Mary of St. Jerome Tourneux

Mary of St. Jerome Tourneux was a French Roman Catholic nun who established the first monastery of the Order of Our Lady of Charity in the United States.

Biography

Julie Josephine Adelaide Tourneux de la Galaiserie was born on 16 November 1808 in Piré-sur-Seiche, France. She was the seventh of eleven children born to Marie Rosalie Rubillon Du Lattay and Jean Baptiste Tourneux, three of whom died in childhood. Her oldest sister, Mary Rose, joined the Sisters of Providence.

Despite opposition from her parents, Tourneux joined the Order of Our Lady of Charity in Rennes in June 1829, where she took the religious name Mary of St. Jerome. She took the habit on 25 September 1829, and made her vows on 13 October 1831. In 1845, she was sent to become superior of the monastery of her order in Blois, where her two predecessors had resigned due to community conflicts. She served there for two three-year terms before being recalled to Rennes.

Torneux proceeded to found a third monastery in Toronto in 1875. She originally intended to found a fourth in St. Louis, Missouri, but disapproval from the local bishop led her to instead found it in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Tourneux died of a stroke in 1896.