Rose Philippine Duchesne (1769–1852) was a French religious sister of the Society of the Sacred Heart who sailed to America in 1818 as a missionary. She founded the first free school west of the Mississippi and opened schools for Native American and pioneer children on the frontier. In her old age she served among the Potawatomi people, who named her 'Woman Who Prays Always'; she was canonized in 1988.
She spent decades longing to be a missionary and did not reach America until she was nearly fifty, teaching us that God's timing asks patience and trust. When she could no longer teach or even learn the Potawatomi language, she simply prayed — showing that quiet, faithful prayer is itself a great work of love.
Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne, woman who prayed always, teach us to keep loving and trusting God through every delay and every sorrow. Amen.