Maria Margareta d'Youville
Maria Margareta d'Youville , b. Dufrost de Lajemmerais (born October 15, 1701 in Varennes , Canada, † December 23, 1771 in Montreal ) was a Canadian founder and is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.
Life
Marguerite Dufrost de Lajemmerais - so her maiden name - was the eldest daughter of Christophe Dufrost de Lajemmerais, a captain of the French colonial troops, and Marie-Renée Gaultier; La Vérendrye , the discoverer of the Rocky Mountains , was a brother of her mother. The father died when she was seven years old, leaving the family of six in great poverty. Still, it was made possible Marguerite by the influence of the great-grandfather Pierre Bouche, two years in the Ursuline - Convention to be informed Québec. She then supported her mother in raising her siblings.
In 1722 she married François d'Youville , who traded in alcohol illegally. However, since he showed little interest in family life and was often absent, the marriage was unhappy. He fell seriously ill and died in 1730. Four of the six children they shared died at a young age.
After the two remaining sons were ordained priest , d'Youville devoted himself to caring for the poor and took in a blind woman. Soon other young women joined her to work together for the poor. In December 1737 they made their vows ; this is how the Order of the Gray Sisters of Love or Sisters of Mercy (Sœurs de la Charité) was born. D'Youville took the religious name Maria Margareta and became the first general superior of the order. The nun, also known as Mother of the Poor , was commissioned in 1747 to manage the run-down Charon Brothers Hospital in Montreal. The reconstruction was successful, but in 1765 the hospital was destroyed in a fire.
Religious branches followed in Canada, the USA and South America, which to this day mainly care for women in need, orphans , prisoners, victims of war and refugees as well as administer women's shelters and hospitals. Numerous churches, schools and women's shelters are named after d'Youville, mainly in Canada and the USA, but also in Africa and Latin America.
1959 was d'Youville by Pope John XXIII. Beatified and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1990 . This makes Maria Margareta d'Youville the first born Canadian to be canonized. In 2003 she was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame ; John XXIII called her a mother of universal mercy .
Memorial days
The feast day for Maria Margareta d'Youville in the liturgy is December 23rd, in Canada also October 16th.
Web links
- Biography on www.heiligenlexikon.de
- Biography on www.vatican.va (English)
- Santa Maria Margherita d'Youville (Dufrost De Lajemmerais) (Italian)
supporting documents
- ↑ Sisters of Charity of Montreal: Where We Serve ( Memento of the original from August 1, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Youville, Maria Margareta d ' |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Dufrost de Lajemmerais, Maria Margareta (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Canadian founder and saint |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 15, 1701 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Varennes , Canada |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 23, 1771 |
| Place of death | Montreal |