October 3 - The Conversion of Pauline Jaricot

Father Jean Würtz, who was to play an important role in Pauline's life, was a well-appreciated preacher in the parish of Saint-Nizier and was socially attentive and committed. He succeeded in saving a young officer who was condemned to death for a minor military infraction. On the day of the execution, the priest went to beg the general: “Grace! Grace... in the name of God and of his mother!” The general retorted, “Holy priest, now that the lesson has been taught, justice and mercy can embrace.” The priest led the son back into his mother's arms. Jean Würtz seems to represent all the religious aspirations that Pauline secretly keeps. His reputation as a confessor of faith and charity soon grew. The Lenten sermons attracted the attention of the people of Lyon and the women of the Jaricot family, who attended these meetings, benefited greatly from them.

To those who knew him personally, Jean Würtz had a soft but austere face, who, knew how to attract the attention of his audience by his evangelical simplicity and gentleness. As he offered a reflection on the dangers and illusions of vanity, Pauline felt touched and challenged. She listened attentively, without losing a syllable, hardly daring to breathe. It seems she saw herself in each line of the homily and took each reproach and advice personally. At the end of the celebration, Pauline met the priest and asked him to explain the meaning of “guilty vanity”. After Father Würtz's explanations, she asked him to listen to her confession, because his sermon had touched and disturbed her. She confessed her sins, her struggles, her remorse, and her better aspirations. She emerged weeping but radiant and full of joy. One of the following days, she will make a "general confession," as she writes in her journal, asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten her and keep her from all illusions. She trembled in all her limbs as she went to the confessional, "but the way in which I was received made me see how wrong I had been to tremble ..." (David Lathoud of the Augustins de l'Assomption, Marie-Pauline Jaricot. 1. The secret of the origins of the Propagation of the Faith, Paris, Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1937, p. 58). 

This great conversion of 1816 will mark the rest of Pauline’s life, freed from the net that immobilised her and now ready to rise, to fly like the Lark from paradise. She finally found the guide she had long been looking for and decided to embark on a path of absolute renunciation and of the ceaseless fight against all that opposes the radiation of the faith. She opted for a new way of life. The passion for detachment seized her and destroying all that is frivolous. Now she embarks caring for the incurably sick, where she finds great joy surrendering herself completely to God. She changes her clothes and no longer needs to be outfitted with the latest fashion. Her alarmed father intervenes and forbids her to give her cloths to the poor without his permission.

Is young Pauline crazy? Should we be wary of Jean Würtz? Pauline Marie Jaricot converts to a new life, decides to fight her passions and an inner transformation takes place within her; she decides to dress simply and identifies with poor laborers whose distress she experiences. “The garments of variegated silk have given way to a dress of purple bure and she replaces her shoes with leather sandals” (see Sister Cecilia Giacovelli, Pauline Jaricot, Roma, Pontificia Opera della propagazione della Fede, 1999, translated from l 'Italian, Paris, Mame 2005, p.64). She wants to sell her treasures to distribute their value to the poor. She prefers to lose sight of her old friends, because they risk trying to divert her from the path of conversion. Only one goal motivates her now: to make friends among the poor. It is there, among the humblest classes, that Jesus Christ finds many faithful. It is in the midst of them that Pauline realises how her worldly past led her on what she now sees as the slope of a life of sin, hypocrisy and scandals of all kinds.

In fact, Pauline surrenders herself to Jesus whom she wants to serve, by participating in evangelisation. She asks forgiveness of her family for her bad examples: "One day when my family  was reunited, I asked forgiveness of all and at the same time declared my unshakeable resolution to renounce the pleasures and feelings of this world: "That none of you cares about my future, I added. From now on Jesus Christ will be my everything." (David Lathoud of the Augustins of the Assumption, Marie-Pauline Jaricot. 1. The secret of the origins of the Propagation of the Faith, op. Cit., pp. 62-63). “I will rise, and since the center of my peace for time and for eternity is in God alone, I will go and throw myself at his feet. Yes, I will go to my father and be reconciled with him; it will not be for a few days only; once I have returned to his grace, I will never come out of it. I will come back to him without sharing, without reserve and forever I will submit to whatever he asks and will follow wherever he leads me ... The immense desire to love, the consuming thirst to possess my God also made me desire to act for his glory… I wanted to contribute to the glory of the Church… I had never felt an attraction for the all-celestial life of nuns… When I went to the ceremonies of taking the habit, an irresistible force was leading me with joy out of this holy asylum and seemed to cry out to me in spite of myself.“ "It is not there that you must consecrate yourself to Jesus Christ ... I finally took the irrevocable vow (of chastity) which fixed all the movements of my heart ... Proud of my happiness… I repeated to myself that I am the bride of Jesus Christ!" (See J. Servel, Another face, op. Cit., pp. 96-97). It was at Fourvière, on Christmas night 1816 that Pauline made the vow of perpetual virginity. At 17, Pauline was deeply involved in Mission, learning about the needs of missionaries and finding ways to support them.