On 3 June 2007, on the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Benedict XVI canonized in Saint Peter's Square Mother Marie-Eugénie de Jésus Milleret (1817–1898), foundress of the Religious of the Assumption. In his homily he recalled that, while the wisdom of God shines forth in the cosmos, it is the saints who are the true "masterpieces" in which his greatness is made manifest. To recall that date today is to ask ourselves once more what a woman who allowed herself to be entirely transformed by Christ has to say to our time.
Her teaching on holiness
It is worth listening to her, for her doctrine remains luminous. For Mother Marie-Eugénie, to be holy is not an abstract ideal but an active and constant work: allowing the life of God to take hold of the soul until it is wholly rooted in goodness, in imitation of the perfection of the Father. From this flow four concrete lines.
To imitate Jesus Christ. Holiness consists in reproducing the spirit of the Gospel in one's own life, in a very close union with the person of Christ, until one becomes, by the grace of the Spirit, "other Christs", so that every word and every action becomes a silent preaching of his doctrine.
To sanctify the everyday. There is no need to wait for great occasions: every ordinary action can be made holy if it is carried out with fervour and purity of intention, for the glory of God and not out of self-love. She took up a simple method of Saint Vincent de Paul: to ask before each task, "How would Jesus Christ do this action? How would He respond?"
To embrace the cross. Sufferings are not meant to crush us, but to train and sanctify us. Lived as grace, they become steps towards a more perfect love and a deeper union with God.
To live fervour and the will of God. To be holy calls for loving God above all things and uniting one's own will to his in every detail, in joys as in contradictions. Her formula of abandonment can become anyone's prayer: "Yes, my God, what you will, as you will and when you will". And she did not propose walking alone: she pointed to the Most Holy Virgin as the model of the pure desire for God, and to the Apostles who, despite their weaknesses, allowed themselves to be filled with Him in order to build up his Kingdom.
Why she is "a saint for today"
The question is what Marie-Eugénie's holiness asks of us now. And what it asks is surprisingly timely.
To the Religious of the Assumption she recalls that their charism is not a patrimony of the past but a living source: contemplation and action, Eucharist and mission, interior life and the education of the younger generations form a single current. To committed lay people (educators, catechists, fathers and mothers, professionals who live the faith in the midst of the world) she offers an accessible path of holiness: not to leave ordinary life, but to sanctify it from within.
In an age that is often wary of handing on values, her witness is countercultural and necessary. Benedict XVI said it clearly that day: the example of Marie-Eugénie invites us to hand on to the young the values that will help them become strong adults and joyful witnesses of the Risen One. At the Angelus he also asked that her example help to "centre your spiritual life on Christ" and on the mystery of the Incarnation, fostering a resolute apostolic commitment, above all through education. To educate in this way, today, is a high form of holiness.
Perhaps that is her simplest and most demanding lesson. Holiness does not consist in doing extraordinary things, but in letting Christ live, reign and act in what each one already has at hand. That is why Marie-Eugénie does not belong only to 1898, nor even to 2007: she belongs to the today of whoever, at their desk, in their classroom or in their community, dares to ask how Jesus would do it.
Sources: Benedict XVI, Homily and Angelus of 3 June 2007 (vatican.va)