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Today, we look at the inspirational life of Marguerite Bourgeoys.
Marguerite was born in born in Troyes, France in 1620. After her mother died, she helped run the household and helped care for her younger siblings. When she was twenty years old, she had a profound religious experience during a religious procession.
Marguerite tried to join the Poor Clares and the Carmelites, but both rejected her application. Fortunately for Marguerite, though, she had a priest advisor who told her that her rejection to cloistered Orders was perhaps a sign that God wanted her to lead an apostolic life, a missionary life, a life dedicated to serving God in a “hands-on” manner.
Following this advice, Marguerite devoted herself to a group of local women who did charitable work for poor children and the sick in her town. These women were externs of a convent of cloistered nuns. Marguerite learned, from this experience, there were many apostolic works that people could not do if they were cloistered.
In 1653, the founder of Montreal passed through the town of Troyes and invited Marguerite to join him in Ville Marie, which is what Montreal was called then. There, she would be a lay teacher instructing the children of colonists and Native American Indians. So, in 1653, she began the 3-month journey to Canada.
In Canada, Marguerite taught Indian children and children of colonists. Her first school was in a stone stable that leaders of the town gave her for that purpose. Not only did she teach such basics as reading and writing, but she taught the children religion, values, and practical skills such as home economics. She also was a champion of education for all children. She gave special attention to girls, the poor, and Indians.
Marguerite, however, did not limit herself to teaching in formal schools. Rather, she helped with faith formation in her parish and helped families learn skills necessary to run homes in the wilderness. She also served as the official guardian of orphan girls that the government sent her. Because of all of her work in the New World, people began calling her “the Mother of the Colony.”
Marguerite knew, however, that she could not do all of the work that needed to be done by herself. Therefore, she made some trips back to France to recruit other women to help her do missionary work in Canada.
Eventually, this group of women became formalized as a religious congregation – the Congregation of Notre Dame. Though the local bishop tried to get Marguerite to join her congregation to a cloistered community, she refused. She knew that cloistered groups could not do the apostolic work of the Church. Because she stood her ground, her Order flourished, and the Church grew. Today, the colony, known as the Province of Quebec, is one of the most Catholic places in the world.
In 1698, the Catholic Church approved the Congregation of Notre Dame, and the Sisters made their vows as non-cloistered religious. This Congregation has the honor of being the Church’s first non-cloistered foreign missionary community for women. Today, the Order serves in many nations of Asia, the Americas, and Africa.
Marguerite died in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1700. Pope St. John Paul II canonized her on October 31, 1982 as the first Canadian women saint. She is a patron saint of people rejected by religious orders, of people who are poor and those who fight against poverty, and of people who have lost parents. Her feast day is January 12.
I see why God loves courageous hearts so much.