Marie-Madeleine d'Houët

Marie-Madeleine d'Houët (1781–1858) also known as Viscountess de Bonnault d'Houët,[1] was a French widow and single mother who, later in her life, was inspired by zeal for God and guided by Ignatian spirituality to found a religious institute of Religious Sisters known as the Faithful Companions of Jesus.

Their goal is to work to help the poor and needy of society, and their communities have expanded around world, running schools and social service operations.

Her parents, to whom she was close, were devout Catholics, and when the French Revolution broke out her father was imprisoned by the local Revolutionary Tribunal.

As a result of these visits, however, he contracted typhoid fever, lingering for six months before dying in June 1805, less than a year after their wedding.

In 1809 she began to accompany a group of Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul in visiting the same Spanish prisoners whom her late husband had cared for.

This was her first personal encounter with the Jesuit Fathers, and she found herself drawn to taking part in the activities of the school, volunteering her help.

[4] Madame d'Houët had the opportunity to delve more deeply in the spirit of Ignatius de Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits in 1815.

That year she provided refuge to a Jesuit priest, a former Royalist soldier, who was being hunted by authorities after the return of Napoleon to power.

The community founded by Madeleine d'Houët is dedicated to the education of the underprivileged and marginalised, especially girls and women, in the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe.

[8] Her spiritual writings were approved by theologians on 22 April 1903, and on 13 December 1916 the cause for her beatification was formally opened, granting her the title of Servant of God.

[9] In 1904, upon the expulsion of the Sisters from France by an anti-clerical government, Mother d'Houët's remains were transferred to a cemetery of a convent of the congregation in England, near Birkenhead.

Some 50 Companions of Jesus from around the world were present for the ceremony, as well as seven generations of Mother d'Houët's descendants and members of the Bengy family.