Saint of the Day January 12, 2003
St. Marguerite Bourgeoys
“God closes a door and then opens a window,” people
sometimes say when dealing with their own
disappointment or someone else’s. That was certainly
true in Marguerite’s case. Children from European as
well as Native American backgrounds in
seventeenth-century Canada benefited from her great
zeal and unshakable trust in God’s providence.
Born the sixth of 12 children in Troyes, France,
Marguerite at the age of 20 believed that she was
called to religious life. Her applications to the
Carmelites and Poor Clares were unsuccessful. A priest
friend suggested that perhaps God had other plans for
her.
In 1654, the governor of the French settlement in
Canada visited his sister, an Augustinian canoness in
Troyes. Marguerite belonged to a sodality connected to
that convent. The governor invited her to come to
Canada and start a school in Ville-Marie (eventually
the city of Montreal). When she arrived, the colony
numbered 200 people with a hospital and a Jesuit
mission chapel.
Soon after starting a school, she realized her need
for coworkers. Returning to Troyes, she recruited a
friend, Catherine Crolo, and two other young women. In
1667 they added classes at their school for Indian
children. A second trip to France three years later
resulted in six more young women and a letter from
King Louis XIV, authorizing the school. The
Congregation of Notre Dame was established in 1676 but
its members did not make formal religious profession
until 1698 when their Rule and constitutions were
approved.
Marguerite established a school for Indian girls in
Montreal. At the age of 69, she walked from Montreal
to Quebec in response to the bishop’s request to
establish a community of her sisters in that city. By
the time she died, she was referred to as the “Mother
of the Colony.” Marguerite was canonized in 1982.
love + prayers,
Joseachayan / Jeddah / Saudi Arabia
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