Assumption community vows to pursue Mother Eugenie’s legacy

When Blessed Mother Eugenie put up a religious congregation in honor of the Assumption of Virgin Mary in 1839, she only had one thing in mind: to empower neglected women during her time through education and enable them to live a Christian life.

Along with 170 communities of the Religious of the Assumption in 34 countries, members of this order in the Philippines have declared to pursue such a noble legacy as a tribute to their founder, who will be officially declared a saint by the Vatican on June 3.

Ma. Lourdes "Baby" Herrera, co-chair of the national committee on the canonization of Mother Eugenie, said they have organized various activities all over the country in preparation for the much-awaited event that will be celebrated simultaneously by their counterparts all over the world.

"We are one with the 1,200 Religious of the Assumption in carrying out their vocation to educate in order to help people transform their way of thinking and acting according to Gospel values through schools, formation centers as well as ministries to migrants and welcome houses, among others," Herrera said.

Herrera said the Assumption community in the Philippines also takes pride for being a witness in the sainthood of Mother Eugenie, citing a grade school student of Assumption College in Makati City as a living testimony of a miracle crucial to the canonization.

In 1995, Maria Carmela Therese Eugenie "Risa" Bondoc was born with a malformed left hemisphere in her brain. The corpus pellucidum connecting the two hemispheres did not develop, a condition called "septo-optic-dysplasia with left schizencephaly."

Doctors were prompted to declare the baby would never walk, talk or even see.

Her adoptive parents, Rosendo and Carmen, also had no choice but to pray for a miracle. They sought the intercession of Mother Eugenie.

From Houston Children’s Hospital in the US, the 15-month-old Risa was brought to the Convent of the Religious of the Assumption in Paris where she was laid on top of the tomb of Blessed Mother Eugenie.

In December 2005, Vatican had recognized this incident as a miracle. After a thorough study of Extraordinary Theological Commission, Pope Benedict XVI said it was a validated miracle "attributed to Blessed Mother Eugenie."

The Pope, through the validation of the miracle, also authorized the congregation of the Causes of Saints to declare sainthood of Blessed Mother Eugenie.

Risa, now 12 years old, is a grade school student of Assumption College whose language development corresponds to the level of her peers. She continues to show a high level of social skills and "an intellectual aptitude that corresponds to her age, as well as a formidable disposition to fulfill the required task."

But officials of the school appealed to the media to respect the privacy of the child and "refrain from probing in respect of her childhood."

Meanwhile, the Vatican has also started preparing for the canonization of Mother Eugenie. A month-long celebration in honor of the Assumption founder was set from Feb. 9 to March 10.

Mother Eugenie, born Anne Eugenie Milleret in Metz, France in 1817, founded the Religious of the Assumption in Paris at the age of 22.

Under her leadership, the group grew to become a worldwide organization dedicated to the education of young women. She envisioned a society transformed by education and contemplation and a world in which "no one oppresses another."

She believed strongly that women with deep Gospel values could transform society. For almost 60 years, Marie-Eugenie lived out her calling and served the Roman Catholic Church by founding Assumption communities wherever the Church desired.

Her energy and passion were such that in 1849, she attempted to establish communities in Richmond, England and South Africa. It was during her time when communities of Congregation of the Religious of the Assumption were established in England, Spain, New Caledonia, Italy, the Philippines, Nicaragua, El Salvador, among other areas.

Among the known graduates of the Assumption education system in the country is President Arroyo, who is known to be a devout Catholic.