Blin, Josephine [Mother Ste. Arsene] (unknown–1852)

Josephine (Mother Ste. Arsene) Blin, foundress of the Ursuline Sisters in Galveston, was a native of Paris, France. At the age of sixteen she entered the Sisters of the Infant Jesus, a congregation founded for the instruction of girls. When, shortly thereafter, Bishop Dubourg of New Orleans returned to France in search of priests and religious to work in his diocese, Sister Ste. Arsene volunteered; she sailed from Le Havre in April 1817 and, upon arrival in New Orleans, lived in the Ursuline convent and was professed as an Ursuline. On January 16, 1847, Bishop J. M. Odin of Galveston instituted a new Ursuline Academy. Seven volunteers, with Mother Ste. Arsene as superior, came from New Orleans. After six years of service at the head of the foundation, the mother superior died, on October 10, 1852.