Marguerite Bourgeoys et la Congrégation de Notre Dame, 1665-1670

Patricia Simpson

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9780773584686
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religious Biographies

Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620-1700) was canonized in 1982. Patricia Simpson goes beyond myth and hagiography to explore Bourgeoys's dream of establishing a radically new religious community of women, recounting her thirty-year struggle to obtain official recognition for the Congrégation of Notre-Dame. Simpson shows that the order faced great resistance from the male Church hierarchy despite the fact that the pioneer society depended on the work of the Congrégation. The order was particularly important in assuming the guardianship of many filles du roi - young women sent to New France under royal auspices to be married to the men of the colony. Simpson also examines the many difficulties the Congrégation faced, which included natural disasters and the dangers involved in trying to reach women and children in settlements throughout New France, as far away as Acadia.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Remerciements
• Introduction
• 1 Un nouvelle société prend forme, 1665–1670
• 2 L’approbation royale, 1670–1672
• 3 Partout où la charité ou la nécessité avaient besoin de secours, 1672–1679
• 4 Le dernier voyage en France, 1679–1680
• 5 Retour à l’étable, 1680–1684
• 6 Les exigences d’un nouvel évêque, 1684–1689
• 7 Les années sombres, 1689–1694
• 8 La question de la règle, 1694–1698
• 9 Partir en paix, 1698–1700
• Appendice. L’iconographie de Marguerite Bourgeoys
• Abréviations
• Notes
• Bibliographie
• Index