Marie-Renée Roudaut
was born in Brittany (France) to a family of farmers.
She wanted to become a religious but did not know where the Lord was calling her. It so happened that her cousin Yvonne was not able to finish her noviciate in Algiers because of ill health.
When she returned to Brittany, Marie-Renée asked her about her life in Algeria. Yvonne told about the hard work in the fields to assure their livelihood and that of the orphans of the famine, in their care. Marie-Renée felt that it was there that the Lord was calling her.
She decided to leave for Africa. The separation was difficult, but on the 2nd October, 1871 she left for the postulate and then in January 1872, for Algeria.

The difficult living conditions of the Sisters in Algiers, and the
hard work, were a good preparation for the difficulties they would meet in their missionary life.
At the beginning of her novitiate, Marie-Renée received the
religious name of Sister Marie-Salomé.
In 1873 she made her religious profession and began to look after the young orphan girls that Cardinal Lavigerie had sheltered. She was a good educator, demanding and kind.
In 1874 she was sent to the Attafs, where Cardinal Lavigerie had established a village for the orphans who had become adults.
In 1878, she left for Kabylia with two companions, for the new foundation of Les Ouadhias. There, the sisters had only the bare necessities, but the poverty did not frighten them. They had much to keep them busy in the craft school for little girls and in the dispensary, and they visited families in the surrounding villages.
There, Sr. Marie-Salomé had an unforgettable year in a community where joy, sharing and prayer were experienced.
Cardinal Lavigerie needed a superior for the Attafs, so in 1879 he sent Sr. Marie-Salomé there.
In 1880 he named her Novice Mistress.

Around 1899

Without date

At the General Chapter of 1882, she was elected Superior General of the Congregation.
Three years later, the Cardinal decided to suppress the
Congregation, because, according to him, the sisters lacked the qualifications required for works of responsibility.
Mother Marie Salome dared to oppose him, because she was certain that God wanted this Congregation.
She was supported by the other sisters, all of whom wanted to continue to live their missionary vocation. They asked help from the Virgin Mary and the "miracle" happened. The Cardinal, persuaded by the Sisters, changed his mind and the Congregation could continue.
In 1894 a group of sisters left for Equatorial Africa.
Other sisters soon followed, to other African countries.