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Today’s missionary hero was a wife, mother, widow, Religious Sister, and missionary. Her name was Marie Guyart, later known as Sr. Marie of the Incarnation.
Marie was born in Tours, France on October 28, 1599. When she was 17-years old, she married Claude Martin, a silk manufacturer, in obedience to her parents. Together, the couple had a son. However, when the son was only 6-months old, Claude died.
When Marie found herself no longer married, she began to think of becoming a Religious Sister. However, she had to put that idea on hold to raise her son.
When the little boy was 12-years old, however, Marie made arrangements for his care with Sisters. Then, she joined the Ursuline Sisters who had recently come to France. In Religious life, Marie took the name Marie of the Incarnation.
When she was 34-years old, Marie felt an intense longing to become a missionary. With the approval of her confessor and her community, Sr. Marie of the Incarnation set sail for the Americas on April 3, 1639. After a 3-month journey, the group arrived in Quebec, Canada. The settlers greeted this new community with great joy.
Sr. Marie was the superior of this group of Ursuline Sisters, and she got to work immediately. Like all new missionaries, she had to learn the language of the people. She obviously knew French, but she didn’t know the aboriginal languages. She also set about building a monastery for the community. Unfortunately, the monastery burned down twice, only to be rebuilt again.
Sr. Marie and her community had problems from the Iroquois nation, but they did not let that get them down. Instead, they taught the Faith to the settlers and indigenous folks, wrote literature, visited the sick, and did all the other things that missionary women have done in the more than 2,000 years of Catholic Christianity.
Sister Marie of the Incarnation spent 33 years of her life serving the people of Canada. She died in Quebec City on April 30, 1672. Pope Francis canonized her in 2014. St. Marie of the Incarnation’s feast day is April 30th.
To read more about this missionary Sister, check out Clothed in the Word of God: Canadian Saints, Blesseds and Venerables by Remi and Pierre Guenette Bourd.
