Yvonne was born in Plouenan, France in 1945. She earned her degree in History and Geography at the State University in Lyon, and taught first in the professional school of that city for 11 years. She was later a Superior and the Vicar of the Province. From 1983-89 she was provincial of the French province of Sacred Heart with headquarters in Paris. Her broader knowledge of the Institute began in 1990, when she was asked to be the delegate for West Africa. It was an appointment that allowed her to participate in General Chapter XIX held that year.
Mother Yvonne Reungoat has been a member of the General Chapter for 12 years (1996-2008) and since 2002 she has given her service as Vicar General and also as the person directly responsible for the four large international communities in Rome. During this time she was the closest collaborator to the Superior General, Mother Antonia Colombo and she shared with her the government of the Institute and the processes inherent to religious life and to education undertaken by the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians on a worldwide level. In 2008, General Chapter XXII elected her as the new Superior General, the 9th successor to Maria Domenica Mazzarello.
In 1991, she was appointed Superior of the African province of Mother of God, with headquarters at Lomé (Togo). These were the years during which Mother Yvonne gave preference to relationships with the Sisters, encouraged the communities formed by members of different nationalities to live the Salesian charism together in unity.
In 1996, General Chapter XX elected her as Visiting Councilor. This was the period during which she got to know the Sisters of six Latin American provinces, four European and one Asiatic, as well as the Sisters of Korea.
During the General Chapter of 2002 she was elected Vicar General of the Institute. In addition to following the communities directly dependent on the Superior General, she coordinated the planning and organization of five meetings for new provincials, accompanying the collaboration of the Institute with the Cultural Association for Salesian History and in 2004 she visited the communities of the Madrid province of St. Teresa and in 2005, she went to the province of Our Lady of Africa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
General Chapter XXII (the fifth Chapter in which she participated) elected her as Superior General. After 136 years of Italian Superiors General, 2008 saw the election of a French Mother General for the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. It was a historical turn of events, and one that links us to the origins of the Congregation. Our co-foundress, Mother Maria Domenica Mazzarello, in fact, had made her first visit beyond the confines of Italy to St. Cyr in France.