October 4 - Pauline and her brother Phileas, young and already missionaries

Pauline was influenced significantly by her brother Philéas, with whom she had strong spiritual bond, particularly in their common commitment to support missionaries and the work of evangelization of the Church. While Pauline had been thoroughly converted and committed to the austere path of renunciation, Philéas dreamed of being a priest like his brother Paul who, after a year of marriage, had lost his wife on June 29, 1816. The year 1817 was a year of trouble, misery and even terror in Lyon. Those in charge of order were unable to play their part in bringing peace and serenity to the city. Pauline tried to relieve the hungry as best she could, distributing hundreds of bread vouchers to workers and clothing to the needy. 

In October 1819, Pauline's brother Philéas (1797-1830) was in Paris, in contact with the priests of Saint Sulpice and of the Foreign Missionaries of Paris. Five years earlier he had interrupted his studies and his father employed him in his business under the tutelage of his brother Paul. On December 8, 1817, he joined the lay Congregation of the Blessed Virgin, also known as the Gentlemen, consecrated to the Immaculate and became its secretary. “The Congregation of Gentlemen did not seem to have undergone any notable alteration: it maintained its character of simplicity and strength and its inexhaustible fruitfulness for good” (David Lathoud of the Augustinians of the Assumption, Marie-Pauline Jaricot. 1. The secret of the origins of the Propagation of the Faith, op. cit., p. 34) Philéas became the head of the Charity Section which visited the prisoners, the sick and the needy.

Pauline was proud of her brother and his dedication to God.  “I had a brother”, she would say, “who, also touched by grace, threw himself into the arms of God. He did various good works, among others, that of preparing the poor condemned for death, for whom he asked the prayers of the “Reparatrixes”. These prayers often brought sincere repentance to these unfortunate people” (David Lathoud of the Augustinians of the Assumption, Marie-Pauline Jaricot, op. cit., p. 34). 

In 1818, Philéas was in charge of a type of a precursor to the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Lyon. He maintained relations with the members of the association, including Father Rondot, who was studying at the Seminary on the rue du Bac in Paris. During the 1818-1819 school year, Philéas was in Paris, in frequent contact with the directors of the Foreign Mission Society of Parish on rue du Bac. He wrote to his sister Pauline in Lyon, urging her to create a program in which the faithful in the city would be dedicated to aiding the missions in Asia, especially in China. A missionary correspondence thus began between Philéas and Pauline. From October 1819, Philéas began studying philosophy at the Petit Séminaire de Sainte-Foy l'Argentière. He arrived at Saint-Sulpice on October 20, 1820, where he received the tonsure in December and minor orders in December 1821. He received the sub-diaconate on June 1, 1822, and was ordained a deacon on May 24, 1823, and to the priesthood on December 20, 1823. He returned to Lyon in 1825, were he was chaplain of the Sisters of Charity until the end of 1826 and was appointed spiritual overseer of the Hospital Sisters/nurses of the Hôtel-Dieu. He died on February 26, 1830, not long after taking up the responsibilities of his position of honor and sacrifice. 

Like his sister Pauline, Philéas had a heart for the poor. His entire ministry as a member of the Vincent de Paul Society and as a priest was one of pure charity. His instructions to the Hospital Sisters were full of extraordinary compassion for the suffering members of Jesus Christ. During the Revolution, serious disorders had crept in among the nurses of the Hôtel-Dieu. In response, Philéas established a novitiate for the Sisters far from any secular interference, on the hill of Fourvière, in a house that occupied the site of the apse of the present basilica. Persecuted no doubt by people who did not appreciate his commitment to the poor, there were two attempts to poison him. On the second attempt, a particularly noxious dose of the poison was administered. His family took him to Collonges, to rest and recover, but he soon succumbed to the poison and died. Hecwas buried in the cemetery of the poor at the Madeleine and on September 14, 1907, his remains were exhumed and buried in the family plot at Loyasse. 

Philéas and Pauline were formed from their youth to welcome and care for the poor. They would listen to the stories of the Martyrs in Lyon, Japan and China, where silk originated. They dreamed at an early age of “shedding their blood for Christ”. Pauline would say, “Doesn’t the blood of the martyrs make the Church grow?” (David Lathoud of the Augustinians of the Assumption, Marie-Pauline Jaricot, op. cit., p. 40)  Pauline also wanted to go on mission “to care for the sick, to put flowers in the chapels, to sew linens and altar ornaments... On April 19, 1805, during his stay in Lyon, Pope Pius VII had granted a special blessing to the Jaricot family and laid his hands on Philéas and Pauline, the future founder of the Propagation of the Faith. Later, Philéas will become, in his own words, the agent of the Foreign Missions. He will write to the Rue du Bac, to receive news of the missions, and forward them to Pauline, who in turn will pass them on to others. He would push her to organize a permanent and automatic collection: (David Lathoud of the Augustinians of the Assumption, Marie-Pauline Jaricot, op. cit., p. 106).