Yvonne-Aimèe de Malestroit: Part Two

Paperback | 32 pages

Beginning with her entry into the convent of Canonesses of St. Augustine of the Mercy of Jesus (Augustinian Hospitallers), this second part of this graphic novel series (part 1 can be found here) on Mother Yvonne-Aimee covers the rest of her life until her death in 1951. Events include:

• During a terrible illness, Mother Yvonne makes conditional religious vows.

• The convent clinic is modernized and expanded. Mother Yvonne advances in the religious life. New superiors and changes to the life encourage the growth of the convent. Mother Yvonne becomes assistant to the superior. She is also novice mistress; vocations abound.

• 1935: Mother Yvonne is elected superior at the age of 33. The community, 49 at the time of her entrance, now numbers 92 canonesses.

• Various houses of the order are consolidated: a General Chapter is organized and Mother Yvonne now travels to Africa to visit various houses of the Augustinians.

• World War II breaks out just as Mother Yvonne had been shown in a dream years earlier. In June 1940, German troops requisition the convent as a military hospital. She refuses to cast out the civilian patients to make room for the soldiers, instead making arrangements for both to be accommodated.

• Mother Yvonne now begins to work with the underground resistance. She hides a downed allied airman.

• Secretly accused, the success of Mother Yvonne in all that she does for her community and the church is attributed to demonic activity. An Ecclesiastical tribunal is organized. However, after much prayer and suffering on the part of Mother Yvonne, her accuser is converted and the authorities are convinced of her sincerity.

• After hiding General Audibert, head of resistance, in the convent, the Gestapo arrive….more intrigue. Later, Mother Yvonne hides two allied soldiers by dressing them as nuns while the convent is searched by the Germans.

• After the War, Mother Yvonne is highly decorated with military honours, including the Legion of Honour….

More about Mother Yvonne can be found in this little book, including lots of actual photographs of the events portrayed in this book.

While the format of the graphic novel requires considerable simplification, the events related in these book are nonetheless factual; the script of the comics draws heavily on Mother Yvonne’s own letters and diary, including quotations from them and her contemporaries correspondence. Many of the scenes are based on actual photographs, and while there are a few anachronisms, the drawings tend to be quite historically accurate.