Étienne Pernet

Who was Étienne Pernet?

Étienne Pernet was a French Roman Catholic priest, founder of Little Sisters of the Assumption Order.

He was born on the July 23, 1824 at Vellexon, a small village in Franche-Comté, into a Christian family, country people of humble background. His father was an agricultural labourer and also worked at the blast furnaces attached to the ironworks in the region. His mother, Magdeleine Cordelet was the village midwife. Étienne was the second of seven children, of whom only four survived.

As a child, he wanted to become a priest. He was fourteen years old when his father died.

His personality was formed by his mother, a simple woman who was greatly loved in the village.

In spite of the difficult financial situation they were in, his mother didn't place any obstacle in the way of his vocation and Étienne Pernet entered the seminary. He had a lively intelligence and a simple and anxious temperament.

After his first year of theology he left the seminary for a time of reflection. He was twenty. For four years he worked as "supervisor in a school".

In 1848, like so many other young country people, he found himself obliged to go to Paris to find work. There he experienced the difficulties of all those who arrive in a big city without experience, without friends, feeling homesick for their own home place. At a loss, he fell ill. Every day he went to the Church of Our Lady of Victories to ask for light about his vocation. He continued to question himself about what God wanted of him, and was thinking of going on mission to distant countries.