St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier
1796 - 1868
Foundress of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
As a Sister of the Good Shepherd who has been involved as a counselor in the post-abortion healing ministry for 15 years, I would like to introduce a friend to you. She will help you as you begin your healing journey. From heaven, she will pray to God for you and help you to know the love, mercy, forgiveness, and healing power of God in your life.

"I am the mother of all who are unhappy, of all who suffer."

St. Mary Euphrasia was a holy woman with a heart overflowing with love for people needing the mercy and loving care of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. She had much suffering in her own life. She lived in France during a time of political unrest and religious persecution. As a means of protection, her family spent most of the years of her childhood in exile. They practiced their Catholic faith in earnest at the expense of great danger, providing santuary for priests and others who needed their support. She experienced great loss at an early age. Her older sister died when she was nine and her father died when she was ten. She then had to move away from her family and hometown to a boarding school where she was very lonely and badly mistreated. Her mother died when she was seventeen, but she didn't find out until after the funeral. God used these experiences to help St. Mary Euphrasia develop a deep compassion and hospitality for young girls and women who were deeply hurt by life or abandoned by society. She knew what it was to grieve, to suffer and to be alone.

She became a religious sister at the age of nineteen. She desired to devote her life to serving God through prayer and helping young girls and women who were abandoned by their families, orphaned, or in desperate social situations. The Sisters provided shelter, food, clothing, stability, and job training, so the women were restored to a fuller life. Most of all, the women were greeted with great love and hospitality. They were helped to learn their dignity as human beings, as children of God. With the love and prayers of St. Mary Euphrasia and the Sisters, the women were able to receive the gift of new life from Jesus, the Good Shepherd. St. Mary Euphrasia often said, "One person is of more value than a world."

At age 29, she founded the Contemplative Sisters of the Good Shepherd, whose mission is to pray for the women served by the active sisters. Under her leadership, the congregation spread from France to all five continents, with 110 new foundations during her lifetime. The congregation currently serves girls and women in 67 countries throughout the world. As God never gives up on any person, St. Mary Euphrasia never gave up on anyone. There is always hope for healing and the gift of new life. Please do not give up on yourself. We are here to help you and to walk with you. You are already in our prayers and in the prayers of St. Mary Euphrasia.

At the end of her life she said, "I only loved..., but I loved with all the strength of my soul...nothing is impossible to one who loves."