Marguerite Bourgeoys
Encyclopedia
Congregation of Notre Dame
The Congregation of Notre Dame was founded in 1653 by Marguerite Bourgeoys in Montreal, Canada. This was one of the first non-cloistered communities. The community's motherhouse has continued to be based in Montreal...
.
Biography
Marguerite Bourgeoys was born in Troyes, France, April 17th, 1620 the sixth of twelve children of devout parents. After her mother died, Marguerite at 19 took care of her brothers and sisters. Her father, a candle maker, died when she was twenty-seven. A few years later, the governor of MontrealGovernor of Montreal
The Governor of Montreal was the highest position in Montreal in the 17th century and the 18th century. Prior to the establishment of the 1663 Sovereign Council, the governor of Montreal was appointed by the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal...
, Canada, Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve
Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve
Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve was a French military officer and the founder of Montreal.- Early career :...
was in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
looking for teachers for the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
. He invited Marguerite to come to Montreal to teach school and religion classes in 1653. She accepted the offer and traveled to New France in order to establish her own chapel and school. She is often considered to be one of the founders of Montreal, in New France. However because she was a woman, this status is often ignored, especially due to the circumstances under which women were governed in the 16th and 17th Centuries.
Marguerite Bourgeoys gave away her share of the inheritance from her parents to other members of the family. In 1653, she sailed for New France. On arriving, she initiated the construction of the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel
Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel
The Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel is a church in the district of Old Montreal in Montreal, Quebec. One of the oldest churches in Montreal, it was built in 1771 over the ruins of an earlier chapel.St...
in honour of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. She opened the first school established at Ville Marie (Montreal) in 1658. She first worked with rich children, but soon started working with poor and rich people. She returned to France the next year to recruit more teachers, convincing four to accompany her. In 1670, she went to France again, and brought back six more women. Having braved dangerous travel and pioneer conditions, these women became the first Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame
Congregation of Notre Dame
The Congregation of Notre Dame was founded in 1653 by Marguerite Bourgeoys in Montreal, Canada. This was one of the first non-cloistered communities. The community's motherhouse has continued to be based in Montreal...
.
Bourgeoys and her sisters helped people in the colony survive when food was scarce, opened a vocational school, taught young people how to run a home and farm. Bourgeoys' congregation grew to 18 sisters, seven of them Canadian. They opened missions, and two sisters taught at the Native American school. Soon after, Bourgeoys received the first two Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
women into the congregation.
In 1693, Mother Marguerite handed over her congregation to her successor, Marie Barbier
Marie Barbier de l'Assomption
Marie Barbier de l'Assomption was a sister of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame and the first woman from Montreal to be part of Marguerite Bourgeoys congregation....
, the first Canadian to join the order. The congregation's religious rule was approved by the Church in 1698.
Marguerite spent her last few years praying and writing an autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
. On December 31, 1699, as a young sister lay dying, Mother Marguerite asked God to take her life in exchange. By the next morning of January 1, 1700, the sister was completely well. But, Mother Marguerite had a raging fever, suffered 12 days, and died in Montreal on January 12, 1700.
In October, 1888, her remains were moved from the church in which they had been interred to the new chapel of her Order at Monklands, Montreal. Mgr. Bourget took steps for her canonization. Her life has been written by several persons. Thomas D'Arcy McGee's poems include verses in her honour.
Legacy and canonization
Marguerite Bourgeoys was declared venerable in 1878, beatified on 12 November 1950, and canonised by John Paul IIPope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
on 31 October 1982. She is commemorated in both the Catholic Church and in the Anglican Church of Canada
Anglican Church of Canada
The Anglican Church of Canada is the Province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French name is l'Église Anglicane du Canada. The ACC is the third largest church in Canada after the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada, consisting of 800,000 registered members...
on January 12. She was Canada's first female saint.
She was buried in the sanctuary of Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel
Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel
The Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel is a church in the district of Old Montreal in Montreal, Quebec. One of the oldest churches in Montreal, it was built in 1771 over the ruins of an earlier chapel.St...
in Montreal. The church now includes a museum
Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum (Montreal)
Opened on May 24, 1998, the Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum is located on the shores of the Saint Lawrence River in the historic centre of Old Montreal. Exhibits focus on Marguerite Bourgeoys, Montreal's first teacher and founder of the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, who lived during the 17th century...
about her life and the early history of Montreal. A Quebec provincial electoral district
Marguerite-Bourgeoys
Marguerite-Bourgeoys is a provincial electoral district in Quebec, Canada that elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. The riding was created in 1965 from parts of Jacques-Cartier and Montréal—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce...
in Montreal is named after Bourgeoys.
External links
- Congrégation de Notre-Dame
- Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum
- Biography, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- "Marguerite Bourgeoys", The Vatican
- "Congregation of Notre Dame de Montreal", Catholic Encyclopedia
- Catholic Forum Saints: Marguerite Bourgeous