Happy Birthday Sister Marie

From the short biography by Jerome M. Vereb, C.P. S.T.D.

"Adele Louis Marie de Mandat-Grancey was born in 1837 in the Chateau Grancey in Burgandy. She was the fifth child of Galliot-Marie-Francious-Ernst de Mandat and Jeanne-Louise-Laure-Eugene-Rachel de Cordove, the Count and Countess of Grancey. The family has been noted in French and Ecclesiastical history as both noble and hole. It is distinguished by the motto, Enmese et Verbo - "By the sword and the word."

Through ancient connections the de Mandat-Grancey family was associated in history with another family of saints, the outstanding relations of the Cistertian hero, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, that great devotee of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. A grand Abbot of Cluny, St. Hughes, was another prominent relative; but even more was the scholarly and saintly abbot, Pierre-_Maurice the Venerable. He was elected Abbot of Cluny under the title of Peter the Venerable in 1122. The author of a precious scholastic treatise from the treasury of the Middle Ages, De Miraculis - i.e., "The Miracles of God" - he is best known for being the first academic to undertake the project of translating the Koran into both Latin Christianity and Islam. In light of the future events in the life of Sister Marie de Mandat-Grancey, Peter the Venerable appears as a figure of a prophet in the family history, and indeed in the modern discipline of inter-religious dialogue.

In the eighteenth century, the French Revolution brought havoc to all members of the aristocracy, and the de Mandat-Grancey family was no less affected. However, through careful planning, most of the de Mandat-Grancey family escaped with their lives and their faith intact. Eventually, following the exile of Napoleon, the family was able to regroup, especially at the Parisian house. Upon their return, they found that the Archbishop of Paris had moved the central headquarters of the Daughters of Charity to the former house townhouse of the Comtes de Lavallier, on the rue de Bac.

In short, the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul and the aristocratic family of the de Mandat-Grancey family became neighbors in Paris. "

Enjoy the whole biography at:

http://holyfaceofjesus.com/Srmarieofstpeter_files/VonUffel_SISTERMARIE_Booklet_11%5B1%5D%5B1%5D.05.pdf