December 2017 Marianist Moment: Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon

“Let us love God with all our hearts, with all our strength, and with all our mind. Then we shall have God’s interests at heart.” Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon

Adèle was born in Feugarolles at the Chateau Trenquelléon on June 10, 1789, to Baron Charles de Trenquelléon, an officer in the French Royal Guard, and Ursule Claudine Joseph de Peyronnencq de Saint-Chamarand. They were a wealthy, aristocratic family.

When Adèle was 2 ½ years old, her father went voluntarily 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 entrapped Blessed Chaminade. The baroness’ name was mistakenly included on the list of émigres.

After six years of separation, the Baron was able to join his family. During that time of exile, Adèle, inspired by her mother, deepened her religious upbringing with a devotion to prayer and tending to the poor, all the while realizing that the strength of the community was the key to renewing the faith of France. From age 11, she longed to part of the Carmelite order, but her mother thought her too young to make such a decision. At 14, she prepared to be confirmed and met a young woman, Jeanne Diché, who would bcome her closest friend. Jeanne married and had four children. Adèle thought that she might leave the Association and lose her friendship, but Jeanne was a faithful friend and constant associate. At the age of 15, she and a couple of friends began a prayer association or ‘little society”, which grew to include several hundred young women. They were committed to prayer, support and good works.

Adèle’s indirect exposure to Fr. Chaminade’s spirituality came when she met Fr. Jean Larribeau, a well-respected priest, who became her spiritual director. He was a member of the Sodality of Bordeaux. Shortly after meeting him, Adèle was introduced to Chaminade through written correspondence, a practice that would continue through her life.

When Adèle was 19, her father received a promising proposal of marriage for her. After much reflection, she chose to renounce marriage all together. She preferred working with the poor and marginalized. After the resignation of Napoleon and the death of her father, Adèle was able to move freely and put her plan into motion. In 1816, a few of them formed a new congregation, the Daughters of Mary Immaculate. They called their mission and work the ‘cher project,’ for which Fr. Chaminade wrote a Rule of Life. The popularity and success of these groups took off.

In 1810, Adèle asked Chaminade to affiliate her groups with his growing number of communities. Together they formed a thriving network of lay faith communities throughout southern France. Under Chaminade’s guidance and with the encouragement of the Bishop of Agen, she and her companions in 1816 inaugurated their community living: the Daughters of Mary. 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 the community’s mission beyond the walls of the 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 the neglected rural areas. In 1836, eight years after her death, this dream was realized. The Daughters of Mary and the Third Order Regular were combined in 1918, when church law redefined them both as “religious institutes.”

Adèle’s tenacity was strengthened and encouraged by Fr. Chaminade, through their correspondence and mutual concern for each other, their communities and their ministries. She wrote:

“O my God, my heart is too small to love you, but I will see to it that you are loved by so many hearts, that their love will compensate for the weakness of mine”

The community felt called to mutual support and Christian outreach throughout the world, and to carry on Mary’s mission of birthing Christ in every age. This balance of the contemplative life of the Carmelites and the active missionary work of the lay Sodality created a very attractive religious community. This religious order of women began one year before the Society of Mary (Marianist brothers and priests).

Adèle did not set out to be a model for anyone. She sought only to do the will of her loving God. And, like the Mother of Jesus 1,800 years earlier, in so doing, she allowed God to do great things in her.

Adèle’s life, her work, and especially her ideas and her ideals continue to inspire us today.” She chose to live a simple life among the poor and those in need. She could have chosen otherwise. She died young but left a legacy of spiritual strength, of loving God and others, especially the poor and needy.

“You are the God of my heart and will be my eternal treasure and inheritance.”

Adèle’s feast day is celebrated on Jan.

10, just after Jesus’ baptism. She saw her commitment to Jesus and Marianist life as a deepening of her baptismal commitment and an outpouring of her love and faith. Adèle was a prolific writer, kept in touch and encouraged her sisters with her passionate vision for helping the poor. Her most outstanding gifts are her faith to be open to God and her passionate outreach to all God’s people, especially, women, youth and the poor.

“A courageous will sustained by grace can achieve anything.”

Pope Francis signed the decree of Beatification for Venerable Mother Adèle on May 4, 2017.