Have
courage and confidence
. We must never say ‘I cannot do that, I am
not capable of doing this job’. God will not fail to give you the grace to do
all that he has asked of you.
Allons,
courage et confiance
. Nous ne devons jamais dire : « Je ne
puis pas aire cela, je ne suis pas capable de cette charge ». Dieu
ne manquera pas de vous donn
er la grâce de faire tout ce qu’il
demandé de vous.
Marie Madeleine
Faithful Companions of Jesus—An International Education
The first FCJ school was founded by the Venerable Marie Madeleine d’Houët in Amiens,
France in 1820. Less than twenty years later she had founded schools in five European
countries – France, Switzerland, Italy, England and Ireland – and thus opened the way
for the later development of the Society in Australia, North America, South America and
Asia. From the beginning there was a sense of
internationality
.
1
Marie Madeleine visited
all of her foundations frequently and staff (and sometimes pupils) moved easily from one
country to another. Modern
foreign languages
had a natural and prominent place in the
curriculum
2
as had music–especially liturgical music.
She always reached for the
highest standards
and (contrary to the accepted thinking of her
time) was adamant that aspirations for girls should be as high as those for boys. When taken
to task by Fr Zechinelli SJ for encouraging the study of ‘Advanced Sciences’ deemed at the
time, to be ‘least suited to the average capability of women’–she defended herself robustly!
3
Marie Madeleine’s one desire was that her pupils should be
true to themselves
and achieve
their
full potential
, ‘free from the least affectation in word or action’
4
. As she had once
said when speaking of a pupil ‘
… how much I want her to become all that she could be!
’
Inclusiveness
was ever part of her thinking. Although Marie Madeleine’s first concern was
for the poor and the dispossessed, she was insistent that her mission was not confined to
any one section of society. Her schools would provide ‘a
solidly Christian education
’ for
young people from all classes of society.
5
Our History
6
