Émilie requested that no hungry person ever be turned away from her door. She continually kept a table set in the home for others, calling it “The Table of the King.”
Welcome to "North American Sanctity," a series on holy men and women, boys and girls, saints and those on the road to sainthood, from Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Some will be familiar, others less so; but all are inspiring!
By Kimberly Bruce
After suffering the heartbreaking losses of her husband and children, Blessed Émilie Tavernier Gamelin (feast day: Sept. 24), remained faithful to Christ and went on to become the foundress of the Sisters of Providence, dedicated to serving the poor in Quebec, Canada.
Beatified by Pope St. John Paul II on October 7, 2001, Bl. Émilie’s religious community boasts more than 6,000 members worldwide today.
“Her personal prayer and the contemplation of the Blessed Mother at the foot of the cross awakened within her a sense of profound compassionate charity towards all those who are caught up in sorrow of any kind,” the Holy Father said.
Love of the poor
Born in Montreal, Canada, on Feb. 19, 1800, Émilie Tavernier was the last of 15 children of Antoine Tavernier and Marie-Josephte Maurice. At the young age of 4, little Émilie suffered the loss of her mother.
Sent to live with a paternal aunt, Émilie’s sensitivity towards the poor manifested itself from a very early age.
Her father died when she was 15. Three years later, Émilie moved in with her newly-widowed brother to help him care for his home. In return, she requested that no hungry person ever be turned away from their door. With her brother in agreement, Émilie continually kept a table set in the home for others, calling it “The Table of the King.”
Tragedy
Émilie wed Jean-Baptiste Gamelin when she was 23. He, too, shared Émilie’s heart for the poor. Together, they had three children. Two died shortly after birth, followed by the death of their third child, and then the death of Jean-Baptiste.
Overwhelmed by such tragedy, “Émilie did not turn in upon herself in sorrow,” said St. John Paul II. “Rather, she found in Mary, Mother of Sorrows, the model that would orient her entire life.”
One of the first things Émilie did upon her husband’s death, was to take in a mentally-handicapped young man and his mother. The young man had once saved Jean-Baptiste’s life, and on the latter’s deathbed, he requested his wife’s continued care for them.
Soon, Émilie’s home was known throughout Montreal as the “House of Providence” and “Refuge of the Poor.”
Émilie opened other homes as well to care for the unemployed, immigrants, orphans, handicapped persons, and more. She even earned herself the nickname: “Angel of Political Prisoners.”
Assisted by others, Émilie in 1841 formed “Providence Shelter.” Bishop Jean-Jacques Lartigue of Montreal assumed watch over this group, and his successor, Bishop Ignace Bourget, desired its type of services for the needy in every parish in his diocese.
Religious foundation
Bishop Bourget then asked the Daughters of Saint Vincent de Paul if they would help Émilie found a new religious community in Quebec to assist the poor. Donations were raised for the “Sisters of Providence.”
Émilie professed her first religious vows on Mar. 29, 1844, and was asked by Bishop Bourget to be the community’s first Mother Superior.
Not all understood the work Mother Émilie was doing with the poor and the sick, however, in this community. Some spoke out against her and complained about her undertakings.
One of her own religious sisters criticized Mother harshly to Bishop Bourget, causing even him to experience doubts about her. This was hard for Mother Émilie to bear, but she chose to take these personal hurts and wounds to Our Lady of Sorrows, yet again.
Spiritual desolations
Mother Émilie also suffered great spiritual desolations. She felt, in her own words, “complete discouragement in all my actions,” “all kinds of temptations,” “negative feelings toward certain sisters,” and feelings of “being judged unfavourably by them.”
Saint Faustina suffered such dark desolations of her soul, too. In her Diary, she reflects upon the reasons for them:
There came to me a true knowledge of myself. Jesus is giving me a lesson in deep humility and, at the same time, one of total trust in Him … I feel and am, in fact, very deeply permeated with the knowledge that I am nothing, so that real humiliations will be a refreshment for me” (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 1559).
Mother Émilie patiently accepted the harsh judgements and criticisms of others. Bishop Bourget later admitted he “made her experience some tough situations in order to purify her virtue.”
Mother Émilie died from cholera on Sept. 23, 1851, at the age of 51. After her passing, Bishop Bourget made it a point to reveal all the “solid virtues” he saw “hidden in her beautiful soul.”
On Dec. 18, 2000, St. John Paul II gave recognition of a miracle attributed to Mother Émilie’s intercession, enabling her beatification the following year.
Gospel in action
We each need to ask ourselves: How am I called to assist the poor? How is the Holy Spirit prompting me to act?
We can look to Mother Émilie’s example of the Gospel lived in action. We each possess something unique to offer our needy brothers and sisters through our gifts, talents, and abilities. And don’t forget that Mother Émilie can assist you by her intercessory prayers from her heavenly place.
Blessed Émilie Tavernier Gamelin, pray for us!
Next in the series: The Canadian Martyrs, Sept. 26.
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