Photo PJ de Cloriviere

PIERRE JOSEPH DE CLORIVIÈRE

On both the paternal and maternal sides, the ancestors of Father de Clorivière, whose genealogy dates back to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, are part of the Breton nobility and Malouin gentry (more precisely, sea farers). Their names are related in local history to various professions, especially in the high services of the navy, to the glory of St. Malo.

In Saint Malo, on June 29, 1735, Pierre Joseph de Clorivière was born, the second of eight children in a marine-related business family.

Pierre Joseph was left fatherless at six years of age and three years later he lost his mother also, a situation that painfully marked his soul, breaking his delicate sensibilities and providing the sense of loneliness that began his clinging to God and the Virgin Mary.

ADELAIDE DE CICÉ

In Rennes, France, on November 5, 1749, Adélaïde was born into the Champion Cicé family, established in Brittany since the fifteenth century. His father was a counselor in the Parliament of Brittany, like his grandfather and great-grandfather.

Adélaïde was baptized on the same day of her birth in the parish of St. Aubin. Her mother was 47 and her father 69. Only a year after her birth her father died, leaving the entire burden of the family to Mrs. de Cicé. Adélaïde grew up in a rather austere atmosphere having little contact with her older brothers as almost all of them were out of the home. At age 10 she made her first communion at the Visitation of Rennes. This act profoundly influenced her spiritual life. On that day, her aim was to "not answer sharply but talk sweetly".

WRITINGS OF FOUNDERS AND FIRST DAUGHTERS OF THE HEART OF MARY