material pleasures, while the other demonstrated a narrow spirit of piousness. Separated from the brother who had been her main companion as a child, she wondered about life and how to live out the spirit of faith and justice that her mother had taught her. In 1825 she made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Sainte-Anne d'Auray where she felt called to found a religious order dedicated to educating the poor. On 25 December 1829, Christmas day, she took her First Communion and it proved to be a life-changing experience for her. Through the reception of this sacrament she experienced the presence of God – a profound spiritual moment – which proved to be one about which she would refer to the rest of her life. During Lent in 1836 Milleret de Brou was invited to listen to a series of lectures at the Notre Dame cathedral at 10:00am which the then-Abbé Lacordaire, a famous preacher and social commentator, gave. His preaching lead her to have a profound conversion experience, and she became passionate about the messages from the Gospel and thus a dedicated servant to God. In July 1837 she returned to her father and brother whom she had not seen since her parents separated; she announced to them that she wanted to become a religious sister and she was heartbroken that her father and brother Louis found this dream incomprehensible. She made a brief novitiate with the Sisters of the Visitation on 15 August 1838 before leaving. She went to confession to the Abbé Théodore Combalot, who told her that he was looking for someone to help him found a religious order devoted to the Blessed Mother and the education of the poor. He believed that she would be such a founder capable of seeing out his vision. On 30 April 1839 Milleret de Brou founded the Religious of the Assumption with four companions. The congregation began in a small apartment on the Rue Ferou in Paris and celebrated their first Mass together as a religious congregation on 9 November 1839. In March 1841 she was made the Superior of the order and held the position until she resigned due to ill health in 1894. On 14 August 1841 she made her initial vows and then made her perpetual profession on 25 December 1844. In May 1866 Marie-Eugénie de Jésus set off for Rome and visited the tomb