On a bleak midwinter day in 1653, a young woman called Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620-1700) boarded a ship with one hundred other passengers that set sail from France to Canada. At the invitation of the Governor of the French settlement that would become Montreal, Marguerite undertook this long and arduous journey to start a school for poor children.

Four years later, Marguerite opened that school in a vacant stone building. The so-called “stable school” served as the model for Montreal’s first public school system. She also organized the building of the community’s first church, a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Good Help. And she founded the Congregation of Notre Dame, a religious order of women who taught, ministered to the poor, and lived not in a convent but among the local people.

At the time, Sister Marguerite’s vision for her order was a radical one. Almost all other religious orders for women were required by both custom and canon law to be cloistered. However, she had impressed both King Louis XIV of France and Bishop Francois de Laval of Quebec, who offered their support for this unique, but effective community.

Late in life, Sister Marguerite walked from Montreal to Quebec, a distance of 158 miles, to establish another community of women educators at the request of the local bishop. By the time Sister Marguerite passed from this life in 1700, she was being called the “Mother of Canada.” Soon after her death, a local priest reportedly said: “If saints were canonized as in the past by the voice of the local people and clergy, then tomorrow we would be celebrating the Mass of Saint Marguerite of Canada.” In reality, however, Saint Marguerite was not canonized until 1982. She is venerated now as a patron of orphans, the poor, and those rejected by religious orders.

Prayer and teaching were the passions of her life and the foundation of her order. About prayer, Saint Marguerite said: “It seems to me that we do not pay enough attention to prayer, for unless it arises from the heart which ought to be its center, it is no more than fruitless dreaming. Prayer ought to carry over into our thoughts, our words, and our actions.” Indeed, she was so dedicated in her devotion that when the first chapel of Our Lady of Good Help burned down, tradition holds that her prayers alone saved her reliquary and the statue of the Blessed Mother.

As for teaching, Saint Marguerite once wrote: “Teaching is the work most suited to draw down the graces of God if it is done with purity of intention, without distinction between the poor and the rich, between relatives and friends and strangers, between the pretty and the ugly, the gentle and the grumblers, looking upon them all as drops of the Lord’s blood.” It is this spirit of kindness and generosity that has attracted generations of believers to venerate her relics and beg for her prayers. Saint Marguerite was the rare person who could look beyond differences and see the common bonds of humanity in all of God’s children.

Nowadays, when it sometimes seems so difficult to find goodness in the world, we need look no further than the life and legacy of a dedicated teacher and courageous woman of faith. By the light of her holiness, we can see more clearly how the Lord lives and works among us, and we can cry out with grateful and yearning hearts: Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, Mother of Canada, pray for us and for our children!

Cliff Garvey
Associate Minister
Catholic Community of Gloucester & Rockport
Contact: cgarvey@ccgronline.com

CCGR Weekly Newsletter (1-8-23)
Bringing Home the Word (1-8-23)
The Kids Bulletin (1-8-23)

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Call to Prayer
A Prayer to Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys

Feast Day – January 12th