Rose Prince facts for kids
Rose Prince (also known as Rose of the Carrier) was a young woman from the Dakelh First Nation. She has become an important figure for many people who follow the Catholic faith. People often visit the place where she lived and died.
Her Life Story
Rose Prince was born in Fort St. James, British Columbia, in 1915. She was the third of nine children born to Jean-Marie and Agathe Prince. Her father, Jean-Marie, was a descendant of the respected chief Kwah. Her parents met and married at a school called Saint Joseph's Mission in Williams Lake, British Columbia.
In 1922, when Rose was seven years old, she was sent to the Lejac Residential School. Some of her brothers and sisters went with her. This was part of the Canadian residential school system.
When Rose was 16, a sad event happened. Her mother and two youngest sisters passed away from a flu sickness. Rose was very upset by this. She decided to stay at the school during the summer breaks instead of going home.
After she finished her own studies, Rose continued to live at the school. She helped younger students with their schoolwork. She also did many chores, like mending clothes, sewing, painting, and embroidering. She even worked as a secretary for the school's director.
Later in her life, Rose became sick with tuberculosis. By the time she was 34, she had to stay in bed. On August 19, 1949, she was taken to the hospital and passed away on the same day.
The Pilgrimage
In 1951, two years after Rose's death, people said her body was found to be "incorrupt." This means it had not decayed as expected.
Many years later, in 1990, a priest named Father Joules Goulet asked people to visit Lejac. This special trip is called a pilgrimage. Only about 20 people came the first year. But over time, more and more people learned about Rose Prince.
The number of visitors grew a lot. By 1995, about 1,200 people made the journey to Lejac. They came from nearby areas and even from other provinces. Some people have said that Father Goulet's prayers and blessings at the site have helped heal people who were sick for a long time.
