Go Out To the Whole World

It took a woman of the stature of Mary Theresa Ledochowska, lady-in-waiting at the court of Tuscany, to answer the call of Cardinal Lavigerie for concerted action against the continuing slave trade in Africa. Alone and without financial resources, she launched a work that was totally dedicated to the service of that continent.

Worthy imitator, as she was, of St. Peter Claver - who three centuries earlier himself an apostle of the African slaves in the New World and who would become patron of her young institute - this outstanding woman wished to be and indeed was the "servant of slaves", working until her dying breath to rouse the Christians of Europe from their torpor.

Beatified in 1975, Mother Ledochowska was known before her death in 1922 as "mother of the Africans". Long before the tern "mass media" was used, she made bold use of them to awaken awareness of the needs of the missions and further the preaching of the good news.