Our Mother Foundress Claudine Echernier was born to Francis Echernier and Anne Dutrel in a village called “ver le creux” – Chavanod, France on the 29th of May 1801. Francis Echernier gave himself from morning to evening which earned the bread for the family. They did not have the means nor the necessary aptitude to care for the education of their family. The parents taught the children to fear the Good God; they advised them to be good. That was all they could do. Claudine was placed as a shepherdess in the home of a peasant called “Maillet” at Champanges. It was here that she learnt to read and write. About the age of 15 she had the misfortune of losing her mother and had to replace her in tending her brothers and sisters.