Couvent du Bon Pasteur (Nice)

Overview

The convent of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd (Bon Pasteur), the congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, founded at Angers by Mary Euphrasia Pelletier (first house 1829; the congregation approved by Rome in 1835) for the care of girls and the reform of «repentant» prostitutes (Wikipedia, «Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd»; aaef-asso.fr). The convent Marie visits is in Nice on the evidence of the diary: she means to talk with its Mother Superior every Sunday once «à la maison» (060.0578) and pays a farewell visit before leaving Nice for Paris (063.0009). Nothing in the diary gives its street, and its foundation date was not found.

Relevance to Marie

In the winter of 1875-76 Marie is in touch with the nuns: Sister Thérèse leaves two visiting cards at the house on 24 December 1875 (050.1185). In January 1876 she uses the name «les religieuses du Bon Pasteur» as the mock signature of a satirical letter to Léon d'Audiffret (053.0004, 053.0006), and on 25 December 1875 Emile d'Audiffret, in a teasing conversation, says he too received on the same day a card from the nuns, «P.P.C.» (050.1252; the nuns appear there as a joke). On 28 March 1876 she begins a portrait of the Pope, from a photograph, in oil and smaller than life: «Je le donnerai aux religieuses du Bon Pasteur» (056.0090, written in Rome); on 9 May 1876 she delivers it to the Mother Superior, who «m'ouvrit sa grille et m'embrassa trois fois» (059.0960); she plans to visit the Mother Superior every Sunday (060.0578); on 4-5 July 1876, before leaving, she says goodbye to the superior with Dina and, with «les plus mauvaises intentions», tells her an invented dream of thirteen red demons tearing out «le cœur des religieuses du Bon Pasteur» (063.0009, 063.0010).

References in Diary