Isabelle de Clermont-Tonnerre and François Picard, Founders of the Orantes of the Assomption
Founders of the Orantes de l’Assomption, each presented through a portrait, an object, a favorite of writing, a place, a quotation and a manuscript from their own writings
Portraits
Isabelle in 1913
Widowed at an early age, Isabelle raised her daughter before fulfilling a call to found an Assumption Congregation of contemplative life. This Congregation is marked by Eucharistic adoration, the Divine Office, spiritual reading, poverty, openness to the world, and attention to the poor. Like her, the first Sisters wore the mantilla and led a hidden life of prayer with her, without a religious habit that would only be worn after her death.
François in 1890
As a child, Francis loved to pray on a hill near his home. Having become an Assumptionist, he founded diverse and lasting works through prayer and faith while remaining a man of profound prayer. Wearing the Augustinian monk’s hood and the beard typical of the Eastern mission, he hoped to open the Assumption to people dedicated to prayer
They carried their common intuition for a long time before founding together the Orantes of the Assumption on December 8, 1896.
Objects
Isabelle
François
Her prayer book
and daily companion
The Pilgrim
This magazine was launched at the crossroads of numerous organizations he founded as a man of prayer and faith to reach a large number of people. Still active today, they bear witness to an adventure at the heart of which he felt the need to support them by the prayers of the Orantes of the Assumption.
A favourite writing
Isabelle and François have in common their constant reference to Emmanuel d’Alzon, in particular through his directory published in 1884 by François, his successor.
Certain providential events seemed to me to contribute to giving a direction to our development ~ Our family, however modest it may be, is willed by God. It must have its goal, and it is towards this goal that it must tend. The Directory aims to facilitate this work. [It wants] to teach according to what intentions and what spirit to fulfill our obligations, in order to always enliven them with a supernatural thought. It addresses each one and descends to the depths of his soul to indicate to him the feelings with which he must imbue himself and the virtues he must acquire in a secret work and an intimate relationship with Our Lord of whom you are the imitators and the instruments… – Emmanuel d’Alzon
Father Picard always returned to the memory of Father d’Alzon. We too, let us keep all that is the primitive spirit; may there always be a sap there, the sap of those who have followed the traditions, the ideas, the spirit of the ancients. This is also why I always take the Directory to return to the roots of the Congregation. It is there that we must seek the particular light that God has prepared for us, there where He has placed us. We must be imbued with it, sanctified in this form, let ourselves be formed, molded by its spirit. – Isabelle
Places
Isabelle
François
Chapel Notre Dame de Fourvière
In 1888, she understood inwardly that God wanted her to be available to be a foundress:
“You will found and you will have many daughters”
Rue François 1er
It was only in 1901, that he definitively left this Assumptionist house in Paris which he had established in 1862 and which he quickly saw marked by the influence of its small chapel and the abundance of works founded and led by the Fathers, including Father Etienne Pernet.
Citations
Isabelle
w could external occupations separate me from Him if I understand my mission well? Is it not a question of bringing Jesus to souls? Therefore, He must be with me. But I can give Him without losing Him; and indeed, I possess Him all the more the more I give Him. It is a sacred fire that burns more and more as it communicates itself. Therefore, let me go to souls with Jesus and I will bring Jesus back. Consoling and true words that summarize what the contemplative soul must be in the midst of the world: Jesus at the center of the heart and radiating on everything that surrounds you.” – Retreat notes of July 29, 1893
François
«Blessed is he who relies on the Lord. Bless winter as well as summer. Rejoice in everything and everywhere. May joy fill your entire inner being.
May you be happy there, and may one see clearly that the love of Our Lord makes everything pleasant and easy. In our hearts, Christ must be in the fullness of His being.”
“Let us feel good everywhere because the God of our soul dwells everywhere. »
Handwritten quotes
Isabelle
In prayer, silence, work, and sacrifice, the vocation of the one who prays is to always adore, always love, and always devote oneself to the extension of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Without interruption, Sr. Isabelle Marie de Gethsemani, November 21, 1913
In silence, prayer, work, and sacrifice, the life of the one who prayers is a perpetual act of adoration and love.
Without interruption, Sr. Isabelle Marie, August 15, 1915
François
To enter into the Spirit of the Assumption, you must have an apostolic life. It will constitute you in that spirit of zeal which must animate you in your actions, interior and exterior; you will pray for the salvation of souls and the extension of the Church. In ordinary works, you will be constantly before the face of Our Lord like the apostle who is inspired by the thoughts of Our Lord. The work which you are beginning is only a new blossoming of this plant which is the plant of the Assumption.
Fr. Picard, May 19, 1897