Feast day: 30 April
St Marie of the Incarnation was born in 1599. Her name then was Marie Guyart. Her father was a silk merchant and her mother was Jeanne Michelet. She was the fourth of eight children. From an early age she was drawn to religious liturgy and the sacraments. When she was seven years old she had a mystical encounter with Jesus. In her book Relation (1554) she recounted the following: “I saw our Lord Jesus Christ in human form come forth and move through the air to me. As Jesus in his wondrous majesty was approaching me, I felt my heart enveloped by his love and I began to extend my arms to embrace him. Then he put his arms about me, kissed me lovingly and said 'Do you wish to belong to me?' I answered 'Yes!'. And having received my consent, he ascended back into Heaven.”
Marie wanted to enter religious life. At the age of fourteen she proposed to her parents that she would join the Benedictines of Beaumont Abbey. Instead she was married to Claude Martin, a master silk worker in 1617. By her own account she enjoyed a happy life but it was brief. She had a son who was named Claude but her husband died months after the child was born. Thus she was left a widow at the age of nineteen.
Claude’s business had been failing and after his death she lost it. She had to move in with her parents and secluded herself to pursue her spiritual life. She was then invited to live with her sister and brother-in-law, Paul Buisson, who owned a successful transport business. She managed their house and the kitchen. Her vocation to religious life was still drawing her. She told of a vision that marked out a new path for her: “I saw at some distance to my left a little church of white marble [...]. The Blessed Virgin was seated. She was holding the Child Jesus on her lap. This place was elevated and below it lay a majestic and vast country, full of mountains, of valleys, of thick mists which permeated everywhere except the church... The Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, looked down on this country, as pitiable as it was amazing... it seemed to me that she spoke about this country and about myself and that she had in mind some plan which involved me.” (The vision of Marie Giuyart as recorded in her work Relation.)
Marie also found inspiration from the life of Teresa of Avila. She began to aspire to travel to the New World and seek martyrdom in the land that which, with the help of her spiritual director, she had identified as Canada. She was also influenced by Jesuit teachings. She joined the Ursuline Monastery in Tours in 1631. Entering the Ursuline order meant parting from her son Claude, whom she left in the care of the Buisson family. Her son naturally was deeply distressed and tried to storm the monastery. She too was affected by the separation. Claude would become a Benedictine monk and when they corresponded they shared their emotional and spiritual struggles.
Marie was professed in 1633 and took the name Marie of the Incarnation. That Christmas, Marie had another vision of herself and a lay woman walking hand in hand against the backdrop of a foreign country, on the roof of a small church. In this distant, foggy landscape sat the Virgin Mary and Jesus. Again she was told this country was Canada. She was prevented from going there for four years by personal and financial obstacles. Meanwhile she was in contact with the Jesuits in Quebec, who thought that she could work with the Huron women. However her superior, spiritual director and brother all opposed her. Then she was introduced to a Madeleine de la Petrie on 19 February 1639. Marie recognised her as the lay woman from the dream. In order to fund her, Madeleine entered into a sham marriage, giving her the legal authority to sign over the bulk of her estate to the Ursuline Order. The legal contracts were signed and the royal charter establishing the foundation was signed by King Louis XIII.
In 1639, Marie and Madeleine set sail from Dieppe for Quebec, together with another aristocratic Ursuline, a young commoner, three nurses and two Jesuits. The group landed in Quebec city and established a convent in the lower town. Quebec then was merely a name: hardly six houses stood on the site chosen by Champlain. At first she and her companions occupied a small house in the lower town. Then they moved to a permanent stone building in the upper town. They founded the first school as well as the Ursuline Convent of Quebec.
Conditions were harsh in the New World. In their first house there was little shelter from the weather, food was short and strange and it was difficult to educate the native girls as was done in Europe, because the culture was so different. In addition the Europeans unwittingly brought diseases such as smallpox, which ravaged the native populations. They saw the Jesuits and Ursulines imparting disease through their religious practices. Baptisms, holy icons and crosses were suspect as the source of epidemics. There was danger from the Indians. In 1649 Jean Brebeuf SJ and his companions were brutally murdered by the Iroquois.
In order to build their convent all the materials had to be brought from France. There was constant financial difficulty. In 1650 the convent burnt down and the European Ursulines urged the sisters in Canada to return home. However, Marie persisted in her efforts. She followed a strict, orthodox teaching method she had learnt during her time with the Ursulines in France. It was based on the basics of faith, French and Latin literature and civility. Her main aim was to teach the daughters of settlers and the native girls to become good Christians. In her writings Marie emphasized the fact that the native girls were treated the same as the French. They were allowed to sing hymns in both French and their native languages. They were encouraged to return to their tribes and share their teaching. Marie learnt the Algonquin, Huron and Montagna languages of the natives and when she was nearly seventy she began to learn Iroquois. She composed dictionaries, grammar and catechism the these languages. In spite of all this work she felt she had failed with the native girls.
Marie wrote a large volume of letters to the Jesuit fathers in Canada, to her sisters in Tours, to convents in France, her family and important people who might assist with her work. Most importantly she wrote to her son Claude, who seemed to be a rather fragile person. They shared spiritual experiences and she gave him encouragement. She also wrote about her experiences in Canada. Her book Relation, written in 1654 was for him.
She seems to have gone through a time of mental torment as well as coping with all the practical problems that beset her. She felt an aversion to her religious sisters. This suffering lasted seven years. She was supported by her Jesuit spiritual adviser Pierre Lamont. He also helped her to write the constitutions of the Canadian monastery. Then suddenly on the feast of the Assumption 1847 she felt peace again and in 1850 was able to accept the fire at the convent with equanimity.
Marie was a mystic, who experienced many visions which guided and sustained her in her spiritual journey. She had a great devotion to Our Lady. The love of her son Jesus was always foremost in her life.
Marie died of a liver illness on April 30 1672. She was canonised by Pope Francis in 2014. Her life was a fulfilment of the words of the foundress of the Ursuline Order, St Angela Merici: "Act, move, believe, strive, hope, cry out to him with all your heart; for without doubt you will see marvellous things." (Counsels of St Angela)
St Marie of the Incarnation is buried in the chapel, formerly of St Angela, in the Ursuline monastery in Quebec City.
St Marie of the Incarnation, pray for us.