Foundation Saints

Background: Marguerite Bourgeoys grew up in Troyes, France. At the age of 20, she experienced a religious conversion which inspired her to dedicate her life to the service of God. Although she tried to join more than one religious order, she was denied entry. It seems God had other plans

Paul de Maisonneuve, the founder of the new settlement of Ville-Marie (later called Montreal) in New France. He invited Marguerite to take charge of education at Ville-Marie, and in 1653, she left France for a very different life.

Reflextion: It’s easy to become discouraged when plans that we think that God must endorse are frustrated. Marguerite was called not to be a cloistered nun but to be a foundress and an educator. God had not ignored her after all.

Her Feast Day is 12th January.

Intercessory Prayer:

O Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys,who by your deep and lively faith in God received so many favours

from Heaven, obtain for me an increase of faith and the grace

which I so greatly need.

3 Glory…

O Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys,grant that like you I may place all my trust in Jesus my Saviour, in order that, through your intercession, I may obtain the grace which I so ardently desire.

3 Glory…

O Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys,consoler of the poor and of the sick, obtain for me a great love for

God and an ardent devotion toward the Mother of the Saviour,in order that I may obtain the favour which I implore.

3 Glory…

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Mother of Universal Charity

Background: Born in Varennes, Canada, Marie Marguerite Dufrost de Lajemmerais at the age of 12 helped her widowed mother. Eight years later she married François d’Youville. Despite the fact that her husband gambled, sold liquor illegally to Native Americans, and treated her indifferently, she cared for him compassionately until his death in 1730. Once her children were grown, she and several companions rescued a Quebec hospital that was in danger of failing. She called her community the Institute of the Sisters of Charity of Montreal; the people called them the “Grey Nuns” because of the color of their habits. The General Hospital in Montreal became known as the Hôtel Dieu (House of God). Her Feast Day is 16th October.

Intercessory Prayer:

O St. Marguerite d’Youville, lady of love and compassion

your life is like a passage from the Gospel and an inspiration for our lives.

Through your eyes, make us aware of the most urgent needs of our era.

Through your ears, make us aware of the cries of the suffering and the anguished.

Through your hands, give us the strength to heal the wounded and appease the suffering.

And through your love, make us spread divine tenderness through love without boundary. Amen.

…St Marguerite d’Youville, Pray for Us …

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Background: Saint François de Laval was the first Bishop of New France. His diocesan territory originally included most of what is now Canada, much of upper New England and all the Mississippi Valley. He is admired for his pastoral work among the Aboriginal Peoples and the settlers of New France. He was especially committed to education, founding both a major and a minor seminary. The Séminaire de Québec, which later established Laval University.

François de Laval was known for his commitment to evangelization and his generosity to the poor. His Feast Day is 6th May.

Intercessory Prayer:

Praise to You, God our Father, for François de Laval,

first pastor of the Church in North America.

May he guide us to Your Kingdom. As he travelled the wide-open spaces of this continent, bearing witness to the Good News of Your Son, may he help us walk together in the wake of Christ our Lord.

May this man of prayer, always mindful of Your mystery, teach us to heed Your Word and remain faithful to Your Spirit.

May this Apostle of unity and peace inspire in us the acts of mutual forgiveness couched in respect for our fellow human beings.

Through his attention to each family’s happiness, May he help us discover, by our covenant with You, the source of our love and the heights it can attain.

Praise to You, God our Father, for François de Laval.

Glory be to You For ever and ever. Amen

… St François De Laval, Pray for Us …

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Background:

Marie was born in 1599. She wanted to enter the religious life from a young age, but her family arranged a marriage for her with a wealthy silk merchant, Claude Martin. Claude died just a few months after their son was born, leaving Marie a widow at nineteen. Marie decided to pursue religious life. She longed to travel to the New World and spread the Christian faith there. Marie founded the first Ursuline Monastery in Quebec in 1642. Marie spent the remainder of her life working to educate all the women—French and native Canadian—in Quebec. Marie died on April 30, 1672.

Saint Joseph appeared to her and offered to guide her steps as she envisioned her life in Canada. He remained her protector, always close to Jesus and Mary.

Saint Marie's daily prayer to the Eternal Father:

It is through the Heart of Jesus, my way, my truth and my life, that I approach you, Eternal Father. Through this divine Heart, I adore you for all those who do not adore you; I love you for all those who do not love you; I praise you for all the wilfully blind who, out of contempt, do not recognize you. Through this divine Heart, I want to give the satisfaction which should be the duty of all.

Through this divine Heart, I want to make satisfaction for all. I embrace them in order to present them to you through him, and through him I beg for their conversion. Father, that they are not yet alive. Oh! give them life through this divine Heart.

On this adorable Heart as on a divine altar, I present to you all who labour for the Gospel so that through the merits of this divine Heart they may be filled with your Spirit.

You know, 0 my Beloved, all that I want to say to your Father through your divine Heart. Whatever I address to you I address to the Father, because you are in your Father and your Father is in you. I present to you all these souls, including my own; make us all one with you.

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Background:

Catherine of Saint Augustine (1632-1668) was an Augustinian Hospitaller Sister of the Mercy of Jesus who volunteered to go to her community's mission in Quebec. Her family was strongly opposed to the idea. But Catherine was firmly resolved to serve the sick and the poor of Quebec. She arrived there in 1648. Later on her father came to accept his daughter's mission there. In spite of spiritual dryness and a debilitating long-term illness, Catherine was consistently loving, kind, and gracious toward all.

She died May 8, 1668. She was 36 years old. She is considered to be one of the founders of the Catholic Church in Canada. Her Feast Day is 8th May.

Blessed Catherine of St. Augustine was beatified by Pope John Paul on April 1989. Pope John Paul II said of her in his homily, "Among the founders of the Church of Canada in its spiritual springtime can be numbered Marie Catherine, this Augustinian whose hand, as well as her heart, was nothing other than charity."

Intercessory Prayer:

O Glorious Blessed Catherine, virgin and missionary, I invoke your intercession from your place in heaven. Pray that we may have the strength to trust in God when our body is weak and we feel spiritual dryness. Shower prayers upon us that we may have the patience and love to bear all for the Lord. May we always listen closely to the direction of our Lord and have the grace to discern His Will for us.  Please pray for us Blessed Catherine that we may have the strength in body and spirit to follow God’s direction and the courage to follow it through as you did here on earth. Please carry our petitions before the Lord. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.