Church of The Holy Spirit

St. Marguerite d'Youville

Marguerite was born Oct. 15, 1701 at Varennes, Que., the daughter of Christophe Dufrost de Lajemmerais and Renee de Varennes.

Educated by the Ursulines, she married at age 21 to M. de Youville. She had three sons: one of whom died. The other two survived to adulthood and became priests.

She was widowed in 1730. In 1737, Marguerite founded the Sisters of Charity (Grey Nuns) and with three companions shocked Montreal society by dedicating their lives to the poor. They took poor women into their home because the Hospital General, a hostel for the destitute, admitted only men.

However in 1747 she was allowed to take over the administration of the Hospital General – including its large debt and to change its admittance policy. Marguerite and her companions restored the hospital's buildings, and provided a combination veteran's hospital, nursing home, orphanage, mental asylum, VD clinic, reformatory for prostitutes, and overflow ward in case of epidemics.

At the same time, they erased the hospital's debts by sewing everything from lingerie to tents, selling building materials, and managing a cartage business.

Her congregation's rule received diocesan approval in 1755. Marguerite died of natural causes Dec. 23, 1771. Today the Grey Nuns work throughout Canada, the United States, Africa, and South America.