Sœur Marie-Christiane VU Thi Hiên

1er /04/1924 – 9 /10/2022

 

Marie-Christiane was born in Hanoi in 1924 to a large Christian family living in a big house in rue de la Cathedrale. She went to school with the Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres in Hanoi and then she went to Dalat to Les Oiseaux where she discovered the sisters of Our Lady. She decided to become a teacher herself, beginning in the primary school in Hanoi, then Dalat., Then in 1950 she entered, left Vietnam for France and was welcomed at Notre Dame de Verneuil. There she took the habit, wearing a magnificent Vietnamese tunic. She made her first profession on 7th August 1954.

   She went to rue Blomet in Paris for her Scholasticate and did her religious studies at the Institut Catholique, at the same time learning the Montessori method.

   In 1956 she returned to Vietnam where she helped in the kindergarten, then took charge of the primary classes at Regina Mundi at Saigon. She also prepared children for their First Communion.

   In 1957, at Dalat, she made her final vows in front of Mère Agnès du Sacré-Coeur. Between 1961 and 1962 she went back to Paris for further religious and catechetical studies. Back in Vietnam, she took over the primary classes in Les Oiseaux in Saigon.

   Then, for several years, she taught French in both Dalat and Saigon.

   In July 1976 she returned to Paris just in time to go to the big reunion of the Congregation in Epinal. She lived in community successively in Lyon, Menton, Epinal, Nancy and Meudon. She developed different ways of being, seeing and judging thanks to the many acquaintances she made. She shared her rock-solid faith with children of all ages, and fostered vocations to the priesthood among her pupils. She loved to pray and discuss in common and joined several charismatic groups.

   At Meudon her concern with the youngest children gave her the idea of forming an association to help children in her own country. She organised gifts of food, clothes and toys.

   In 2010 at the age of 86 she joined the Abbaye-aux-Bois. She lived there for 12 years, learning the lesson of letting go which comes with age. In spite of her declining health, she remained faithful to prayer and to her devotion to Our Lady.

   She entered gently and peacefully into God’s light on Sunday 9th October 2022.

 

                                                                                                          Pascale Pichon

                                                                                                                                             Assistante de communauté