Since it is late and I haven't had time to do any preparation for tonight's post, I will give you another offering from Butler's Lives of the Saints. I want to share a woman's story this time, because we have had only male Saints so far this month.
Blessed Placida Viel was born in the Norman village of Val-Vacher in 1815. Her baptismal name was Victoria Eulalia Jacqueline Viel. She was one of eight children born to a farm family. She was a serious and shy child. At seventeen, she went to visit her aunt, who was the founder and mother general of the Sisters of the Christian Schools. The young woman was so impressed by what she saw in this community, that she offered herself as a novice. At her clothing, she was given the name Placida.
The young sister was seen as the likely successor of her aunt, who was nearly eighty, so she was sent for additional education and was quietly initiated into the duties and responsibilities of administration. When her aunt, Sr. Mary Magdalen Postel, died in 1846, the ensuing general chapter chose Sr. Placida as the new mother general. Another aunt, St. Mary, had expected to be the choice and was a constant source of worry and unpleasantness to Mother Placida. She spent as little time as possible at the mother house while her aunt lived to avoid the tension, instead directing her society "from the rough winding highways and byways of central and western France."
Mother Placida directed the institute for thirty years. During this time, the community expanded greatly opening orphanages, nursery-schools, workrooms and free elementary schools. During the time that she was head of her order, their convents in France rose from 37 to 105, and their religious from 150 to over a thousand.
Blessed Placida's life was of the simplest from every point of view. We read of no great spiritual trials or mystical graces. Any seemingly miraculous occurrences she attributed to the intercession of Mother Postel. She died on March 4, 1877, at the age of 62 and was beatified in 1951.
Blessed Placida, pray for us.
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