Marguerite Bourgeoys

Marguerite Bourgeoys, C.N.D., was the French founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal in the colony of New France, now part of Qubec. She lived in Fort VilleMarie as of 1653, educating young girls, the poor, and natives until her death at the turn of the 18th century. She is also significant for developing one of the first uncloistered religious communities in the Catholic Church. She has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church.

Bourgeoys was born in Troyes, then in the ancient Province of Champagne in the Kingdom of France, onApril 1620. The daughter of Abraham Bourgeoys and Guillemette Garnier, she was the seventh of their thirteen children. Marguerite came from a middleclass and socially connected background, her father being a candle maker and coiner at the royal mint in the town. Her father died when she was very young, and her mother followed when Marguerite was 19.

Source: Wikipedia