Saint Emily de Vialar was born as Anne Marguerite Adelaide Emily de Vialar on September 12, 1797 in southern France. She was the oldest of three children and only daughter. She was baptized in secret and taught religion at home by her mother due to the anti-Church sentiment following the French Revolution. When she was 7 she was sent to Paris for her education and her mother died when she was 15 and she returned home. She managed her father's house until she was 35 years old and she privately devoted herself to a life of celibacy and prayer. She had a desire to enter religious life, but she argued with her father about it.
After receiving a large inheritance from her grandfather, Emily and three other women founded the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition on Christmas Day in 1832. The apparition refers to the appearance of Gabriel to Joseph telling him to flee to Egypt. In 1835 Emily and several Sisters arrived in Algeria to help the sick during the cholera epidemic and this began her dream of missionary work. In 1840 she tried to obtain papal approval of the Sisters, but there were politics between France and Algeria and the Church which prevented the recognition of the Community on March 31, 1862, several years after Emily's death. Emily was able to establish 14 houses, travelled, and sent missionaries where ever they were accepted. This put a heavy strain on her inheritance which was mismanaged by her financial advisor and in 1851 she was bankrupt. Because of this, the reputation of her and her Community suffered greatly. Emily moved them all and with the help of the bishop, Saint Eugene de Mazenod, she established a new motherhouse and began to rebuild her congregation. She was able to establish 40 houses in Europe, Africa, and Asia and the Sisters continue their good works today around the world. She died on August 24, 1856 in Marseilles, France. She was canonized on June 24, 1951.
"Since God does so much for me, what could I not do for Him?"
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