Lyon – The face of Pauline Jaricot has returned to Loreto. On the occasion of the bicentenary of the Living Rosary, commemorated this weekend in Lyon by the Pontifical Mission Societies and the archdiocese, the family of Blessed Pauline Jaricot presented her white plaster death mask to the House of Loreto. A single eyelash of Pauline, beatified on May 22, 2022, remains attached to the mask. The gesture took place during a moment of simple and intimate moment of prayer in the Chapel of Saint Philomena, in the house where she lived from 1832 until her death, in poverty, in 1862. It is a true haven of peace on a hillside between the Basilica of Fourvière and the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist.It was Marie-Dominique Escarron, a descendant of the Jaricot family, who presented the precious mask on behalf of her "cousin Jean-Paul," at whose home the relic had been kept, during a private moment of prayer. Born in 1944, Marie-Dominique looks with emotion at the railing of the stairs leading to Pauline's room: "To think she used to touch this railing to go up..." she murmurs. "For me, Pauline is 'Aunt Pauline.' She was my great-great-aunt; I am the fifth generation," she confides to Fides a moment later in the garden of the house. In the family, the memory of Blessed Pauline has never been forgotten: "We have always prayed to Pauline. My mother made us pray in the evenings, and she would talk to us about her. We prayed for all sorts of intentions. That is how I have always known Pauline," she recounts.A former scout guide and then nurse, Marie-Dominique has long been committed to helping the most vulnerable. She sees her relative as a role model in her own life. “You know,” she begins, “I do not think Pauline needs my testimony to be known!” She continues, “I thought to myself that Pauline had accomplished things, so I got involved with people with disabilities in the town of Palaiseau, in the Paris region, where I lived for a large part of my life. It is not always easy, but I think it is a wonderful example, and we have accomplished many things anyway,” explains the woman who says she enjoys “getting involved.” Even her son and daughter-in-law have placed themselves under this discreet patronage by naming their farm ‘La ferme d’Apolline,’ “thinking of Aunt Pauline,” she adds.Passionate about genealogy, Marie-Dominique began delving deeper into the life of the foundress of the Living Rosary when a cousin, Nicole, contacted her: “When Nicole contacted me around the time the Friends of Pauline Jaricot association was founded, I searched online for old books, thinking that after her beatification, they would be harder to find,” she explains. “I found many works, including an 1893 edition of Les Contemporains.” She likes to point out that if Pauline gave so much, it was also because she grew up surrounded by great family generosity: “They were a very generous family. Her mother was also very charitable, and I think they deserve to be canonized as much as the parents of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.”The friendship between Pauline and the Curé of ArsIn particular, Marie-Dominique is exploring the encounter between Pauline and the Curé of Ars. The daughter Antoine Jaricot, a silk merchant who became a landowner in Tassin, Pauline met Jean-Marie Vianney, a regular visitor at the family home. “Her father, Antoine, had become wealthy after the Revolution through silk and other businesses. With this money, he had bought properties, particularly in Tassin, where Jean-Marie Vianney, who was not yet the Curé of Ars but a young vicar, was living,” recalls Marie-Dominique. A deep spiritual friendship quickly developed: the young priest, struck by the inner freedom of the young laywoman, would later say of Pauline’s purse that it was “a gateway” through which money reached the poor.Marie-Dominique interprets this generosity as a prophetic feminine force in a rather unfavorable context. “There is something else in Pauline’s life that touches me: she was viewed very badly by some of the gentlemen of Fourvière.” She was unfairly judged. I, too, like many women, have experienced that kind of scrutiny, and I think Pauline can be a role model and a source of support,” she emphasizes. “She was a strong young woman in a time when women were not valued. Pauline’s era was difficult, and she suffered from the lack of recognition, but she persevered in her mission and her desire to help, guided by her faith.”In the bright light of Pauline’s room, the death mask rests on a shelf alongside the cross given to her by the Curé of Ars. Without much fuss, Marie-Dominique testifies that the most precious gift Pauline passed on to her was that of a simple faith: “For me, faith is precious, especially in difficult times. You do not feel alone. You are always a little alone with yourself, married or not.” “But you are not abandoned. Faith can also come in times of trial.” She concluded: “In my parish in the Perche region, we are not enough to pray the Living Rosary, but I say two decades of the rosary when I close the church.” The fruitfulness of a Society also, and perhaps above all, comes from these small gestures, signs of a silent and profound faithfulness.
