Background
The daughter of Émile d'Oultremont and Marie-Charlotte de Lierneux de Presles, she was born at Wégimont Castle. Her father served as Belgian ambassador to the Holy See in Rome.
The daughter of Émile d'Oultremont and Marie-Charlotte de Lierneux de Presles, she was born at Wégimont Castle. Her father served as Belgian ambassador to the Holy See in Rome.
She took the name Mary of Jesus. Her husband died in 1847. In 1854, while praying at a chapel in Bauffe, she experienced a vision of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Feeling that she had been called to religious life, she moved to Paris and set up a small religious community in her home. The order later set up communities in England, Belgium, Italy, Ireland and Spain and also took on missionary work, sending nuns to India, to Réunion and to Mauritius, where they operated schools, hospitals and orphanages. In 1992, the order was present in 20 countries.
She died in Florence, Italy at the age of 59. She has a shrine in the Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini in Rome. Mother Mary of Jesus was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1997.