinon, a devoted but autocratic servant.

[2] In her attempts to help the poor, the old and the destitute, Emily invited them to the house, causing considerable tension in the household.

[2] Her brother Agostino lived in French Algeria and proposed to open a hospital in Boufarik, near Algiers.

[2] In 1845, Emily was on her way from Tunisia to Algeria when the ship on which she was traveling was caught in a terrible storm for nine days.

Emily vowed “that wherever they landed safe and sound, she would open a house and dedicate it to St Paul”.

Her inheritance now long gone on the many institutions she built, in 1852 Emily found help and hope in Marseilles with the benevolent acceptance of Eugène de Mazenod, founder of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.