Sister Marie de Mandat-Grancey, D.C. and Mary's Home in Ephesus
by Father Henry Grodecki, C.M.
This article summarizes a pamphlet authored by Jerome M. Vereb, C.P.S.T.D., and Erin von Uffel, D.M. about the life of Sister Marie. This is part one of a two-part article —Father Grodecki
Her Family and Early Life
Adele Louise Marie de Mandat-Grancey was born in the Chateau Grancey in Burgundy, France, in 1837. She was the fifth child of the Count and Countess Grancey, a noble and holy family. Even as a child, pure love seemed to flow from Marie’s entire being. Caring for the poor, the destitute, the ill, and children was her life’s vision.
Marie was familiar with the Daughters and
their charitable work
with the poor.
Her family’s home in Paris was near the motherhouse of the Daughters of Charity, so Marie was familiar with the Daughters and their charitable work with the poor. In 1857, to the disappointment of her brothers and sisters, she joined this group of women whom she admired and respected due to their love of the poor.
Her First Assignment
Trained as a nurse, she spent her first years as a Daughter of Charity working in the dispensary and pharmacy of a House of Mercy staffed by five other Sisters in Air-Sur-La-Lys.
Along with these duties, she regularly visited two nearby hamlets to care for the sick, taught in an orphanage of 55 abandoned children, and instructed even more young women in a sewing workshop. Early in her life as a Daughter, those around her commented on her deep devotion to the Blessed Mother.
Changes in Assignments
As the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) began, Sister Marie was named as Superior of the Charity orphanage in Pecq, a suburb of Paris. She served in this position until 1886, when she volunteered to journey to Smyrna (the present day city of Izmir, Turkey) to serve as a nurse in the French Naval hospital there. It had fallen into great disrepair, and was woefully understaffed and ill equipped by the time Sister Marie arrived.
In 1890, she became Superior of the House in Smyrna, little knowing that she was soon to become a force behind another project soon to become dear to her heart—an effort to rescue Mary’s house in Ephesus from oblivion.
This article summarizes a pamphlet authored by Jerome M. Vereb, C.P.S.T.D., and Erin von Uffel, D.M. about the life of Sister Marie. This is part one of a two-part article —Father Grodecki