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A remarkable story….. In 1793, when the French Revolution was at its height, all religious congregations were banned and Jeanne-Antide was forced to leave the Daughters of Charity. She returned to her home knowing that she would carry on what she had learned from St. Vincent de Paul. At 22 she left her home and joined the Daughters of Charity, a congregation at the service of the poor founded by St. Vincent de Paul in Paris.
In 1793, when the French Revolution was at its height, all religious congregations were banned and Jeanne-Antide was forced to leave the Daughters of Charity. She returned to her home knowing that she would carry on what she had learned from St. Vincent de Paul. She cared for the sick, the wounded, and the poor – all of whom grew numerous during the chaos of the French Revolution. Jeanne-Antide also taught the children, helped the priests who were forced to hide, and gathered Christians in prayer.
Because of her desire to commit herself to Christ and to her religious vocation, Jeanne-Antide fled France and escaped to Switzerland to join a different religious itinerant community where she cared for the sick. With them she traveled across Switzerland and Germany.
When she decided to return to France she did so on foot, alone, without a passport, and through unknown places at the risk of her own life. She passed through Einsiedeln and reached the village of Landeron in Switzerland.
