Antoinette Fage

Venerable Antoinette Fage (7 November 1824 – 18 September 1883) was a French Catholic nun. With Father Etienne Pernet, she founded the Little Sisters of the Assumption. She took the name Marie of Jesus.

The daughter of Jean Fage, a soldier, she was born in Paris. Her mother, a seamstress, was deserted by her husband. She was slightly handicapped at a young age after suffering a fall which was not properly treated and damaged her spine. She was orphaned at the age of thirteen and cared for by neighbours. She later worked at a sewing workshop to support herself. Fage joined an organization called Our Lady of Good Counsel in 1853. In 1861, she became director of an orphanage for girls. She met Etienne Pernet in 1864. Pernet told her of his plan to form a new religious order. In 1865, she formed the first community of the new order.

The congregation was officially approved by the Pope in 1897. By that time, the order had communities in England, Ireland and the United States.