30/08/2026
Saint Jeanne Jugan (1792–1879), also known as Sister Mary of the Cross, was a French Catholic religious sister and the foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor. Born in Cancale, Brittany, during the religious persecution of the French Revolution, she experienced poverty and hardship from an early age after her father was lost at sea. Deeply formed by her mother’s faith, Jeanne discerned a special vocation to serve God and the poor. In 1839, she welcomed Anne Chauvin, an elderly, blind, and paralyzed woman who had been abandoned, giving her the comfort of her own bed. This act of compassion became the beginning of a movement dedicated to caring for poor and neglected elderly people.
Jeanne devoted herself to providing the elderly with food, shelter, care, and dignity, even personally begging for donations to sustain the growing community. Despite being unjustly removed from leadership by Father Auguste Le Pailleur and spending her final 27 years in obscurity, Jeanne accepted her suffering with remarkable humility and never sought recognition. After her death, the truth about her role as foundress was restored, and her legacy of humble service endured through the Little Sisters of the Poor.
She was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 11, 2009, and her feast is celebrated on August 30. She is remembered as a patron of the elderly poor, and is often invoked by those concerned with elder care, widows, and victims of elder neglect or abuse.
🙏🏿: Prayer to Saint Jeanne Jugan
Jesus, you rejoiced and praised your Father
for revealing the secrets of your Kingdom to the poor and humble. We thank you for the graces bestowed upon your faithful servant, Saint Jeanne Jugan, whom we revere as the mother of the elderly.
Grant us, through her intercession, the humility that trusts entirely in your Fatherly care and the charity that makes us see your face in all our brothers and sisters, especially those who are aged or suffering.
Through her prayers, grant us the specific grace we now ask of you...
(pause here to silently make your personal request)...
You who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.
Amen.