Catherine Aurelia Caouette (1833–1905), also known as Catherine-Aurélie du Précieux-Sang, was a Canadian nun, the founder of the

Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood The Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood are a contemplative and cloistered religious institute of the Catholic Church. They were founded in 1861 by Catherine Aurelia Caouette in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada. History The ''Sœurs Adoratrice ...

Early life

Aurélie Caouette was born on 11 July 1833 in

Saint-Hyacinthe Saint-Hyacinthe ( , ) is a city in southwestern Quebec east of Montreal on the Yamaska River. The population as of the 2021 Canadian census was 57,239. The city is located in Les Maskoutains Regional County Municipality of the Montérégie regi ...

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

(now

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

). Her father was a blacksmith. She attended the local school, and in 1845 a boarding school run by the Congregation of Notre-Dame nuns. She left in 1850.

Jean-Charles Prince Jean-Charles Prince (13 February 1804 – 5 May 1860) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest, teacher, seminary administrator, editor, and Bishop of Saint-Hyacinthe, Lower Canada from 1852 to 1860. Life Jean-Charles Prince was born 13 Februa ...

, bishop of the diocese of St Hyacinthe, advised her to enter a teaching or nursing community but she did not feel this was her vocation. For some years she lived at home, living a cloistered existence and having religious experiences and visions. She took on the additional name "Catherine" to honour saint

Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria, also spelled Katherine, was, according to tradition, a Christian saint and Virginity, virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a ...

Founding of the order

In 1859 she spoke with the bishop of Montreal,

Ignace Bourget Ignace Bourget (; October 30, 1799 – June 8, 1885) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest who held the title of Bishop of Montreal from 1840 to 1876. Born in Lévis, Quebec, in 1799, Bourget entered the clergy at an early age, undertook several ...

, who suggested that she found an order to venerate the blood of Christ. Bishop Prince supported the idea, but died before it could be implemented. His successor Joseph La Rocque did not initially support the scheme but eventually approved it and the new order was founded on 14 September 1861 as a group of four women living in Caouette's family home. Two years later they moved to a convent, and on that day Caouette made her vows and became the Mother Superior of the Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood as Mother Catherine-Aurélie du Précieux-Sang. The order grew: by 1866 there were 18 sisters and 9 novices, and by 1902 there were 10 further convents in Canada, the United States, and Cuba. Caouette attended the inaugurations of them all.

Death and veneration

She died on 6 July 1905 at the order's convent in St Hyacinthe. Soon after her death there were moves to propose her for canonisation, with the first formal request being made in 1929. On 1 December 2016 she was declared to be

Venerable ''The Venerable'' often shortened to Venerable is a style, title, or epithet used in some Christianity, Christian churches. The title is often accorded to holy persons for their spiritual perfection and wisdom. Catholic In the Catholic Churc ...

References

External links

* * ''Full text online''
Caouette, Aurélie
at

Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec The Quebec Cultural Heritage Directory ( French: ''Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec'') is an online cultural heritage knowledge dissemination tool for the province of Quebec. The directory is maintained by the province's Ministry of C ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caouette, Catherine Aurelia 1833 births 1905 deaths Canadian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns 19th-century Canadian nuns People from Saint-Hyacinthe Venerated Catholics by Pope Francis