Saints for Our Times: First Canadian saint was devoted to serving those in need

By Mary Lou Gibson | Columnist

Life was starting to get better for
Marguerite Dufrost de Lajemmerais. Since her father died when she was 7, leaving her mother and six children in great poverty, Marguerite had been helping the family by sewing, embroidering and teaching.
Now at age 20, Marguerite was being married to Francois d’Youville, a witty, charming and well-connected bachelor in Montreal’s society. Their marriage in August 1722 was a considerable social occasion.
Soon after their marriage, Francois began to leave Marguerite for longer and longer periods of time ostensibly to help his brother with the farm. Kathleen Jones writes in “Women Saints” that Marguerite began to hear gossip that her husband’s real business was fur trading with the Indigenous, exchanging furs for brandy or whiskey. Liquor trading with the Indigenous was illegal.
Marguerite was appalled, yet she loved him despite his faults. During the eight years of their marriage, she bore six children, but only two sons survived, both of whom later became priests. In 1727 Marguerite joined the Confraternity of the Holy Family and developed a special devotion to the Virgin Mary, which gave her some consolation.
When her husband died in 1730, Marguerite opened a small store to pay off his debts and to support herself and her family. She turned her attention to charity and began to take destitute women into her home and nurse them. Montreal had only one hospital; it was for men only. She was joined by three companions and together they devoted themselves to a life of service to the needy.
But not everyone considered what Marguerite and her companions were doing to be acts of charity. Franciscan Father M.A. Habig writes in “Saints of the Americas” that some people thought her activities were a front to hide the illegal sale of liquor to the Indigenous, like her husband had done.
Some of the towns people even heaped insults on Marguerite and her companions and started calling them “the Tipsy Sisters” (“les Soeurs Grises” in French). The French word “gris” also means “grey.” Marguerite later adopted a grey habit for her new religious congregation.
Sarah Gallick writes in “The Big Book of Women Saints” that the Grey Nuns, as they were beginning to be known, gradually won the respect of the community. During the French and Indian War, they nursed the wounded from both sides. On Dec. 31, 1737, Marguerite’s group officially became the Sisters of Charity of Montreal.
In 1747 Marguerite was given charge of the General Hospital in Montreal. Matthew Bunson writes in “John Paul II’s Book of Saints” that the hospital cared for disabled soldiers, the aged, insane and lepers. It also became a haven for orphans and abandoned children. Known as the Hotel Dieu (House of God), it provided care for both men and women.
The sisters supported themselves by making clothing for military troops. In 1753, Marguerite and her companions received permission to incorporate their activities and in 1755 they officially received a grey habit.
The hospital was destroyed by fire in 1766; it was later rebuilt. Marguerite died in Montreal on Dec. 23, 1771.
St. John XXIII called her the “Mother of Universal Charity.” She was canonized in 1990 by St. John Paul II, the first native-born Canadian to be named a saint. Her feast day is Oct. 17.