Mary Euphrasia Pelletier
19th‑century French nun and foundress of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd (1796–1868)
Feast: 24 April (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Rose-Virginie Pelletier was born on the island of Noirmoutier, in the Vendée, on 31 July 1796, and grew up on stories of the Vendée Catholics' heroic resistance to the Revolution. At sixteen she entered the monastery of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge at Tours, and at 29 became its superior.
To welcome women in prostitution with mercy, she founded at Angers the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, who add to their vows a fourth: to save all souls. She founded 111 houses between 1829 and 1868.
The miracles
The Dicastery's biography does not describe the miracles approved in the cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A foundress who welcomed women the world rejected and sent her sisters to seek them everywhere.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Maria di Sant'Eufrasia Pelletier
- Wikidata Q276608 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Mary Euphrasia Pelletier (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.