According to the marriage settlement, Champlain was obliged to leave to his wife, if she were still living, all his possessions. By his last will, however, he left all his property to the church. Champlain had no desire to injure his wife by this act; on the contrary, he knew that her piety was great, and that she would probably applaud the course he had taken, which was owing to his extraordinary devotion to Notre Dame de la Recouvrance, the church which he had built and loved. Madame Champlain, in fact, made no opposition, and the will was confirmed on July 11th, 1637. The will, however, was contested by Marie Camaret, a first cousin of Champlain, and wife of Jacques Hersault, comptroller of customs at La Rochelle, and a famous trial was the result. The will was contested on two grounds: (1.) That the will was contrary to the marriage settlement, and therefore ought to be annulled; (2.) That the will was made by foreign hands, as it was difficult to suppose that Champlain had chosen the Virgin Mary as his heir. These were the contentions of Master Boileau. The attorney-general Bignon easily refuted the second allegation by proving that Madame Champlain had recognized the signature of her husband, and had stated that the expression and style were his. The terms of this bequest to the Virgin were quite natural to a man of Champlain's character, "When we know," said the attorney, "that he frequently made use of Christian expressions in his general conversation." Although the authenticity of the will was proved, the attorney-general argued that it ought to be set aside in face of the deed of settlement. The court upheld this view, and the property of Champlain, with the exception of the sum of nine hundred livres, derived from the sale of his chattels, returned to his natural heirs. This trial and other affairs prevented Madame Champlain from carrying out her resolution, and it was not until November 7th, 1645, that she entered the monastery of St. Ursula at Paris. She first entered the institution as a benefactress, and soon after became a novice under the name of Helene de St. Augustin. There seems to have been some difficulties with regard to her profession as a nun, and she therefore resolved to found an Ursuline monastery at Meaux. Bishop Seguier granted the necessary permission to found the monastery, and also for her to take with her three nuns and a lay sister. Helene de St. Augustin left Paris for Meaux on March 17th, 1648, and made her profession five months after. As a preparation for this solemn act, she made a public confession in the presence of the community. She also recited her faults, kneeling, and wearing a cord about her neck, and bearing a lighted taper in her hands. Mere Helene de St. Augustin lived only six years in her convent at Meaux, and died on December 20th, 1654, at the age of fifty years, leaving the memory of a saintly life.