Pauline Marie Jaricot (1799-1862), foundress of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, will be beatified on May 22 in her birthplace, Lyon, France, following recognition of a miracle attributed to her intercession. This event takes place during the 200th anniversary year for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
EWTN will broadcast the beatification on Sunday, May 22 at 12 p.m., with an encore presentation on Monday, May 23 at 12 a.m. The beatification will be livestreamed by KTO TV, Catholic TV in France, beginning at 9 a.m. on Sunday, May 22.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, will preside over the Eucharistic celebration declaring Pauline “Blessed,” a step on the road to sainthood.
“Our world today needs witnesses, giving a witness to Jesus Christ, His compassion and hope,” said Cardinal Tagle in a film about the mission society foundress, Heart of a Missionary: The Story of Pauline Jaricot. “That was the original intention of Pauline Jaricot.”
“The work of Pauline Jaricot is evident all over the world today,” Msgr. Kieran Harrington, U.S. National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, said in that same film. “There is no place you can go that has not been touched by Pauline Jaricot.”
The Pontifical Mission Societies, active in some 120 countries throughout the world, work to animate the faithful in a missionary spirit, and to gather support for the efforts of the Church in some 1,100 missions. There are four Pontifical Mission Societies: The Society for the Propagation of the Faith, The Missionary Childhood Association, The Society of St. Peter Apostle and The Missionary Union of Priests and Religious.
In the Diocese of Harrisburg, the Office of Pontifical Missions has been uplifting missionaries in prayer and financial support since its establishment in 1924.
Pauline’s Mission Work
In the early 19th century, in the aftermath of the French Revolution, Pauline was inspired by letters from her brother Phileas about the missions of her day – the young U.S. Church included. She gathered small groups together – mostly workers in her family’s silk factory – asking each member of the group to offer daily prayer and a weekly sacrifice of a sous (the equivalent of a penny at that time) for the Church’s worldwide missionary work. From Pauline’s vision came the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the first of the four Pontifical Mission Societies. The very first collection of the Propagation of the Faith in 1822 supported the growth of the young Church in the United States. Today, support from the Propagation of the Faith reaches some 1,100 mission dioceses around the world, in Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands, and remote regions of Latin America and Europe.
Beginning in the early 20th century, Pauline Jaricot’s cause was thoroughly investigated. Her canonization process was initiated by Pius XI in 1926; she was declared “Venerable” on February 25, 1963, by St. Pope John XXIII. A miracle through Pauline’s intercession was added to the file prepared by Monsignor Philippe Curbelié, Postulator of Pauline’s cause. Pope Francis authorized publication of the decree recognizing this miracle attributed to Pauline’s intercession on May 26, 2020.
The miracle itself dates to May 2012, when three-and-a-half-year-old Mayline Tran, a little girl from Pauline’s own hometown of Lyon, choked at a family dinner, lost oxygen to her brain, and comatose, was declared brain dead by physicians. Her family still believed she could live, and through efforts at Mayline’s school, a large network prayed a novena for the intercession of Pauline Jaricot in Maylines’s recovery. In July 2012, despite doctors’ prognoses of certain death, the girl’s health began to drastically improve. Mayline is now completely recovered, and physicians involved agree it was medically impossible – thus, a miracle!
Pauline Jaricot’s holy life, her concern for those in need, and her active response in prayer, dedication and inspiration through lay movements (like the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and the Living Rosary) to evangelize the world bring her to this beatification stage in her journey to sainthood.
Documentary Available
The Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States have produced a film, Heart of a Missionary: The Story of Pauline Jaricot, about Pauline’s life, which includes discussion of the miracle that led to her beatification.
The documentary tells Pauline’s story through expert interviews, dramatizations and footage from various mission sites around the world. In addition to Cardinal Tagle and Msgr. Harrington, the film features interviews with Archbishop Giampietro Dal Toso, International President of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Rome; Father Tadeusz Jan Nowak, OMI, International Secretary General of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in Rome; and Msgr. Philippe Curbelié, postulator, cause of Pauline’s beatification, as well as Church leaders from Uganda and Tanzania.
The film can be streamed in English and Spanish at www.BlessedPauline.org. The documentary will be broadcast on ABC affiliate stations (check local listings) on May 22, the date of her beatification; broadcasts on Catholic television stations, including EWTN, Catholic TV, NET TV, CTN, and Salt + Light, began Sunday, May 15. In the Harrisburg region, the film will be broadcast on WHTM (ABC 27) on Saturday, June 4 at 7 p.m.
For a complete list of broadcast dates and times, visit www.BlessedPauline.org
From the National Office of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States
