Its ongoing mission
Laying in her coffin in the community room, amidst a bed of roses and lilies, Sister Eugénie Joubert had her last feast on this earth. We couldn’t pray for her, we felt the urgency to pray to her.
Many came to pay their respects to the little Sister, who appeared beautiful and smiling like a child at a love feast. Her tomb, in the cemetery of Saint Gilles in Liège, immediately became a place of pilgrimage and prayer.
Today, she is buried in a consecrated Chapel in the Church of Saint-Gilles in Liège, near the cemetery, where there is a cenotaph that is still venerated.
Her biography made her known in France, Europe, Africa and the whole world. Those who began to pray to her experienced her powerful intercession with God. Graces and favours from heaven came. During the First World War, she was the guardian angel of soldiers and of those in need, like her spiritual sister, Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus. The humble and the learned, common people and eminent men of the Church, all expressed the desire that Sister Eugénie should become a model of life and holiness for the people of God.
This spontaneous outpouring of popular devotion was compounded by a growing reputation for holiness.
The faithful and certain leading figures in the Church are calling for her case to be opened ....
The First World War interrupted this project, but Blessed be God with a healing deep in Dahomey (now Benin).
A young girl, Marie, who aspired to the religious life fell ill. Her lungs were damaged and she was told she would die.
Father Barril advised her to pray to Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus, but after 3 novenas, there was no change.
The priest gave her a brochure about Sister Eugénie Joubert and advised her to do a novena.
At the end of the novena, she felt much better. She consulted a doctor who, after examining her thoroughly, assured her that she was cured!
She took the name Sister Eugénie, as promised by Father Barril, and joined the Little Sisters of the Poor.
Click here to read this young girl's testimonial (in french).
In 1919, the Holy Family of the Sacred Heart opened a home in Dahomey!
On 26 September 1919, the Informative Trial of Sister Eugénie Joubert began in the diocese of Liège...
... continued in the diocese of Paris ...
... then in the diocese of Le Puy en Velay and in Rome.
On 1 October 1928, a miracle occurred in Belgium.
He was a Belgian man, Emile Legaye, who was suffering from an incurable respiratory disease.
His wife went to Eugénie Joubert's grave every day to pray and ask for her husband's recovery; her husband, who was bedridden, followed her in prayer. On 1 October, at the cost of extreme fatigue, Emile Legaye himself went to Sister Eugénie Joubert's grave in the cemetery of Saint-Gilles (Liège) to pray. From that day on, Mr Legaye had no more haemorrhages and was considered cured.
This miracle was recognised and validated Eugénie Joubert's request for beatification.
On 9 June 1983, Pope John Paul II recognised the heroic nature of her virtues, declaring her "Venerable".
After Pope John Paul II approved the decree of beatification on 2 April 1993, the beatification ceremony of Blessed Eugénie Joubert took place on 20 November 1994 at Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
In 1994, the book "Eugénie Joubert: 28 ans de sourire" (Eugénie Joubert: 28 years of smiling), written by Father Maurice Dechaud, was published.
Joachim Bouflet's book "Eugénie Joubert, une force d'âme" (Eurénie Joubert, a soul of strenght) was published in 1999. It is based on the authentic records of the beatification process.
After the beatification ceremony, chapels dedicated to Blessed Eugénie were built in Liège and Rome.
On 26 November 2000, during Sunday Mass, a chapel in Yssingeaux was consecrated and dedicated to Blessed Eugénie Joubert.
A statue has also been installed.
To discover the places of prayer dedicated to Blessed Eugénie Joubert, click here
From 20 to 23 May 2004, a pilgrimage in the footsteps of Eugénie took place in Belgium:
at Banneux, at the foot of Our Lady of the Poor,
at the parish of St Gilles in Liège, near the relics of Eugénie.
53 pilgrims took part in this 4-day pilgrimage to some of the places where Blessed Eugénie lived.
On 20 November of the same year, a day in honour of Blessed Eugénie was held in Yssingeaux, in the presence of Mgr Brincard and Mgr Soulier.
To mark the 110th anniversary of her death and the 20th anniversary of her beatification, commemorations were held in Yssingeaux, in the presence of a delegation from the parish of St Gilles in Liège.
Making Blessed Eugénie known as a figure of cultural heritage and of catechesis, and as a model of life: a great project!
The Association Les Amis de la Bienheureuse Eugénie Joubert (Friends of Blessed Eugénie Joubert) was set up to raise awareness of Blessed Eugénie and to promote her message, as well as the places where she lived and carried out her apostolate... so many memorial sites.
In an audience with the heads of the catechesis commissions of Europe's bishops' conferences on 17 September 2022, Pope Francis recalled that "catechesis cannot be a school lesson", but rather "a living experience of faith", (...) "to be passed on to new generations". The "heart of catechesis": "The risen Jesus Christ loves you and never abandons you". This was expressed by Blessed Eugénie Joubert when she said: "So long as Jesus is pleased".
So, through the association Les Amis de la Bienheureuse Eugénie Joubert, it is also a question of developing her cult, of offering her to each and every one of us to support our hopes, our prayers, our requests for grace..., in the hope that she will enter the circle of Saints and thus join the universal Church. Cultural activities cannot be separated from their spiritual dimension.
On 9 October 2023, Monsignor Delville, Bishop of Liège (Belgium), signed the decree of canonical recognition.
Since that date, the association, an association under the law of 1901, has been qualified as a 'private association of the faithful' within the meaning of canons 298 to 311 and 321 to 326 of the Code of Canon Law.
The association "Les Amis de la Bienheureuse Eugénie Joubert" thus becomes, together with the diocese of Liège, an actor in the cause for the canonisation of Blessed Eugénie Joubert. This process is part of the association's vocation to promote the cultural and artistic memory of the Blessed.
A "Eugénie Joubert" year was organized by Monseigneur Baumgarten, Bishop of the Diocese of Puy-en-Velay, and Father Michel Claeys, Priest of the parish 'Notre-Dame des Apôtres au Pays-des-Sucs', which includes the parish of Yssingeaux (Haute-Loire). The spirituality of the Blessed animates the catechesis of young people and children, the Stations of the Cross during Lent. The Prayer of intercession is recited after each service in the various parishes. "Living holiness in everyday life with Blessed Eugénie Joubert" will be discussed and prayed for on November 23 and 24 during a commemorative ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of her beatification organized in Yssingeaux
Marie Okoko wrote this tesimonial:
Article paru dans le magazine l’épervier de novembre 2023