Reverend Mother Saint Mathilde Raclot |
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Religion | Roman Catholic |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Institute | Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Infant Jesus |
Monastic name | Mathilde |
Personal | |
Nationality | French |
Home town | Surriauville, Lorraine, France |
Born | Marie-Justine Raclot 9 February 1814 Surriauville, Lorraine, France |
Died | January 20, 1911 Yokohama, Japan |
(aged 96)
Resting place | Yokohama, Japan |
Senior posting | |
Based in | Yokohama, Japan |
Title | Reverend Mother |
Consecration | Saint Maur International School |
Reason for exit | deceased |
Reverend Mother Saint Mathilde Raclot (born Marie-Justine Raclot; 9 February 1814 – 20 January 1911) was a 19th-century French Catholic nun and missionary from the Sisters of the Infant Jesus who traveled to different countries in East Asia to set up Catholic schools and orphanages. In Singapore, she founded the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus girls' school and later traveled to Japan where she established a hospice and homeless shelter. In 2014, Mother Mathilde Raclot was inducted into the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame.
Marie-Justine Raclot was born in 1814 to a middle-class family in the small village of Surriauville in Lorraine, France. As the daughter of the village mayor she was sent to a boarding school in Langres run by the Sisters of the Infant Jesus where she returned at the age of 18 to join the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Infant Jesus. After two years she was given the religious name Mathilde and sent to teach in Bagnols-sur-Cèze, followed by Béziers and Sète.
On 18 September 1852, Mother Mathilde embarked with three other Sisters on a voyage to Malaysia to guide and support the group of Sisters whose previous mission had failed a year earlier. The sisters landed in Penang in October 1852 and began work at an orphanage and school before traveling to Singapore in February 1854 under request of Father Jean-Marie Beurel. Mother Mathilde remained in Singapore and eventually establishing Christian girls' school the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus and opening an orphanage to care for abandoned children.