O Blessed Mother POUSSEPIN – O adorable mother!

In front of the painting which depicts your life,
I rejoice to be your daughter.
In front of your smiling face,
I firmly believe in the divine providence!

I contemplate with wonder your early childhood,
The fervor of your family, where your still tender heart, received the seeds
Of piety which did not fail to bear delicious fruit in you

The eldest of a family of seven children, which over the years
Was reduced to you and your younger brother, Claude,
For whom you became the mother,
Here, you are almost alone to handle all the family responsibilities!

But in front of this responsibility, which fell on you,
Filled with serenity, you faced life with certainty
Surrendering yourself without any reserve to Divine Providence alone.

Filled with audacity, you worked not only
For the industrial modernization of your father’s workshop,
But also, for that of your home town, little Dourdan.
From your hard work and struggle, you achieved a family success
And I acknowledge in you this model of a fighting woman, fully Christian.

Yes, the ways of God are unfathomable!
The mark that the confraternity of Saint Vincent de Paul
left in you when you were only ten years old
is now more pressing and paves the way for you in the horizon.

Your wonderful meeting with the Dominican, Father Mespolie,
Your adherence to the Third Order of Saint Dominic;
Your vision of founding an apostolic third Order Community;
Your firm decision to leave Dourdan, the prosperous town
For the poor village of Sainville on your forty-second year,
Has earned us the great work of charity we are making our own in this XXIst century.

What a perseverance, what a self-sacrifice!
How much spiritual warfare, how much combined efforts, a dream has come true!

Merciful as the Father,
There You are settled in the heart of misery
Where you spend your energy to fight against this evil
For the benefit of all your brothers and sisters in humanity.

Yes, for the work of Providence alone,
You consecrate your being, your possessions, your whole life,
For a hard journey of faith which you will endure for forty-eight years
Until you return to your Father’s House.

O Mother POUSSEPIN, for this work, you have given everything
For this work, you prayed and looked after it diligently
And the enemy could not sow any discord in your house.

To serve in parishes, teach the young and serve the sick poor,
This is the raison d’être of your community: the service of charity.
This heritage that you left for us is the experience of your daily life,
Marked by simplicity, work and poverty.

Even today, you show us the way.
“This is the way, follow it! “
Path paved with insecurity!
Path covered with ignorance!
Path paved with injustice!
Path covered with sicknesses!
In brief, a path paved with all the evils,
To go like you to Sainville where the other one waits for us
Like ambassadors of peace and love.

O tireless mother, compassionate and impartial,
Serviceable and industrious, gentle and simple!
You saw what was good in the eyes of God and you did it.
If the canonization was only a matter of our growth,
We would have raised you to the rank of saints in heaven, but it is only a formality.
We know it mother, that you are not the least in heaven
Because from your heavenly table,
We don’t just content ourselves with crumbs
But with a substantial portion of it
That has been keeping us alive so far.

O adorable mother, help us to say from the bottom of our hearts
---- Saint Marie POUSSEPIN pray for us! ----

Sr. Lucienne BONKOUNGOU

ILLUSTRATION BASED ON DEAD BANANA TREE LEAVES

(The original is French) Esta ilustración refleja las virtudes que nuestra madre

This illustration reflects the virtues that our mother Marie POUSSEPIN embodied during her life.
The white background reflects her simplicity and purity.

The flowers that on either side frame Marie POUSSEPIN testify to the dynamism of her work which blossomed more than three centuries ago and embraces the whole of humanity. They also express the joy of our consecration following her.

The dead leaves of the banana tree that were used to make this painting reflect our poverty and our abnegation in following Christ.

The glue is a sign of our attachment to Christ and of our belonging to the Congregation.

The patience put into the making of this portrait bears witness to our mother's industrious and diligent life.

The whole picture identifies us as daughters of Marie POUSSEPIN through simplicity, work, poverty....

With her serene, confident and smiling gaze, she leaves us a message of peace and hope in this year 2020. We are confident that this jubilee year of her beatification will be a source of lasting peace for the world and especially for the four countries of our Vice Province.

Sr. Adeline BOUGOUMPIGA
Our Lady of Presentation Community
Dassasgho

POEM

(The original is French)

Honor to this living source
Whose heart overflowed with charity
Untiring, forgetting herself, she took care
Of the fruits of her womb.
Honor to our beloved mother!

Honor to this fragrant flower
Sacred with spiritual maxims
The spurts of her pen let us see
The soul of a saint who passes through these lines,
Honor to the apostle of charity!

Honor to this radiant sun who by
The service to the sick; parish service
And education of young girls
Gave back life to the desperate.
Honor to the worker of Providence!

Community of Toéce

PRAYER TO MARIE POUSSEPIN

(The original is French) O God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
We thank you with Blessed Marie POUSSEPIN
who knew how to be attentive to the misery of the men of her time;
This compassionate look give her the name "Social Apostle of Charity".
Through her intercession, let us be filled with the good smell of Charity,
Love, peace; so that we may spread wherever we are
that same fragance of Christ to the men and women of our time. Amen!

Community of Toéce