The Life of Venerable Sister Margaret BourgeoisAnonymous
History
The Life of Venerable Sister Margaret Bourgeois
Anonymous
Bourgeoys, Marguerite, Saint, 1620-1700
The solemn approbation was given by M. de St.
Vallier, June 24, 1698, during his episcopal visitation at Ville-Marie,
Sister Assumption being then superior. The holy Foundress had resigned
her office of superior in 1693, desiring to be the first to set an
example of profound humility, in obedience to the rules that she had
spent a lifetime in bringing to perfection. But before her withdrawal
from office, she had formed a great number of establishments in the
diocese. We have already spoken of the Mission of the Mountain, which
was the first, but not the only one made in the commencement. There were
also those of la Chine, and Pointe-aux-Trembles at Montreal. As the
population slowly and steadily increased, the suburbs enlarged, two new
parishes being erected in 1670. Sister Bourgeois knew full well that
these parishes could not afford even the necessary means of
_subsistence_ for missionary Sisters, but she saw that much good could
be accomplished, by sending Sisters there, and she sent them. In those
days she made no provisional contracts for the Sisters who went on
missions, but trusting entirely to the Providence of God, left their
support in his hands. Very frequently the early missions were temporary
arrangements, the Sisters going for a time to effect good, whereever
good might be accomplished. In the missions established after her
resignation and death, the Sisters who succeeded her were animated by
the same spirit, and closely followed the same plan. Nothing is more
admirable or edifying than the advice she gave the Sisters before
sending them on missions. "Think, my child," she would say, "that you
are going to collect the drops of blood that Jesus lost during his
passion. Oh, how contented a Sister sent on the mission would be, if she
realized that God himself _sent_ her and _accompanied_ her. If she
reflected that she might and ought to testify the deepest gratitude to
Him from whom she has received all, then she would find nothing
difficult, and nothing tedious; she would, on the contrary, despise the
world, suffer all kinds of torment, and even endure a shameful death,
rather than neglect her charge." In fact, Sister Bourgeois set no bounds
to her zeal for the spiritual welfare of Montreal. It was ever her
uppermost thought. During her life, and before her constitutions were
solemnly approved, her daughters were to be found in, every part of the
diocese, laboring for the salvation of souls. Shortly after the arrival
of M. de St. Vallier, he received a communication from Father Lamy--who
was then pastor of the isle of Orleans--asking for a mission of the
Sisters of the Congregation for his parish, and stating that he was not
a stranger to the good they had effected in Montreal. The zealous
prelate immediately wrote to Sister Bourgeois for two Sisters to found
the mission. She was at the time laboring hard to re-establish her
institute after the losses it sustained by the fire, and it did not seem
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