Wilmont Kreis

Maisonneuves and Mother Louise in Troyes: Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve came to Quebec in 1642 to begin the religious settlement of Ville-Marie on the giant island of Montreal. In 1652 he returned to France to visit his sister, Mother Louise de Sainte-Marie, the head of the Confraternity of Notre-Dame in Troyes, France. His goal was to recruit nuns and other religious persons to come to Montreal to teach the settlers and the natives. His efforts nearly fell in vain as he only recruited one person, a young lady who had come to teach the poor but had been turned down by the Carmelite nuns because she refused to be cloistered. It seemed his efforts were in vain, but he did not realize this single odd woman would become one of the most important and famous individuals of all French Canada—more next week.