SISTER MARIE BENEDICTE OLLIVIER

Sister Marie Bénédicte, Jeanne Ollivier, was born on April 13, 1928 in Perros Guirec, a pretty little town in the Côtes d’Armor region, in the north of Brittany. His father worked as a notary. She was the eldest of three children, 2 daughters (Jeanne and Yvette) and their brother Bernard. At the age of 14, she was saddened to lose her father, a victim of the war in which he had contracted heart disease in the dampness of the trenches. This loss changed her life as a carefree teenager. With her mother and her aunt, she took care of the family. After having passed her baccalaureate, she chose to undertake training as a home science teacher. For a few years she traveled across Brittany to train young girls from modest backgrounds. The training of young people was a primary concern throughout her life.

It was while moving around that the Lord allowed her to meet Sister Marie Ste. Jeanne d’Arc, Religious of Our Lady of the Missions, former missionary in Vietnam, native of Saint Rambert- en-Bugey, and in charge of the groups of Eurasian children entrusted to the Sisters at the Abbey. This meeting was for her a call from the Lord to consecrate her whole life to God and to youth, in a missionary order. Despite her mother’s sorrow, she went to Lyon on October 9, 1954 to enter the postulancy. Her entry into the novitiate took place on July 9, 1955 and her profession on September 8, 1957. Marie Bénédicte made her Final profession as an RNDM on September 8, 1963.

After her profession, she was in charge of teaching at our small primary school on Chemin de Montauban, in Lyon, while at the same time undertaking higher studies and catechetical training. Marie Bénédicte was subsequently, appointed to Charenton, in the Parisian suburbs, to take over the responsability for a small school belonging to the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul. She was the teacher and the principal, while at the same time pursuing university studies at the Sorbonne with a view to obtaining a degree in classical studies. She was very close to her pupils who adored her. In 1968, she was appointed Provincial Superior of France. Having learned of the sale of part of the former minor seminary of Paris, in Charenton, she urged the congregation to buy a part of these premises to create a beautiful educational establishment that was always her pride and joy.

Marie Bénédicte had a missionary soul. Participating in the 1969 General Chapter in Hastings, she was not afraid to recall the missionary character of the Congregation desired by our foundress and, in September 1971, she opened the first mission of the Province of France on the African continent : the mission of Mboro, Senegal.

In 1972 she was elected Superior General of the Congregation. After taking the time to improve her English and taking part in the move of the Generalate from Hastings to Rome, she undertook to visit the provinces and the missions, always with the desire to awaken the missionary character desired by Euphrasie Barbier. Inspired by recently published conciliar documents, she applied herself to a re-reading of the spirituality of our foundress, in order to shed light on the richness of her Trinitarian charism. Through her visits and meetings, she endeavored to make people discover the notions of unity and internationality so important for a missionary congregation, in particular during the Enlarged General Council in Bangalore, in 1982. With the aim of explaining the charism of our foundress for today, she wrote, in 1978, a small booklet for the use of the Congregation, which she entitled “Straight is My Path”. She was re-elected for a second term as superior general at the 1978 General Chapter.

At the end of this second mandate, the new General Council entrusted her with the task of writing a historical biography of Euphrasie Barbier. A member of the community of the Abbey of Saint Rambert, whose calm and beauty she appreciated, she worked for 12 years to write a large volume of more than 600 pages, while participating in the development of the House of Hospitality where, with the collaboration of a priest from the diocese, a sister of St. Joseph and the community, she animated spiritual retreats and Desert weekends. She also brought together RNDM groups for international sessions. In 1986, she was appointed provincial again. At the end of this mandate, always eager for knowledge and anxious to deepen her faith, she decided to take courses in theology at the Catholic University of Lyon and obtained a bachelor degree then a Masters in Theology in 1992. Neither did she forget her former students and her dear Eurasians who came to meet her from time to time and for whom she had created an association. One of her greatest joys was the news she received from her nephews and nieces, grand nephews and grand nieces whose journey she followed with interest.

Sister Marie Bénédicte was a demanding person both of herself and of others; she did not tolerate mediocrity. She gave herself completely to everything she did. She was faithful in friendship and cultivated relationships with a large number of Sisters whom she had known during her visits to the provinces. Her love for others was rooted in the depth of her relationship with Christ. She was sensitive to beauty, whether it was music, liturgy or art ; it was for her a reflection of divine beauty. She also had a deep devotion to Notre Dame de la Clarté – Our Lady of Clarity- a devotion stemming from a chapel dedicated to Our Lady in her home town of Perros – Guirec.

Endowed with solid health, she did not see the years pass; she was always there to encourage and advise the members of the new Association of the Abbey which, following the death of Sr. Maureen McBride, became responsable for the running of the mission of the Abbey. Only the cornovirus was able to bring her down. Contaminated at the same time as the whole community, her heart could not bear the attack of the virus. Despite being hospitalized for three days, she fell asleep in the Lord on November 29, 2020, the first Sunday of Advent, at 8 am. Due to the lockdown in place in France, her funeral was very simple. Only Sister Patricia and the Sisters of the community of Lyon could join her community of Saint Rambert ; but the ceremony was full of light as she would have liked it. She now rests in the cemetery of Saint Rambert-en- Bugey, near those who preceded her.

May she watch over us now, as she has always watched over all the members of her congregation!