This month’s focus is on a Sister of Nantes France who was very devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Sister Marie Albertine Fournier.
Born in Nantes in 1801, soon death robbed her of her father and poverty settled in the family. Overcome with grief and anguish, the young widow, her mother, turned to the Divine Comforter, and took long stations in churches with her daughter. We may believe that Jesus smiled on the child kneeling before the tabernacle, a ray of love, a precious spark of ardent devotion towards the Sacred Heart.
Mrs. Fournier sent her daughter to the school of the Sisters of the Visitation in 1810. The little girl was soon noticed for her lively and joyful spirit, for her ardent imagination and her very sensitive and compassionate heart. Jesus urged her to give all to him. She went to the novitiate of the boarding school. She was not yet 18 when she took her Vows.
Her only brother was ordained eight years to the day after her profession. Therefore, each year on this double anniversary on June 9, Father Félix Fournier at the Visitation will celebrate Mass..jpg)
Attached by divine love, the links between these two souls become ever more intimate. Sister Marie-Albertine will take the opportunity to encourage her beloved devotion in the heart of her brother.
Not content to expand abroad by all means the worship of the Sacred Heart, she consistently shows among her sisters tender and unalterable confidence in this abyss of mercy. She always radiates the gentle virtues of Jesus’ Heart.
Always cheerful and kind, her spirited conversation and charm makes a joyous time of recreation, because her spirit and her heart will remain young until the end. “The more I get older , she said, I feel like our young Sisters. “ She shows them a thousand delicate attentions and affections.
In 1870, Father Félix Fournier becomes Bishop of Nantes. More than ever, Sister Marie-Albertine will ask the Heart of Jesus to communicate to him the lights that make great Bishops, and to give him more and more, love of the humble virtues that make the saints. Bishop Fournier devoted his diocese to the Sacred Heart in 1871 and established the Honor Guard in Nantes in 1874.
Peritonitis attacked Sister at the approach of Christmas 1871. In the growing suffering, she said: “I go to heaven, and will walk to the Fatherland. “ But it seemed she waited for a final blessing from the one who was her father and brother. Bishop Fournier arrived just as her agony began, as if the divine Bridegroom had wanted to receive this beautiful flower from his hand. Indeed, when he raised his hand to bless her again, her soul was cut out of her earthly envelope and the Divine Heart opened to receive it.