Kerguin, Jeanne Marie, St.
KERGUIN, JEANNE MARIE, ST.
In religion Marie de Ste. Nathalie (or Mary of the Nativity), martyr, religious of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary; b. May 5, 1864, Belle-Isle en Terre, Brittany, France; d. July 9, 1900, Taiyüan, China. Born into a peasant family, Jeanne Marie assumed responsibility for household duties following her mother's death. In 1887, she was received into the novitiate of the Missionaries of Mary, where she worked on the farm and joyfully attended to menial chores. Following her novitiate she was assigned to Paris, then Carthage—where she fell ill—then Rome. Although her health was still a concern, she was sent to China in March 1899, where she was beheaded a little more than a year later during the Boxer Rebellion. She was beatified by Pius XII with her religious sisters by Pope Pius XII, Nov. 24, 1946, and canonized, Oct. 1, 2000, by Pope John Paul II with Augustine Zhao Rong and companions.
Feast: July 4.
Bibliography: g. goyau, Valiant Women: Mother Mary of the Passion and the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, tr. g. tel-ford (London 1936). m. t. de blarer, Les Bse Marie Hermine de Jésus et ses compagnes, franciscaines missionnaires de Marie, massacrées le 9 juillet 1900 à Tai–Yuan–Fou, Chine (Paris 1947). l. m. balconi, Le Martiri di Taiyuen (Milan 1945). Acta Apostolicae Sedis 47 (1955) 381–388. L'Osservatore Romano, Eng. Ed. 40 (2000): 1–2, 10.
[k. i. rabenstein]