225 Years of Making Jesus Christ Known and Loved

Sisters of the Presentation of Mary of Bourg-St. Andeol (PM Sisters)

The Foundation

It was during the Reign of Terror, at the height of the French Revolution in the 18th century. The priests were in hiding, churches were destroyed and convents were closed. When nobody would dare reveal that he/she was a Christian for fear of being guillotined, such was the condition in France when Marie Rivier and her four companions, on November 21, 1796, the Feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple, consecrated themselves to God as the first Sisters of the Presentation of Mary.

The Foundress

One would think that to dare to found a religious community at a time of great religious danger, the foundress would have been powerful and strong enough to defy the existing powers of the time. However, from the descriptions of the biographers of Marie Rivier, we know that she was a midget, standing at only 1.28 meters and was very sickly. Physically, she was obviously not powerful nor strong. She was born and raised in the South of France, in Montpezat, L’Ardeche, very far from Paris, the capital. Her family name was not in the roster of the influential families of the time. Hence, neither was she politically powerful nor strong. So how did she accomplish such feat? It was because she was not alone, she did not do anything on her own. She had the Queen of Heaven and Earth as her inspiration, advocate, mother and guardian. The woman who, at three years old, was presented in the Temple of Jerusalem and became the Mother of God-who-dwelt-among-us, was her source of power and strength.

The Congregation

The story of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary is a story of love and friendship between the Blessed Virgin Mary and Marie Rivier who was fondly called ‘Marinette’. When Marinette was only a year and four months old, she fell from her parents’ bed. The medical authorities of that year, 1770, declared that nothing could be done to restore her fractured hip. She will be a cripple for life! Since human help was not possible, Marinette’s mother had recourse to heavenly help. She introduced Marinette to the Mother of Jesus in the image of the Pieta (the image of Mary carrying the dead body of Jesus on her lap after He was taken down from the Cross). Thus began Marinette’s daily pilgrimage and ‘schooling’ at the feet of Mary which lasted for four years. It was at the foot of the Pieta that the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary was born! It was there that the little girl begged for a cure and made a promise: “Holy Virgin, heal me and I will gather and teach little ones around you. I will teach them and show them how to love you and your Son dearly.” It was at the foot of the Pieta that Marie Rivier’s spirit of prayer and zeal were formed. Since her partial cure in 1774 (on the Feast of the Nativity of Mary) and her complete cure in 1777 (on the Feast of the Assumption of Mary), she lived only to fulfill her promise. Since the doors of convents were closed for her because of her frail health, and sure that she could expect everything from the Virgin Mary, she declared: “A convent, I will make one myself.” ¹

The Legacy

During her lifetime, despite her poor health and the difficulties of both the terrain and the revolution, she founded 141 schools in the various dioceses of her country. Her audacious trust in Divine Providence and boundless confidence in the intercession of the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, she prophesied: “One day, my daughters will cross the seas.” This prophecy was fulfilled in less than twenty years after her death on February 3, 1838. Her ardent love for Jesus Christ, her faith in the power of prayer, her apostolic audacity and her compassion for all those who suffer led Pius IX to call her ‘the Woman-Apostle’. On February 3, 1838, she died “in the hunger of her zeal”. St. John Paul II beatified her on May 23, 1982.

Marie Rivier left her double spirit of prayer and zeal as a legacy to her daughters. This is the interior life, the ceaseless attitude of worship and self-oblation that keeps their zeal burning for the proclamation of the Gospel. They first crossed the seas to share in the Church’s privileged mission of teaching in North America. Then they continued to grow in wisdom and in numbers in different countries in the continents of Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. After 225 years, the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary continue to love all that Marie Rivier so passionately loved: Jesus Christ, His Mother, the Church, the Eucharist, the Cross, the Beatitudes, the poor, children and youth. They live to teach Jesus Christ by their whole lives in schools, orphanages, retreat houses, spirituality centers, campus ministry offices and make themselves available wherever they are sent for the explicit proclamation of Jesus Christ.

Contact Information:
Provincial House – 297-6490
Formation House – 297-3492
Retreat House – 298-4195
Mother Rivier Home for Children – 224-2571