
"The Holy Virgin was not cloistered, but she maintained an interior solitude and only left it when it was necessary, to express love or to teach others, or to go to the temple. … She never refused to be present where love or need required a helping hand."
Welcome to "North American Sanctity," a series on holy men and women, boys and girls, saints and those on the road to sainthood, from Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Some will be familiar, others less so; but all are inspiring!
By Kimberly Bruce
The first woman declared a saint in Canada, St. Marguerite Bourgeoys (feast day: Jan. 12) is also the foundress of the first non-cloistered female congregation in the Catholic Church, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Montréal.
An immigrant to “New France,” today’s Canada, in the 17th century, St. Marguerite is remembered for her strong devotion to the family.
At her Mass of Canonization in 1982, Pope Saint John Paul II praised, “above all, her original contribution to the promotion of families, children, future spouses, and parents.”
Marian encounter
Born on Good Friday, Apr. 17, 1620, in Troyes, France, Marguerite was the sixth of 12 children.
At the age of 19, after her mother died, Marguerite became responsible for her siblings and the household.
The following year, on Oct. 7, the Feast Day of Our Lady of the Rosary, Marguerite had an encounter with the Mother of God that would lead her to dedicate her life to God as a consecrated virgin in service of others.
As Our Lady’s image was processed through the streets of the town, Marguerite was captivated by Our Blessed Mother’s gaze from the image. In her memoirs, she wrote:
We returned in front of the portal [of the abbey] of Notre Dame where there is a stone image [of the virgin] above the door and looking at it I found it very beautiful and at the same time I found myself so touched and so changed that I no longer knew myself.
Profoundly affected, Marguerite felt the call to religious life and joined the Congregation of Troyes dedicated to teaching children in poor areas.
Missionary work
Thereafter, she discovered the foundation of Ville-Marie which was involved in missionary work educating French and Indian children in a new settlement in Montréal.
Our Lady confirmed Sr. Marguerite’s next step, telling her, “Go, I will not abandon you.” After traversing the Atlantic, she arrived in Montréal in 1653 and joined the congregation at Ville-Marie.
She was in all respects a woman of action. In the ensuing years, Sr. Marguerite restored the Cross on Mount Royal; she constructed a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Good Help; she helped develop a farm to sustain her religious community; and taught farming and animal rearing techniques to the villagers. Marguerite also travelled back and forth to France three times to recruit more women to join their community.
Foundress
During one of her trips, Sr. Marguerite obtained approval from King Louis XIV and permission from Bl. Bishop Francis de Laval to found the Congregation of Notre Dame.
Desiring this community to be uncloistered (not having its members strictly enclosed within a monastery), Sr. Marguerite reasoned, “The Holy Virgin was not cloistered, but she maintained an interior solitude and only left it when it was necessary, to express love or to teach others, or to go to the temple. … She never refused to be present where love or need required a helping hand.”
In the same fashion, Sr. Marguerite wanted her community to exhibit “the true spirit of hospitality and love which was the glory of the first Christians,” she said.
After her third trip to France, during which she was refused more French recruits by Bishop Laval, Sr. Marguerite began the admittance of European settlers and native Iroquois women to her congregation.
Promoting the family
Sister Marguerite believed her most important focus was “the family”, particularly women, both French and natives, alike. Said Pope John Paul II:
She wanted to prepare them to be good mothers of families, through a complete education. It is clearly a question of forming them in faith, piety, Christian life and the apostolate, but also of initiating them into domestic work and practical tasks that will enable them to subsist on the proceeds of their own work and, above all, to organize and beautify their own home life, whether rich or poor.
It is a lesson for families today, the Holy Father continued:
May all of today's society, at the level of its highest civil authorities, also be convinced that no long-term solution will be found unless the family is given back its central place and the conditions for its stability and development! … And let us not forget that Marguerite Bourgeoys was supported in her extraordinary work by her devotion to the Holy Family and that in the midst of the worst difficulties —"work and fatigue” — she served families with the quality of love that comes from the Holy Spirit.
The best Mother
Recognizing the importance of the Church as the most important “Mother” and educator of our souls, St. Marguerite would agree with St. Faustina, who wrote:
O Church of God, you are the best mother, you alone can rear a soul and cause it to grow. Oh, how great is my love and respect for the Church, that best of all mothers! (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 197)
Mother Marguerite spent the last two years of her life devoted to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in prayer and to writing. In 1698, a year before her death, her community finally received ecclesiastical approval, and she professed her vows.
Sister Marguerite died on Jan. 12, 1700 in Montreal at the age of 79. Her tomb is housed in their Mother House in Montréal, where her heart is also kept in a reliquary. Two miracles attributed to her intercession preceded her beatification by Pope Pius XII in 1950, and she was canonized by Pope St. John Paul II in 1982.
Fittingly, St. Marguerite is today the patron saint of the struggle against poverty, against impoverishment, of overcoming the loss of parents, and of rejection by religious orders.
Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, pray for us!
Next in the series: St. (Mother) Marianne Cope, OSF, January 23.
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