July 16 - Marie-Madeleine Postel, born Julie Françoise-Catherine in Barfleur on November 28, 1756, was a founding nun of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Christian Schools of Mercy in 1807. Daughter of a tailpiece maker from Barfleur, she was sent to the Benedictine nuns of Valognes, then returned in 1776 to her hometown to open a school for poor children.

During the Revolution, she helped the hunted priests to flee to England and organized clandestine masses. When calm returned, she sought to create a community for poor youth and founded, in 1807, the Congregation of the Sisters of the Christian Schools of Mercy. The congregation settled successively in Octeville-l'Avenel, Valognes and Tamerville, before finding in 1832 in the old Benedictine abbey of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, dating from the 11th century, its definitive home, which the sisters rebuilt. At her death, Blessed Sister Placide Viel succeeded her. She also opened a boarding school for young girls in Cherbourg.

Marie-Madeleine Postel was beatified in 1908, and canonized on May 24, 1925.