Marguerite Bourgeoys: a Woman with a Heart of Gold

On Good Friday, April 17, 1620, the bells did not ring in the Church of Saint-Jean-au-Marché to announce the baptism of a little girl born that day in Troyes, in the Province of Champagne[1]. This little girl was Marguerite Bourgeoys, the sixth of Abraham Bourgeoys (1579-1651) and Guillemette Garnier’s (1593-1638) twelve children.

Marguerite’s childhood and adolescence

We do not know very much about Marguerite Bourgeoys’s childhood. However, we know that her family lived across from town hall, and her father was a master candle-maker and coiner in the mint at Troyes[2]. We can learn more about her childhood through a short text written by Marguerite herself describing her younger years:

From early childhood, God had given me the inclination to gather little girls of my own age together to live and work together in some distant place to earn our living. I had never known any community of women, but only a few women who lived together. We imitated that as children.[3]

Although Marguerite never said so herself, we like to think that she already possessed the charism that would characterize the rest of her life as a unifier and educator, oriented toward community life and capable of assuming responsibilities. In 1639, after losing her mother, Marguerite began to take care of the home and her family. She was only 19 years old at the time. She would later harshly judge herself and the first two decades of her life. She criticized herself for being “very frivolous” and loving “pretty clothes”[4].

Marguerite’s touch of grace

In 1640, Marguerite was 20 years old. On Sunday, October 7, the Church was celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, and a large procession was organized in the streets of Troyes to honour the Virgin Mary. Marguerite recounted the events as follows:

In 1640 on Rosary Sunday, I went to the procession at the Dominican[5] Church where there was so great a number of people that the cloister was not large enough. So we crossed the street and passed in front of the portal of Notre Dame [aux Nonnains] [6] where there was a statue in stone above the door. And glancing up to look at it, I found it very beautiful. At the same time, I found myself so moved and changed that I no longer recognized myself. When I returned home, this was apparent to everyone. Since I was very frivolous, I had been very popular with the other girls. From that moment, I gave up my pretty clothes and withdrew from the world to give myself to the service of God. I made my confession to Abbé Desguerrois[7], the grand penitentiary, and entered the Congregation[8]  where I was very faithful. The prefect of the Congregation told me that I should put myself under the direction of M. Jendret[9] who was chaplain of the Carmelites of the Faubourg[10].

The Congregation that Marguerite refers to here is not the Congrégation de Notre-Dame of Montréal that she would later found.

Marguerite’s undertakings in Troyes

After what she considered to be her conversion, Marguerite joined the Congregation founded by Alix Le Clerc and Pierre Fourier, a well-known educator. At this time, the Church did not accept non-cloistered orders of religious women. To respond to the need for education in working-class environments, these religious women, who were not allowed to leave their convents, joined with young women from upper-class families whom they formed and then sent to teach lower-class children catechism. These young women belonged to the external Congregation of the order and indirectly fulfilled their educational ideals. The director of associates of this congregation, Mother Louise de Chomedey-de-Sainte-Marie, was the sister of M. Chomedey de Maisonneuve (1612-1676), cofounder of Montreal alongside Jeanne Mance (1606-1673). She would introduce Marguerite to her brother, who was looking for an educator to teach the children of “Indians”[11] and French settlers.

But Marguerite, the prefect of the external Congregation, was still trying to figure out what God wanted from her. She placed all her trust in her spiritual guide: Father Antoine Gendret[12]. He advised her to approach the Carmelites. She went to this great order but was refused. She was also refused by another congregation that we do not know the name of. Was she discouraged? No. She was still determined to know and realize God’s plan for her life. After consulting her spiritual guide, she made a vow of chastity in 1643, then a vow of poverty a few years later. She was very open to a new form of religious life. She was also open to travelling to Canada.

She wrote:

1. de Maisonneuve’s sister, who was a religious of the Congregation […] gave to her brother a picture on which was written in letters of gold: “Holy Mother of God, pure Virgin with a faithful heart, keep for us a place in your Montreal[13] .”

Some time later, I joined the lay Congregation where I learned that a settlement had been made in Canada and that the religious hoped to go there. I promised to be one of the company[14].

She then recounted what M. Gendret, the chaplain of the Carmelite Notre-Dame-de-Pitié, explained to her:

Our Lord had left three states of women to follow Him and to serve the Church: the role of Magdalen was filled by the Carmelites and other recluses; that of Martha, by cloistered religious who serve their neighbor; but the state of the life of the journeying[15] Virgin Mary, which must also be honored, was not yet filled. Even without veil or wimple, one could be a true religious. This was very acceptable to me because I had compassion on the young women who for lack of money[16], could not enter the service of God.

Around this time, Marguerite made an unsuccessful attempt at community life with two companions. One of her companions got married, and the other died[17]. One could think that this failure would put an end to Marguerite Bourgeoys’s dreams. In 1642, Ville-Marie was founded with the missionary goal of the Société Notre-Dame-de-Montréal: establishing the Christian faith in the home of the Iroquois. This society, among other things, wanted to form a group of women who would take on the task of instructing and educating the children of this land. Ten years later, Ville-Marie was an outpost in danger of extinction. The Beaver Wars meant that by 1652, there were only 17 men left to defend this French outpost.

Maisonneuve thus decided to return to France to recruit at least 100 men willing to cross the ocean and settle in Montreal. Otherwise, it would be impossible to continue this “wild adventure”, and it would be necessary to abandon to project of evangelizing New France.

During his trip to France, Maisonneuve visited his sister Louise in the convent’s parlour. He explained to her that he could not bring cloistered nuns back to New France with him. She then told him about Marguerite Bourgeoys, who had already expressed her willingness to travel to Canada. Marguerite met Maisonneuve, and he explained that one teacher would be enough for a few years. She wrote: “I offered to go and he accepted me; but I would have to go alone[18].” Marguerite had doubts. Should she really get on this boat filled almost exclusively with men? She confided in her spiritual director, and he convinced her to take up the challenge. Her writings furthermore tell us:

One morning, when I was fully awake, a tall woman dressed in a robe as of white serge, said to me very clearly: “Go, I will never forsake you.” I knew that it was the Blessed Virgin. This gave me great courage and I found nothing difficult, even though I feared illusions.[19].

From this moment, Marguerite took all the necessary steps to prepare for the journey to her new home. She was, however, hesitant. She had received a letter from a Carmelite order that was willing to accept her. She told her spiritual director about it who supported her in her discernment: she would answer the call of New France. Marguerite therefore set sail on June 15, 1653 on the Saint-Nicolas de Nantes, from Saint- Nazaire, in Loire-Atlantique, at the time part of the province of Brittany.

Marguerite’s arrival in Ville-Marie

After many troubles, including an outbreak of the plague that caused the death of eight men, the crew landed in Quebec on September 22, 1653. There, Marguerite was introduced to Jeanne Mance by Monsieur de Maisonneuve.

The Ursulines established in Quebec City invited Marguerite to stay with them, but she refused in order to undertake her mission of teaching in Ville-Marie. Around November 15, she finally reached the settlement.

But who would she teach? The Indigenous children were at the school of nature, and the children of the French settlers, suffering from the rough climate, all died young. It was not until April 1658 that Marguerite founded the first school in Ville-Marie. What did she do from 1653 to 1658? She lived in the fort and took care of the house of Governor Maisonneuve. She was more than just a servant. She took part in organizing the country, helped Jeanne Mance heal the sick, fulfilled the role of social worker for young families, women, children… She did not shy away from any task that she was given. This earned her the title of Mother of the Colony. It is remarkable to note how these three people, Maisonneuve, Jeanne Mance and Marguerite Bourgeoys, a triple gift from Champagne to the New World, worked together to build a country favourable to social justice! Before we describe the work that she accomplished, we can say of Marguerite that she possessed the charism of liberating education.

“The planter of crosses”

At times, Marguerite found herself outside the fort. She once

climbed Mount Royal to replant the cross that Monsieur de Maisonneuve had placed there and that the Iroquois[20] had knocked down. She was, admittedly, aided by Gilbert Barbier[21] and other men that Maisonneuve had delegated to live “the holy adventure[22]” with her. Climbing the mountain at that time was not easy, but Marguerite never hesitated when faced with difficulties related to praising God and serving her neighbours, and she was accompanied by people who could help her in her work.

The construction of a chapel

Soon after, she began her work on the construction of Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel in what is today Old Montreal and was at the time an area outside the fort. She wanted to build a place of pilgrimage dedicated to the Virgin. In this endeavour, she needed help from many people. She narrated this event:

[…] I undertook the building of a chapel to the Blessed Virgin and in order to succeed, I urged the few people who were here at the time to gather stone. I used to do sewing and in payment, I would ask for a day’s work. I collected alms to pay for the masons’ work. M. de Maisonneuve had the necessary timber squared. Others prepared the lime, the sand and the boards and soon I had found enough [material] to build it and roof it[23].

But alas! With the return of the Sulpicians, it was necessary to halt the construction of the chapel for a long time. They did not immediately continue the work of Father Pijart, a Jesuit who supported the construction project. Construction was thus stopped in 1657 and would only continue in 1672 when Marguerite returned from a trip to France. This meant that the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel only finally became a true pilgrimage site in 1678.

The first school

Marguerite’s dream was finally realized. On January 28, 1658, M. de Maisonneuve signed an official act granting Marguerite a disused stone stable. She was delighted to receive this stable and establish the first school of Ville-Marie there. She began her work, cleaning the place and installing a chimney so that the children and teachers would have a safe, warm place to live. The teachers’ lodging would be on the second floor. The teachers would be able to access their floor via an external ladder, which they would have to make sure to pull up after using it to avoid unwanted guests. This work required a significant amount of collaboration. And Marguerite felt great joy when she compared the stable-school to the stable of Bethlehem: these two places of great poverty were also the birthplaces of great service to God and one’s neighbours! April 30, 1658 was the first day of school.

First voyage to France

A number of important achievements took place in 1658. As well as being the year the first school opened, it was also the year of Marguerite’s first voyage back to France[24]. This time, she knew the difficulties of such a journey due to the hardships she had experienced during her first trip to Montreal in 1653. In 1658, Jeanne Mance fractured her arm and needed to return to France to be treated. Marguerite recounted:

Five years after my arrival in Montreal, Mlle Mance, who had a broken arm, needed someone to assist her. I offered to do this so that I could go to Troyes to find some young women to help me teach. We did not arrive at La Fleche until the Epiphany. I left her in Paris where she had a sister.

[…] I stayed with the religious of the Congregation. I asked to bring back three women with me ; one of them I hoped would be strong in order to assist us : Sister Crolo, Sister Chatel and Sister Raisin. Sister Crolo had wanted to come with me on my first trip. M. Chatel asked me how we would live in this country. I showed him the contract, which was not very much. “All right,” he said to me, “that takes care of lodging. But for the rest, what will you do?” I told him that we would work and that I promised them bread and soup. This brought tears to his eyes.

[…] As for Sister Raisin, we had to go to Paris to have the consent of her father who was living there. This M. Raisin had come to Troyes and had told me not to give in to her wishes too quickly. He had never dreamed that his daughter, who was young, would think of this voyage. She and her brother were his only children[25].

This highlights how difficult life in Canada was at this time and the strength, courage and faith needed to be a missionary there. This also reveals just how important Marguerite’s mission to build a new congregation of uncloistered “lay women” was to her.

Marguerite, the founder

Marguerite returned to Montreal in 1659 with four companions[26] and undertook community life with them. This could be considered the date of the founding of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame[27], the first non-cloistered order of religious women in the Americas. However, François de Montmorency-Laval did not grant Marguerite and her companions the written authorization to teach until May 20, 1669. And “it was only in 1676 that, by an episcopal mandate, he officially granted the Congrégation de Notre-Dame the status of a religious community for secular women, that is to say a non-cloistered order[28].”

This mandate was preceded by the civil authorization requested by Intendant Talon who recognized all the good done in the country by Marguerite and her companions. He invited the settlers to put in a request to Louis XIV to expand the Congregation. This suggestion was readily accepted.

Second voyage to France

During her second journey to France, Marguerite Bourgeoys received letters patent signed by Louis XIV in Dunkirk and registered at the Paris Parlement in June 1671. The king wrote: The applicant asked us to grant her our letters of confirmation for the establishment bearing the name of Congrégation de Notre-Dame. Wishing to contribute our part… to the good intentions of said applicant, her associates and those who will succeed them by giving them the means to strengthen and expand their establishment in all the places where it will be deemed most appropriate for the glory of God and for the good of the country, we confirm, by the current letters signed by our hand, the establishment of said Congregation on the Island of Montreal. They are placed under the juridiction of the Conseil d’État and are not to be disturbed there for any reason[29].

In 1671, Marguerite thus obtained the civil charter recognizing the Institute of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame. Twenty-seven years later in 1698, Marguerite Bourgeoys and her sister publicly professed their religious vows. Before that, in 1679, Marguerite took her third business trip to France.

Other works of Marguerite Bourgeoys in New France

We have already discussed the social works and teaching that were so dear to Marguerite as well as the construction of Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel. This woman was a jack of all trades. It was impossible to silence the concern she had for families. She even temporarily left her sisters to go live with the King’s Daughters[30]. She remembered the events as follows:

[…] there came to Montreal about 17 of the King’s wards. I went to meet them at the shore, believing that we must open wide the doors of the Blessed Virgin’s house to all young women. Our house was small. We had the little house purchased from Saint Ange put in order[31]; and I lived with them. I had to live there because this was for the establishment of new families[32].

Marguerite spent a lot of time preparing the King’s Daughters for marriage. With the help of her good friend Sister Catherine Crolo, she taught them about the life of a wife and mother.

Marguerite knew what was needed to make a home work properly. Learning a trade and household skills was useful, even necessary. To serve the women of this country, in particular the poor, she opened La Providence, a sort of housekeeping school that was first located in a house near the Congregation then a little later at the Maison Saint-Gabriel in Pointe-Saint-Charles.

Above all else, Marguerite cared about the importance of spirituality. She cared about spirituality for everyone. For the children whom she and her companions taught not only to read and to count[33] but also to live their childhood in the Christian faith. For the adults whom she taught that “Prayer ought to carry over into our words, out thoughts and our actions[34].” For the families she invited to join the Confrérie de la Sainte-Famille. For the sisters whom she instructed “to follow the Blessed Virgin, to imitate the course of her life in all things[35],” reminding them that “The sisters ought to have no more frequent subject for their meditations than the observance of the commandments and the sufferings of the passion[36].”

Marguerite’s greatest trial

In the last years of her life, Marguerite went through perhaps the greatest ordeal that anyone can experience in their life. She recounted it as follows:

I was informed that I was in a state of eternal damnation. I had no difficulty in believing this, knowing how greatly I had neglected the duties of my state. With all my heart, I ask pardon of God and offer myself to Him to do with as He pleases, for time and for eternity[37].

A visionary sister shared with her this judgment to which God was submitting her. Marguerite suffered through this trial for 50 months starting in November 1689. In relation to this suffering, however, she wrote: “Even though I cannot refuse to recognize my unfortunate state,

I have never doubted the mercy of God. I will always hope in Him, even when I see myself with one foot in hell[38].” She recognized just how much Marie was a salvation to her during this long suffering.

Marguerite steps down as Leader of the Congregation

Marguerite spent the last years of her life in the Infirmary. In 1693, she wrote:

Recognition of the blessings that I have received and continue to receive thanks to Your mercy obliges me to be grateful until the last moments of my life. And I am happy enough to be in the company of the blessed. I will continue (if You will allow it) to pray to You for this small community, not for goods, honours or pleasures for our earthly lives but that Your holy will be done, that we follow the path that Your goodness has taught us and that the Blessed Virgin followed so closely. I pray that all the present and future women of in this community and all those who help to advance the paths to the perfection of the state to which You call us be among the chosen[39].

It is clear: Marguerite Bourgeoys, a woman of great faith and hope, a woman of charity and prayer, gave her entire life to serving God and her neighbours.

Marguerite Bourgeoys’s greatest desire

Up until her death, Marguerite Bourgeoys knew how to delve into the essential nature of Christian life. In 1698, shortly before her death, she wrote in truth and humility:

It is true that all that I have ever desired most deeply and what I still most ardently wish is that the great precept of the love of God above all things and of the neighbor as oneself be written in every heart. O, if I could only engrave it in my heart and in each of my sisters’, I would have reached the fulfillment of my desires. I could wish that all the instruction given in this house and on the missions would center on this great goal[40].

How can we not recognize just how deeply Marguerite was rooted in the Word of God, in particular in the Gospel? Her search for communion, for a union above all in our hearts and minds[41] rests of obedience to these two great commandments that Mary and the first Christans followed so closely.

The death of Marguerite Bourgeoys

On the night of December 13, 1699, Sister Catherine Charly, the teacher of the novices, was in agony. It was expected that she would be called back to God at any moment. Marguerite Bourgeoys offered her life in exchange for her sister’s: “Ah! My God will You not take me who is so useless in this house rather than this poor sister who can still provide great service”[42] ». On the evening of January 1, 1700, Marguerite began to experience intense pain, despite being so healthy up until this moment. At dawn on January 12, after three hours of agony, she calmly went to God while Sister Catherine Charly was healed.

Many tributes have been and continue to be paid to Marguerite Bourgeoys, mother of the colony, first educator of Ville-Marie and founder of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame de Montréal. A woman with a heart of gold and fire, she was beatified on November 12, 1950 by Pope Pius XII and canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 31, 1982. Her body now rests in the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, and her heart is at the Mother House of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame.

Suggested reading

De Glandelet, C. (1995). La vie de Sœur Marguerite Bourgeoys. 1715 edition.

De Glandelet, C. (1976). Le Vray Esprit. 1700-1701 edition. Lamarche, D. CND. (2000). À l’écoute de Marguerite Bourgeoys. Fides.

Lamarche, D. CND. (2007). Marguerite Bourgeoys, femme de contemplation et de compassion. Carte Blanche.

Poissant, S. CND. (1993). Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620-1700), 2nd edition. Bellarmin.

Simpson, P. (2009). Marguerite Bourgeoys, Brave Beginnings. Fides. Simpson, P. (1999). Marguerite Bourgeoys and Montreal, 1640-1665 (translated by Simone Poissant). MQUP.

Simpson, P. (2007). Marguerite Bourgeoys and the Congregation of Notre Dame, 1665-1700 (translated by Albert Beaudry). MQUP.

[1] In the Catholic Church, the bells remain silent on the day that Christ’s death is announced.

[2] Poissant, S. CND. (1993). Marguerite Bourgeoys 1620-1700, 2nd edition. Les Éditions Bellarmin, p. 16.

[3] With authorization from the Ordinary of Montreal, no. 783: Bourgeoys, M. (1964). The Writing of Marguerite Bourgeoys, Autobiography and Spiritual Testament. Congrégation de Notre-Dame, p. 162-3. We will henceforth refer to her writings with the abbreviation WMB.

[4] WMB, p.163.

[5] The Dominicans in Troyes were referred to as “Jacobins.”

[6] The Abbey of Notre Dame aux Nonnains.

[7] Abbé Nicolas Desguerrois (1579-1676), the grand penitentiary of the Saint-Jean-du-Marché Church in Troyes.

[8] This refers to the Canonesses of Saint Augustine of the Notre-Dame Congregation, commonly referred to as the Congrégation Notre-Dame, founded by Saint Pierre Fourier (1565-1640) and Alix Le Clerc (1576- 1622). Not to be confused with the Congrégation de Notre-Dame de Montréal later founded by Marguerite Bourgeoys.

[9] Priest of Saint-Nizier de Troyes.

[10] Faubourg Croncels.

[11] Today, we would refer to them as Indigenous peoples.

[12] This is the same person we referred to with a different spelling in footnote 9.

[13] This inscription can still be found on the portal of Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel in Old Montreal.

[14] WMB, p.141.

[15] The term in French is a neologism, which seems to bear more significance that the term “voyageuse.”

[16] To enter a cloistered congregation at this time, it was necessary to pay a dowry.

[17] Poissant, S. CND. (1993). Marguerite Bourgeoys 1620-1700, 2nd edition. Les Éditions Bellarmin, p. 22.

[18] WMB, p. 165.

[19] WMB, p. 165-6.

[20] We must not forget that Indigenous peoples lived in Hochelaga long before Jacques Cartier’s “discovery” of Canada.

[21] The father of Marie Barbier, Marguerite Bourgeoys’s successor as head of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame

[22] This expression is taken from a book of poetry written by Sister Saint-Louis-du-Sacré-Cœur, CND at the time of Marguerite Bourgeoys’s beatification: the book is entitled À l’école d’une bienheureuse[At the school of a blessed one], and one of the poems is “La Planteuse de croix” [The planter of crosses], p. 69-84.

[23] WMB, p. 113. The chapel with the same name on Rue Saint-Paul in Old Montreal was built on the foundations of the first chapel whose construction was interrupted in 1657, recommenced in 1672 and finally finished in 1675. The current chapel caught fire in 1754 and was rebuilt in 1775.

[24] It is important to note that Marguerite crossed the Atlantic Ocean seven times over the course of her life

[25] WMB, p.28-9.

[26] In addition to those already named was Anne Hiou, “the first to be formally received into the Community” WMB, p. 30.

[27] At least in the hearts of these women ; the first public profession of religious vows by Marguerite and her companions would not take place until 1698.

[28] Poissant, S. CND. (1993). Marguerite Bourgeoys 1620-1700, 2nd edition. Les Éditions Bellarmin, p. 37.

[29] Poissant, S. CND. (1993). Marguerite Bourgeoys 1620-1700, 2nd edition. Les Éditions Bellarmin, p. 36.

[30] War orphans that had been sent to Ville-Marie by the king of France to found families.

[31] Charly de Saint-Ange married Marie Dumesnil who had been taken under Marguerite Bourgeoys’s wing.

[32] WMB, p. 178.

[33] In French “jeter,” meaning to count with “jetons” (chips or tokens).

[34] WMB, p. 169.

[35] WMB, p. 64.

[36] WMB, p. 73.

[37] WMB, p. 123.

[38] WMB, p.123-4.

[39] Poissant, S. CND. (1993). Marguerite Bourgeoys 1620-1700, 2nd edition. Les Éditions Bellarmin, p. 64.

[40] WMB, p. 187.

[41] WMB, p. 187.

[42] Poissant, S. CND. (1993). Marguerite Bourgeoys 1620-1700, 2nd edition. Les Éditions Bellarmin, p. 65.