St. Emilie de Villenueve

Emilie de Villenueve was a Roman Catholic French nun and the founder of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of Castres. After she died her cause of canonization was opened. She was beatified in 2007 after a miracle attributed to her intercession was ratified and she was beatified in 2009. She was approved for sainthood in 2014 and was canonized by Pope Francis on 17 May 2015. She founded the Congregation of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December 1836. The religious community was rapidly known under the name of "Blue sisters of Castres" because of the color of their clothes. In the anonymity of a house in Castres, with her companions, she served the poor: young workers, sick people, prostitutes and those who were convicted in prison. Then, the congregation saw the growing number of its sisters, and its influence extend to Africa (Senegal, Gambia, and Gabon). Émilie de Villeneuve called on others to become missionaries wherever they were, daring to take a stand for justice, peace, respect and attention to the smallest, in all our places of life, to do all this out of love, according to the motto taken by the congregation: "to go where the voice of the poor calls us". This charism perfectly explains the scope and diversity of the competences displayed by the community members: education, health and participation in the life of local Church. Twelve years after the establishment of the congregation, it started to expand in Africa in 1848, then in Europe in 1903, in Latin America in 1904-1905, and eventually in the Asia Pacific region in 1998. Today, there are around 600 members spread in 124 communities in 18 countries: France, Spain, Italy, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Benin, Gabon, RD Congo, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Venezuela, Mexico, Haiti and in the Philippines. Her feast is kept on October 2.