Adele de Batz de Trenquelleon
1789-1828
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Founders Mary Chaminade de Trenquelleon de Lamourous Meyers |
Like Marie Thérèse, Adèle was of noble birth; unlike the former, she was of a wealthy and aristocratic family. Her father, the Baron de Trenquelleon, was an officer in the king's own Royal Guard. When Adèle was two-and-a-half years old, he voluntarily went into exile to support the anti-revolutionary movement. In 1797 the Baroness and her two children were forced into exile by the same law that had entrapped Chaminade; that is, for mistakenly appearing on the list of emigres. Only after six years of separation was the Baron able to join his family.
Shortly after the return of the family to Trenquelleon, some 15 miles west of the city of Agen, Adèle embarked on a twofold career of spiritual growth. When she was not yet 13, she pestered her brother's tutor to give her a personal Rule of Life to prepare herself for the Carmelite vocation she so ardently desired to follow. By the time she was 15, she and a small group of friends had formed an association of prayer and support to promote their own spiritual growth and to prepare themselves for a good death. Given the health hazards of the time and the ever-present possibility of renewed anti-Catholic persecution it was not unusual for even young girls to think seriously of their death. This spiritual union spread rapidly and soon counted some 200 young women scattered over an area the size of the state of Ohio. "Chere Adèle," as she was called, was its heart as well as its official leader and solidified their bonds by means of extensive letter writing.
By 1810 a number of these young women, like a number of the young men and women of the Sodality of the MAdèleine, were looking for some form of religious life. By 1814 their plans had taken clear shape. After the abdication of Napoleon and the death of her paralyzed father, Adèle was able to move freely and openly and put her plan into motion. Under Chaminade's prudent guidance and with the encouragement of Bishop Jacoupy of Agen, she and her companions in 1816 inaugurated their religious community living: the Daughters of Mary. Like the Sodality, the community saw itself as called to give its members mutual support, to engage in Christian outreach to the world, and to carry on Mary's mission of birthing Christ in every age. They integrated remarkably well the characteristics of the contemplative life of the Carmelites (to which Adèle had always been attracted) and the active missionary thrust of the Sodality.
After the foundation of the religious community, the Sodality continued to be a primary concern of the Foundress. Though Church Law of the time required that women religious be cloistered, each of the five convents founded during her brief 12 years in religious life was the center of a Sodality for Young Women, a Married Women's Sodality, and a Third Order Secular which carried on the community's mission beyond the walls of its enclosure. For years she looked forward to the day when a Third Order Regular could be founded, so that the mission of the Sisters might reach those neglected rural areas with which she had been so familiar. Only in 1836, eight years after her death, was this dream realized. The Daughters of Mary and the thriving Third Order Regular were combined in 1918, when new Church law redefined them both as "religious institutes."
From among the members of the Sodality came also the first
nucleus of the Society of Mary, founded in 1817. Dedicated to the mission of
Mary and centered on conformity with her son Jesus, the "male religious of our
Order," as Adèle called them, gave themselves to various works of ministry. With
the foundation of the Society of Mary, the three branches of the Marianist
Family - Sodality, Daughters of Mary, and Society of Mary - were effectively
constituted. They found their unity in the person of Chaminade, who was head of
all three.
More importantly for us, they found their unity in a common spirit flowing from
the personality and insights of three remarkable people. Today these foundations
are known as Marianist Lay Communities, the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, and
the Society of Mary. The legacy of the three founders continues in our
contemporary world, in the concern for the dynamic spiritual development of the
members and in the outreach to the most impoverished and needy segments of our
society.
A Reflection by Sr. Leanne Jablonski, FMI
170 Years and Counting