About Alphonse Marie
Alphonse Marie On-line
The page takes the form of an imaginary conversation with Mother Alphonse Marie, in which she “answers” questions about her life and spirituality, as though speaking directly to today’s reader.
The conversation touches on
Eight themes of her life
In the order in which the conversation opens them.
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her childhood in Niederbronn in France and the influence of her devout parents
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her school years and her love of religious instruction
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spiritual and bodily suffering during adolescence
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the decision to consecrate her life to God and the founding of the religious community of the Sisters of the Divine Redeemer
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her understanding of prayer as a conversation arising from the heart and from trust
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the central place of the Eucharist in her spiritual life
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love of neighbour, of the poor, the sick and sinners
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her life motto “Everything for God and for the salvation of souls” and her closing message
When we call to mind the life, the holiness and the history of the Venerable Servant of God, it is because the courage and boldness of her daily answer to the Gospel — “Go and do likewise!” (Lk 10, 37) — remains a plan of life for the Christian of the 21st century and the third millennium as well. She believed that it is always possible to awaken the life of faith where it is very fragile, and the sacredness of life where it has already been forgotten. Her spirit and her charism live among us, and through them she herself is in fact present among us. What would she say to us today if we put a few questions to her? Well, let us listen…
Mother Alphonse Marie, you come from a family that was among the Christian ones in a time that was not especially favourable to Christianity. How do you remember your childhood?
I come from Niederbronn, a small spa town in France that was always very lively. My parents were simple and upright people. They taught us love and reverence for God and for our neighbour. At home it was the custom to pray the rosary and the litany to the Mother of God every evening. On working days only the litany and five times the Our Father and the Hail Mary. They often spoke to us children about the love of our Saviour.
Did your parents’ example have a great influence on you?
Certainly. My parents were the first heralds of the faith for me. I remember in particular an event that deeply shook my soul in childhood and accompanied me all my life. I often thought about how Jesus suffered for our sake. One day the question came to me: Why? On that day my mother took me out to the fields. On the way we came to a cross. Again I was pondering the same thing and asked my mother: “Why then did they crucify our Saviour?” She answered me: “My child, our sins are to blame for it all.” Then I asked her what sin actually is. Her simple answer led me to a resolution: “If that is sin, I never want to do it again.”
How do you remember your school days?
I looked forward to school very much, because I hoped I would learn a great deal there about God and come to know him better, but my first day at school was a huge disappointment. The teacher sat me among children who carried on all sorts of shameful talk. I had to listen to it. At the thought of school I sometimes could not sleep. Fortunately this changed after six months. The teacher moved me closer to his desk, and so not only did I no longer have to listen to bad words, but I could hear the teacher’s explanations better. The joy of going to school came back to me.
Which subject was your favourite?
Religion, of course. Whenever the parish priest came to the school and stepped through the door, I looked at him with great awe. But I was not yet allowed to take part in his classes — only when I turned ten. I remember how we little ones sat in front of his desk. It was wonderful. Whenever I came home from religious instruction with the parish priest, I thought seriously about everything I had heard.
From what you have said so far, I assume that your reverence for your parents carried over to the teacher and the priest who taught you. Do you remember them fondly?
Indeed, I had great reverence not only for the priest but also for the teacher. When I heard someone say something against one or the other, I wept, asking God to change the hearts of those who spread such evil talk. And when I saw my classmates insult the teacher, I begged God with tears not to allow such disgrace again. When they insulted the parish priest, it touched me even more painfully.
A childhood filled with love for God and neighbour came to an end, and adolescence, as with all young people, had a great influence on your relationship with God. What were those times like?
Looking back I see them as a great blessing, but at the time I did not understand it at once — it was not clear to me. My adolescence was accompanied by great interior suffering. I had no appetite for prayer, only aversion and distaste. Sometimes, precisely at the time of prayer, such boredom came over me that I was repugnant to myself. I knew I could not simply leave it at that. I decided to confide it to my confessor and to hold to his advice. But it was not easy. My interior suffering lasted about a year and by its violence weakened my constitution and worsened my health. The only thing that helped me at that time was obedience to my confessor.
Failing health?
At seventeen, bodily suffering was added to my interior suffering. The illness had a cruel opening stage, in which mental suffering tormented me far more. I had death before my eyes. Violent pains prevented me from speaking. I could only make signs. My mind was extremely strained, and the tuberculosis of the lungs itself gave me a hard time for almost three years.
Did you not feel like reproaching God for allowing this to happen to you?
No, quite the opposite. The only consolation in my illness was the cross. In the endless hours in bed my thoughts dwelt unceasingly on the petition I had repeated to God since childhood: that I might keep my heart pure, that I might come to holiness, and that I might always do his will in everything. In those moments I also began to consider consecrating my life to God. The illness became a school of life for me. I learned to be sensitive to the suffering of others.
People today have great difficulty coming to terms with the experience of suffering. What would you advise them?
I know that sufferings are hard, but useful. They help us to become free from ourselves and make it possible for us to give ourselves wholly to God. Let the thought of heaven always strengthen all who suffer.
The question of the suffering of Christ and of people was an important one in your life. Your answer to this suffering is your readiness to cooperate with the Redeemer and the courage to found a religious society. Try to describe simply the principle of this society.
The spirit of the Sisters of the Divine Redeemer is to be the Spirit of Jesus Christ. His spirit is to animate them and so wholly penetrate them that it shows itself in all their words and deeds. The mission of our community is to be everywhere our neighbours are suffering!
Why, as a Sister of the Divine Redeemer, did you decide to serve above all the poor and the sick with such devotion?
This was my firm will, my intention to serve the poor and the sick day and night and to help them. In this I hoped in God’s help and the protection of the saints, and in God’s mercy. I firmly believed that God would always stand by me and hear my petitions.
Jesus’ love for God and neighbour showed itself above all in prayer and in service. I assume you impress this on those you accompany. What, in your view, should prayer look like?
True prayer comes from the heart. I do not think it is forbidden to pray as our heart feels. On the contrary, let us show our feelings and desires sincerely. When we pray, Jesus is with us. We cannot know God’s will if we have not built a relationship with God through prayer.
And what if God does not grant my request?
It is not possible for us not to be heard if we place all our trust in God and ask him urgently. Let us trust God, hope in him and expect everything from him. Let us not believe that he would ever abandon us. If he keeps us waiting, it is for our good.
Is prayer important at all?
A soul that does not pray is heading for ruin. As the body cannot live without food, neither can the soul without prayer.
Love of neighbour also belongs to the commandment of love. How do you see it?
If love of neighbour requires it, let us count no effort, no exertion and no sacrifice too great. It is sad to see souls who often receive the Eucharist and yet carry in their hearts resentment and a kind of hatred towards their neighbours. Let us learn to bear with one another in everything, and above all to forgive and to forget.
Mother Alphonse Marie, in the Eucharist you find the true centre of your life, of your service and the spiritual energy for the tasks of the apostolate. What does this mean for the community you founded?
To live with our eyes fixed on the cross and to draw spiritual strength from the eucharistic making-present of the sacrifice of the cross. With our eyes fixed on the Eucharist, to build the community of sisters and to strengthen its unity.
Your life motto is: “Everything for God and for the salvation of souls”. Why?
God is my everything. And the salvation of souls? I love sinners; I see in them creatures of God, the object of God’s love. I would give my life for their rescue. God created man for happiness, and I want to help him attain it!
We live in an over-technical age and yet misfortunes are a daily occurrence. What would you advise those who decide to rescue, to serve and to relieve misery “without borders” of every kind?
In such trials of life do not seek vain honours and human recognition. Strive to please God alone. Fight bravely as soldiers of Christ. Do not give in to weakness and resist faint-heartedness firmly! Follow Christ humbly in his love, his goodness and his suffering! I fear vain worldly glory for my sisters as I fear fire. I always remind them to think more of God and of their neighbours than of themselves. I cannot allow the world to praise my sisters. Our reward and our glory are in God alone.
Mother Alphonse Marie, thank you for the conversation
and what would you add right at the end?
“Have courage! God is with you if you do his will!”
We pray for her canonization
Pray with us
She was beatified in 2018. For her to be declared a saint, a miracle through her intercession is needed — and the prayer of those who ask for it.
If you have received an extraordinary grace through her intercession, please report it to the Postulation. Contact →