Blessed Élisabeth Eppinger

Blessed Élisabeth Eppinger Also known as

Mother Alphonse-Marie
Sister Alphonse-Marie
Alfonsa Maria Elisabeth Eppinger
The Niederbronn Ecstatic

31 July

Profile

Eldest of eleven children born to a poor farm family. Élisabeth was a sickly but very pious child. In 1846 she had the first of a series of visions, including of Jesus Christ. The combination led her to her belief that suffering could block a person from experiencing God‘s love, and relieving suffering could free a person to easier find God. When Bishop Andreas Raess examined her in July 1848 and came away convinced that she was called to serve the poor and sick.

On 28 August 1849, in Niederbronn-les-Baines, France, Élisabeth founded the Sisters of the Holy Redeemer to care for the impoverished sick in their own homes. She placed it under the patronage of Saint Alphonse Maria Liguori, and served as the first superior of the Congregation. She made her religious vows on 2 January 1850, taking the name Alphonse-Marie. The Congregation received approval of Emperor Napoleon III in 1854; later that year they worked with victims of a cholera pandemic. They were praised by Pope Pius IX in 1863 by which point there were 700 Sisters in 83 houses; they received full Vatican approval in 1866, and continue their good work today in France, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Argentina.

Born

9 September 1814 in Niederbronn-les-Baines, Bas-Rhin, France during the Bourbon Restoration

Died

31 July 1867 in Niederbronn-les-Baines, Bas-Rhin, France during the Second French Empire of natural causes
remains re-interred on 8 November 1950 as part of the canonization investigation process

Venerated