25 October - In debt, Pauline refuses to sell Lorette

The factory in Rustrel where Pauline hoped to restore the dignity of the worker was put up for sale in terrible circumstances. However, Pauline was offered a new source of income. The idea was to build a passageway from the Saint-Barthélemy rise to the Fourvière terrace. The initial expense of about 10,000 francs would be recuperated in short order by charging a toll of 5 centimes. Work began after receiving authorisation from the civil authorities but Pauline was faced with opposition to the construction of the passageway to the gardens allowing access to Fourvière. Pauline had to sell her house; the sale was scheduled for 28 August 1852, but the judges managed to obtain a fifteen-day delay. In a letter to Guichard dated 1 December 1852, Pauline describes her state of mind: “I have felt a terrible shock; my house must be sold on 28 August. I look with pain not my own misfortune, but that of those who, not having a good mortgage or none at all, risk losing all their credit. I have come so far that the judges have understood that the spirit of the law may be in favour of debtors who desire a little peace and who, with delays, could reasonably have achieved it. I obtained fifteen months' delay to try to make the transition". (Sister Cecilia Giacovelli, Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 281).

A complaint from the neighbour dampens Pauline's joy just as the construction of the staircase steps is completed. If the neighbour's complaint is heard, the staircase banister would have to be demolished and a different reconstruction planned. However, where would the money come from to meet so many new expenses? Given the economic difficulties of the House of Loreto, the contractor was tempted to abandon the project, but Pauline firmly determined to do the good, tried to go forward with faith. Her sister-in-law came to her with a loan and allowed her to inaugurate the passage to the shrine of Notre-Dame de Fourvière on 8 December 1852, the feast of the Immaculate Conception (Sister Cecilia Giacovelli, Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 281). The public flocked to it and Pauline soon collected 180 francs, then another 90 francs, and by the end of the twenty-fifth day, the amount had reached 900 francs. The receipts for the right of passage, spread over several years, could allow the total repayment of the debts contracted for the factory in Rustrel. People who loved the old city of Lyon appreciated Pauline's initiative, as they could take advantage of the passage "o access the spectacular panoramic view of the Fourvière hill (Sister Cecilia Giacovelli, Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 282).

New complaints were lodged against Pauline. Unable to reach an agreement, she was forced to submit to a new legal procedure. The house at Lorette became a place where destitution reigned. The Daughters of Mary abandoned the central headquarters of the Living Rosary; only Marie Dubouis and Marie Melquiond and a third friend remained with Pauline. Reduced to poverty, Pauline obtained a certificate of indigence (a kind of welfare certificate) from the Lyon town hall, which she had requested from the Reverend Father Godind, priest of Saint-Just and vice-president of the 11th committee of the Charity Office. Pauline welcomed it as a title of nobility to which she became so attached that she expressed a joyful pride, reminiscent of Saint Clare of Assisi. (Sister Cecilia Giacovelli, Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 283).

Pauline fought hard to keep her house and in a letter dated November 5, 1853 she clearly expressed her determination in this matter. I am almost certain that the house and the path will not be expropriated, thanks to the subscription of a four-year delay for the first mortgages, which are their capital that would be considerably reduced by the private sale of two properties, which I had absolutely no need of, and by the compensation received because of the damage suffered in 1848 by about 300 voracious people. (Sister Cecilia Giacovelli, Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 283). The funds from the daily income from the passage and other interests from the real estate Pauline owns will convince the majority of the creditors to limit themselves to a progressive repayment and to return to the possession of what they had invested in the factory of Notre-Dame des Anges. Thus, Pauline learns to rely completely on Providence. She is convinced that she will find the mantle that protects the poor, paying with prayer, and discovers a kind of perpetual miracle of evangelical prosperity.(Sister Cecilia Giacovelli, Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 284).

The Fourvière commission was created with the aim of safeguarding the hill and building as a new Marian sanctuary (Catherine Masson, Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 405). It would have wanted to purchase the House of Loreto, but other people interested in increasing their speculative business also wantrf to acquire it at a ridiculously low price of 100,000 francs. In fact, Pauline was asking 400,000 francs, which would have allowed her to make good to the mortgage holders and to secure the wonderful natural pedestal of the imposing shrine (see Sister Cecilia Giacovelli, Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit.). In spite of the slander and calumny, which made Pauline look like a person who had become rich with the money from the collections and who was now squandering it to the point of becoming greedy and rejecting good proposals for the sale of the House of Loreto, because she was looking for more lucrative opportunities, Pauline stood firm. If she had detached herself from everything and had above all redoubled her love for justice and truth and for God, who embodies them.

Reduced to a state of poor health and burdened with a mountain of debts, Pauline nevertheless refused any opportunity to sell her house, for one invariable reason: If they want to pay all my debts, both mortgage and unsecured, I am willing to give up everything and retire, quite happy to have been able to discharge this work of justice. Otherwise, I rely on God and consent to nothing. (Sister Cecilia Giacovelli, Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 288). So much the worse if she comes across as "incapable, proud and stubborn. (Sister Cecilia Giacovelli, Pauline Jaricot, op. Cit., p. 289). During this crisis, the President of the Council of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith, which Pauline founded, refused to help her, notwithstanding the intervention of the Holy Father, of Cardinal Vicar Costantino Patrizzi and of the Archbishop of Lyons. The President, A. Terret, believed that this would mean diverting part of the funds from the special purpose for which the associates entrusted them to the Council of the Propagation of the Faith. In the end and notwithstanding other difficulties, Pauline finally succeeded in keeping her house until her death.