The Life of Venerable Sister Margaret BourgeoisAnonymous
History
The Life of Venerable Sister Margaret Bourgeois
Anonymous
Bourgeoys, Marguerite, Saint, 1620-1700
A priest from the seminary devoted himself to the instruction of the
savages, and the two missionary Sisters were obliged to lodge in bark
cabins for a long time, as the Indians erected no better dwellings,
until the time of M. Belmont, who had stone houses put up for them at
his own expense. He also built the Fort that still exists, but the
orchard and gardens were added at a later period. In 1692, the Sisters
lodged in a little tower to the right of the entrance of the Fort, the
tower at the left serving for a school and a bakery. The savages of this
mission, after the death of Sister Bourgeois, were transported to
Sault-au-Recollet, in 1731, and again in 1732 to the lake of the two
mountains. These Indian missions, to which the Sisters were always
devoted, and to this day continue to be devoted, have contributed
largely to the spread of our holy Faith among the Indians along the St.
Lawrence, and have produced much spiritual good. The holy Foundress
supported at this mission several Iroquois girls, free of charge,
forming them to habits of virtue, and inducing them to inspire their
companions with similar sentiments. She also kept a certain number of
these children of the forest among the boarders at Ville-Marie, one or
two of whom afterwards became members of the Congregation, and were most
useful on the mission schools. It was in compensation for these benefits
to the state and to religion, and to refund in part the expense
sustained by Sister Bourgeois and her community, that the King of
France, in 1676, ordered an appropriation to be made by the Canadian
Government, to give annually to the Sisters the sum of two or three
thousand livres. The pension was punctually paid until the year 1756, at
which time it was withdrawn, as Canada had passed under British rule,
after an heroic but unsuccessful struggle against the English in 1670.
However, the change of royal masters, and the suppression of many
Catholic charities consequent upon it, did not lessen the love of the
Sisters for the poor Indians. These daughters and followers of Christ
continued to support the Indian missions at their _own expense_, as they
do at the present day in many instances.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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