Anatolie Razay was born July 15, 1856, in Antananarivo. She took her vows on December 8, 1886, and died on October 4, 1937, also in Antananarivo.

When she was just six years old, Anatolie was entrusted to the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Cluny, who had just arrived in Madagascar (1861). She heard the call of God very early in life. After a long preparation in the form of a novitiate that lasted several years, and which was extended due to the expulsion of the European Sisters during the first Franco-Hova war, Sister Julitte, who was trained by Sister Zenaïde, became the first Malagasy religious of Saint Joseph of Cluny. For the greater part of her life, her apostolic mission was carried out in the sewing room of Andohalo. She directed the sewing room with the touch of an artist, and truly magnificent embroideries were produced there.

Her entire life stood as a living and faithful testimony to the early years of the Catholic mission in Madagascar.

Sister Marcienne Fabre

Bibliography

Bulletin de la Congrégation de Saint-Joseph de Cluny, No. 202, Vol. 16, p. 625, December 1938.

This article, reprinted here with permission, is taken from Hommes et Destins: Dictionnaire biographique d’Outre-Mer [Men and Destinies: Overseas Biographical Dictionary], vol. 3, published in 1977 by the Académie des Sciences d’Outre-Mer (15, rue la Pérouse, 75116 Paris, France). All rights reserved.