The Paulinian Milleu part 1 and 2

• THE PAULINIAN STORY begins here in the wheatfields of the region of Beauce, France
• BEAUCE is a field of golden grain
• BEAUCE is a verdant garden in crimson splendor
• BEAUCE was a field of LIFE but once, plain of DEATH
• Wars in the region

  • Hundred Years War (1337-1453)
  • St. Joan of Arc’s Liberation of New Orleans (1429)
  • Wars of Religion (1562-1598)
  • Wars of Fronde (1648-1653)
• The series of wars brought great misery to the country sides
• Consequences of the wars

  • Poverty
  • Sickness
  • Ignorance
  • Apathy
  • Religious indifference
  • Lowering of moral standards
• Fr. Louis Chauvet was assigned as parish priest of Levesville
• He found the Church in ruins, the presbytery uninhabitable, the people indifferent and apathetic
• Fr. Louis Chauvet reached out to his parishioners to respond to their misery
• Fr. Louis Chauvet was filled with zeal for his people
• Roles of Fr. Louis Chauvet

  • Priest
  • Counselor
  • Shepherd
  • Scholar
  • Musician
  • Teacher
• His great concern was for their spiritual welfare
• He attended to the abandoned, looking to their total well-being
• He gave special attention to the needy, the aged
• He struggled against ignorance and the false teaching of Quietism and Jansenism
• He shared his vision of uplifting the level of life of the villagers
• Ways Fr. Louis Chauvet uplifted the villagers

  • Teaching the children
  • Caring for the sick
  • Ministering to the poor
• Young girls of the village became fired with his vision
• They became the first “Daughters of the School of Levesville”
• First Daughters of the School of Levesville


  • Marie Micheau (17)
  • Barbe Foucauld (19)
  • Marie Anne de Tilly (31)
• Marie Anne de Tilly assisted in their formation and became co-Foundress
• Other early members

  • Anne Bonnet
  • Marie Denizet
  • Anne Lerat
  • Catherine Sirou
  • Marie Anne Deslandres
  • Claude Dauvilliers
  • Marie Foucault
  • Marie Fleury
  • Louise Meunier
  • Jeanne Rosseau
• Le Berceau (The Cradle) became their first home
• Le Berceau today is unchanged through the centuries
• Its cellar (La Cave) became the 1st classroom
• Marie Micheau was the first teacher
• Draft of a Rule: '“They will strive to imitate our Lord and to live his teaching.”'
• Principles of their RULE

  • Influence people to His Word
  • Follow His teachings
  • Live, serve, and offer
  • Dedication
  • Purpose to live and have life filled with joy
  • Sacrifice
  • Grateful
  • Serve Him
  • Truth and the Good News
  • To help others who are in need
  • Mission
  • Gives us hope, peace, strength
  • Build relationship
  • Center of our life
  • Instruments
• CARITAS CHRISTI URGET NOS means His love urged them on
• Draft of a Rule, Ch. 1: '“Having neither dowry nor income but earning their living so as to be able to perform their apostolic work as gratuitously as possible, they combined austere mortification with the hardest work.”'
• Fr. Louis Chauvet considered scholarship a function of faith
• Fr. Louis Chauvet wanted the children to know how to read and write to enable them to know more about Christian doctrine and to practice their religion as they should
• With Religion and the 3Rs, the Sisters taught practical arts and crafts
• The first school opened in 1700; a second school opened in Chateauneuf-en-Thymerais in 1707
• Marie Micheau, first recruit, first superior, and first teacher, died at the age of 19 on 15 November 1702
• Fr. Louis Chauvet was recognized as Founder

  21 June 1710
• Marie Anne de Tilly was recognized as co-Foundress

  28 September 1703
• Fr. Chauvet accorded Marie Anne de Tilly the right to be buried in the Church
• Our first Sisters were buried at the foot of the altar of the Virgin of Levesville