The Cure of Ars, St John Vianney, whose Feast we celebrate today, was instrumental in the vocations of several Vistation Sisters. This year we share the story of Rosine Bossan and his influence upon her.
Born in Lyon July 8, 1831, Ms. Rosine Bossan was the youngest of a family of ten children. The eldest of the family was Peter: it was he who became an architect, would raise the basilicas of Ars, of Louvesc and Fourvière – three names dear to St. John Vianney. Rosine lost her father the year of her first communion; at sixteen, hastily she was recalled from the boarding school of Rillieux, in Ain, where she was educated,as she saw her mother die. Pierre became the head of the family.
But she had to work for a living. Rosine, a distinguished pianist, was made professor of music. Blessed with a beautiful voice, a beautiful face, she retained a beautiful simplicity.
A young man, a friend of Pierre Bossan, dreamed of having a wife. He sought her hand. The request, transmitted to the girl pleased her altogether. Her heart opened to joy, hope … when suddenly there sprang up a secret anxiety: was it her vocation? In the interim, an incident as it happens in the lives of many great girls, deeply moved her.
One day, Rosine went in the company of her sisters and Anaïs Theresa, to the Visitation of the Croix-Rousse, where all three had a common friend. The latter, seeing this amiable group, beaming with freshness and enthusiasm, asked the girls if they wanted to be religious. The elder replied with a laugh that it would probably Rosine. “Yes,” pleasantly answered the Visitation Sister, and I see in her eyes that one day she will be here.” Rosine, very impressed by this unexpected statement, wept bitterly.
However, meanwhile, Therese Bossan had her secret: she thought of the cornet of the Sisters of Charity; but no more than Rosine,could she see clearly into the future, so she said, one day in January 1851: Suppose we were going to visit the holy Curé of Ars …?”
Thérèse Rosine opened their project to their brother Peter who not only agreed, but offered to guide the pilgrims. Peter was honored with the friendship of M. Vianney. One evening in Lent, he listened to one of his sisters read the Passion of Our Lord. The passage where it says that “the Lord turned and looked at Peter,” Pierre Bossan was so moved that he burst into tears and had to retire. Therefore, he dedicated his fine talent only for religious works.
When our travelers entered the church of Ars, they “found the confessional besieged by the ordinary”. – Remember that in fact, even during the bad season, Mr. Vianney confessed at least eleven to twelve hours a day -. The sisters took their places as they could, resolved to wait their turn at any price whatsoever.
Now the saint distinguished them from the crowd and invited them to approach.
Miss Rosine “hastened to find his heart with that candor, that simplicity that has always been the foundation of his character.”
“Father, she added, I’m getting married soon; Please bless me. ”
“So, reports one of those to whom it was told, the saint began to cry, to sob.
“O my daughter, you will be unhappy if you stay in the world! …”
And the sobs redoubled.
– But then, Father, what shall I become?
“Yes, my child, you are a religious. ”
Stunned, Rosine Bossan named the Visitation, adding however that she would prefer a more austere order.
” Well ! my child, talk to the Sisters of Carmel: if you do not go home, it is the Visitation … Anyway, you will make a novena to the Blessed Virgin before you decide exactly . ”
Similar advice was given to Miss Theresa Bossan, although Fr Vianney unreservedly approved of her plan to go to the Daughters of St. Vincent de Paul.
The approach to the Carmel having failed, Rosine postulated for the Visitation, then established at the Croix-Rousse, where her request was met with alacrity.
The last day of novena, the sisters returned to Ars.
“Enter the Visitation, reiterated Fr. Vianney to the younger, enter it my child, hurry; you do not have fifty years to your crown. ”
On February 2, 1852, the angels of God witnessed a scene that exceeds the earth. On this feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, Pierre Bossan knelt between Theresa and Rosine, at communion at Fourvière. Then, together, brother and sisters went down the hill. On the way, the house of the Daughters of Charity, the Deanery Avenue, opened to receive Thérèse. Less than an hour later, the time to cross the city, Pierre and Rosine came to the Visitation Monastery of the Croix-Rousse … Pierre returned home alone. “I have, “he said smiling with his courage “presented to my two doves at the Temple. ”
Rosine was twenty. On 11 May 1852 she received the holy habit, with the name Sister Marie-Aimée. On May 28 of the following year, she professed vows. In that same year, 1853, the Visitation chose Pierre Bossan as architect for the future monastery of Fourvière. In drawing up its plans, this poetic and tender hearted man liked to say: “I am preparing a nest for my dove.”
Sister Marie-Aimée had taken for life and rule: “Become small, very small.” She taught music at the boarding school. She was happy among children, but hierheart was joyful because she had offered in advance to our Lord all her piano notes “as so many acts of love.” She read the writings of St. Francis de Sales, seeing “the family bread.” Her happiness was to “plunge into the Rule.” She was already, as was proclaimed the day after her death,tp the chaplain of the monastery, “humility and kindness personified.” She became a counselor and assistant, while having the direction of the boarding school and care of novices.
However, the years went by, and increasingly Sister Marie-Aimée thought of death. In the spring of 1880, the alteration of his features became more significant: her nights were sleepless; This did not prevent her from being the first to prayer in the morning. She kept repeating, : “Let us become a great saint.” And as they begged her to stop, to heal, she replied: “We must, however, be in haste … I entered my fiftieth year. Everything urges me to haste ”
She had not forgotten the amazing words that fell twenty-nine years ago from the lips of the Cure of Ars, and her soul was listening, waiting for the Bridegroom.
Sunday, August 8, the novitiate having surrounded her during the evening recreation, it was observed that she turned the conversation about preparing for death. “Today, she confided, I communed the last time.”
The next day, Sister Marie-Aimée went to visit Mother Marie Regis Deville, seriously indisposed, when she fell suddenly in the middle of the staircase, struck with apoplexy. In the fall, she hit the front of the fitting a door and bled profusely; She lived four days with her eyes showing, lucid, she had not lost all knowledge.T he Visitation Sisters of Fourvière attest that they could remember “acts, words of our beloved sister testifying that she was preparing for a very early death . In particular, the formal prophecy of the Cure of Ars, came back to our memories. We saw the fulfillment. ”
Sister Marie-Aimée Bossan passed away on Friday 13 August, aged forty-nine years, one month and five days. In truth, she had not had fifty years to her crown.
The Circular addressed to all the monasteries of the Order ends with this praise: “Her examples are a family treasure that we will not let fall into oblivion; her teachings were a fertile seed sown in the garden of the Bridegroom. . May she help us keep better yet her memory sweet and the sweet fragrance of her virtues!”
Source: http://livres-mystiques.com/partieTEXTES/Ars/Intuitions/Intuitions/intuitions5/15couronne.htm