A New Society

Collection Sanctuaire

During 1737, Marguerite performed a series of acts that eventually led to a special commitment. Her sons were growing up. François was thirteen and was enrolled in the Seminary of Quebec City; Charles, at eight, attended the parish school and lived with her. Her new spiritual director, Father Louis Normant, the priest of Notre Dame parish, encouraged her to receive into her house as many poor women as she could support by her work. Three young women who wanted to share her ideal of life joined her; they were Catherine Cusson, Catherine Demers, and Louise Thaumur de La Source. In November, they welcomed a blind woman in her sixties named Françoise Auzon. Four other needy women soon arrived.

On 31 December, Marguerite and her companions secretly took religious vows. The act was performed secretly since it was not a matter of forming a religious community, as new religious communities had been forbidden. They were laying the foundation for a life devoted to the service of the poor.