The Feast of Blessed Adele; a reflection on presence

Marianist PULSE is thrilled to welcome Sister Gabrielle Bibeau, FMI as our guest blogger on this special Feast Day—the feast of Blessed Adele de Tranquelleon, foundress of the Marianist Sisters (the Daughters of Mary Immaculate.)

On January 10, 1828, Blessed Mother Adele de Batz de Trenquelleon—foundress of the Marianist Sisters and collaborator with Father Chaminade in founding the Marianist Family—breathed her last. Her final words: “Hosanna to the Son of David.” She was 38 years old.

As a Marianist Sister, the anniversary of Adele’s death is an important day to stop and reflect on the way Adele continues to instruct myself—and other members of the Marianist Family—in what it means to be part of a community, both my local community of Sisters, as well as the larger Marianist Family. Particularly in these past few months, as I have accompanied the West side PULSE community, I have looked to Adele for wisdom about what it means to accompany and be present to others in community.

Adele’s entire life was marked by an overwhelming passion and drive to follow Christ “to the ends of the earth” (Letter #665). As a teenager, Adele expressed her ardent love for God by gathering young women throughout the Southern French countryside in an “Association,” as she called it, of companions who prayed for each other while they shared in faith and friendship. Adele started this project during a period of intense anti-Catholic sentiment in France—at the time Adele began her Association, for example, the Pope was being held prisoner by Napoleon in Paris! However, rather than waiting to begin this project until after the anti-Catholicism would blow over, Adele wasted no time: she began gathering people. She acted with a sense of urgency and a deep love for Christ and His mother.

Her Association would eventually become a branch of Father Chaminade’s Sodality in Bordeaux. Later, in 1816, some of the young women of the Association would become the founding members of the Marianist Sisters.

Visiting Sr. Gabby's NACMS Office

One of the most important things I have learned from Adele in the way that she gathered community is the value of presence. Although Adele could not physically be present to the women in her Association—travel was difficult in those days, especially for a young woman on her own—she spent an enormous amount of time writing letters to her companions which would provide encouragement for them in their faith lives. These letters are what bound the Association together as they were passed along from person to person. They were a way for Adele to be present to each person in an intimate way. And today, most of these letters have been published and are widely available—Adele’s presence lives on, even into the present day!

For myself, both in accompanying the PULSE community and as a member of a community of Sisters, presence is so simple yet so important. Presence is more than what you do or say: it’s simply showing up and being where you are with your whole person. I value my monthly visits and occasional one-on-ones with each of the West side PULSE volunteers because they are opportunities for all of us, myself and the PULSErs, to practice what it means to be present to each other.

Presence is a simple thing, perhaps the simplest thing, that we can do for each other as community. But Adele relished in the simple things and in the small things, as she expressed in her most famous quote of all: “Oh 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 littleness of mine” (#325). May we also have the courage to love in the small ways, especially in our presence to each other.

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