His Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, prefect of the Congregation for Causes of the Saints, celebrated the beatification Mass in the Cathedral of Notre Dame on Sept. 9 in Strasbourg, France. The nineteenth century French mystic and religious founder was beatified this week in her native Strasbourg after a miraculous physical healing through her intercession was confirmed. Mother Alphonse Marie had “the gift of seeing people, what is in their souls,” wrote Abbe Glöckler, who knew Eppinger personally and later wrote her biography.
As reported by CNA, Speaking at the Mass of beatification His Eminence Cardinal Becciu called the occasion “a providential opportunity to rediscover, 150 years after her death, the testimony of an authentic Christian life and a deep spirituality.”
The eldest of eleven children, Elizabeth Eppinger, was born into a peasant family on Sept. 9, 1814, in Niederbronn, France. Her devotion to Christ’s passion stemmed from an episode in her childhood. Eppinger’s devotion deepened through her experience of suffering through a serious illness with which she struggled intermittently throughout her life. It kept her bedridden for years at a time, prayerfully “immersed in the mystery of the cross.” It was during her illness that Eppinger received her first vision of Christ and that her mystical gifts became well known. At the request of her bishop, Eppinger founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Holy Saviour in 1848, taking the religious name Sister Alphonse Marie, in honor of her great devotion to Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, whom she made patron of the new congregation. Mother Alphonse Marie died in 1867. Ten years after her death, the congregation she founded had grown to include 550 sisters in 88 religious houses throughout Europe. Today the sisters are present in 68 dioceses across 16 countries, and they continue to serve others through the ministries of health care, social services and education.
Source: www.catholicnewsagency.com
