Mother St Joseph never fully recovered from one time when she trudged across the snow for miles to borrow money. She and her companion lost their way and she was completely exhausted when they finally arrived late at night. Same time later she become ill with pneumonia. Soon it became obvious that she was dying.
All through the night of 29 June 1858 the sisters of the community stayed at her bedside. They asked their foundress to bless them and began to name each sister of the congregation. She blessed each one in turn. She blessed each house of the congregation, especially Jarnosse. The sisters continued to pray until 3.30 the next morning when after becoming gradually weaker and weaker Mother St Joseph gently stopped breathing.
One of the villagers, who was related to the Jotillon family, wrote later that the foundress had asked to be buried without fuss like the least of the sisters. He explained that the people of Jarnosse and the surrounding area would not permit that - they wanted her to be given all the solemnity it was possible to have in those parts. So the church bell was rung every two hours, the young village girls carrying the coffin wore white, the sisters were in black carrying candles, there was solemn high Moss attended by official people from all the neighbouring villages as well as relatives from Coutouvre. The same villager wrote:
"Her memory will remain. ls she not worthy that it should? She did good with simplicity."
The Marist Sisters continued to minister at Jarnosse for about 50 years until there was another political crisis in France in the early 1900s. About the time of their foundress' death, the Marist Sisters began a foundation in England, from there they spread to Ireland and soon they went to Fiji, Australia and New Zealand. Today the group begun by the woman from Coutouvre is represented in other European countries, and in Canada, the United States, Africa, Latin America and the Philippines
So, Jeanne-Marie Chavoin found a way of life that suited her and that touched the lives of others. She looked for a guide to living the gospel and she discovered the person of Mary. It was a simple pattern.
Mother St Joseph never fully recovered from one time when she trudged across the snow for miles to borrow money. She and her companion lost their way and she was completely exhausted when they finally arrived late at night. Same time later she become ill with pneumonia. Soon it became obvious that she was dying.
