To honor the canonization of Saint Jeanne Jugan, Archbishop of Washington, DC Donald Wuerl celebrated this Mass of Thanksgiving on Sunday, October 25 at 2 PM at America's Catholic Church, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
- Saint Jeanne Jugan, foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor. The Little Sisters of the Poor trace their roots to very humble beginnings in Brittany, France. On a cold winter’s night in 1839 in the Breton village of Saint Servan, Jeanne Jugan recognized the presence of Jesus Christ in the person of an elderly, blind and infirm woman. Jeanne carried her home and placed her in her own bed. In the days and weeks that followed, more old women arrived at her doorstep. Jeanne was joined by a small group of young women who were willing to help with the care of her elderly guests. The Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor was thus born from a single, hidden act of hospitality. Today, over 2,700 Little Sisters of the Poor care for more than 13,000 needy elderly persons in 202 family-like homes around the world. Thirty-two of those homes are located in North America. Dr. Edward Gatz, who lives in Omaha, Nebraska, and whose miraculous cure from esophageal cancer paved the way for Jeanne Jugan’s canonization was at the canonization.