Adèle Euphrasie Barbier
New Zealand Roman Catholic nun
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Adèle Euphrasie Barbier, religious name Mary of the Heart of Jesus, (4 January 1829 – 18 January 1893) was a New Zealand Roman Catholic religious sister, teacher and founder of a congregation of religious sisters.
Adèle was born in Caen, France, on 4 January 1829.[1] Adèle Euphrasie Barbier was the founder of Congregation of Our Lady of the Missions.[2] She worked in a laundry when she was 13 and opened her own laundry at home when she was 17.
Ever since she was a little girl Barbier had wanted to be a missionary.[3] At 19 years of age she set off to Paris to join the congregation of the Sisters of Calvary which was just founded in 1840 by Fr Nicolas Chantome. On 6 August 1849 she got the religious habit and the name Marie of the Heart of Jesus.[4]
In 1851, she travelled to London to learn English, in preparation for her missionary work. In 1860, she took over the Catherine Boys orphanage in Rectory Road, Deal, Kent, founding a convent which later ran St Ethelburga's and St. Mary's schools.[5]
From 1872-1886, Barbier lived and worked in New Zealand, founding convents, schools and orphanages across the country.[1] With three other sisters, she founded St Mary's Cathedral School in 1884 in Hamilton, which became Marian Catholic School on merging with Marist Intermediate in 1989.[6] Barbier died at St Ann's Convent in Westbere, Kent, England on 18 January 1893.[1]