United States or Andorra ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !


S. Domenico retains portions of Gothic work. The building was finished in 1372. At the feet of the saint kneels the foundress, his sister Bitcula. A Gothic inscription gives her name, and that of the sculptor, "Maiste Nicolai de te dito cervo d Venecia fecit hoc opvs."

The construction of the cells improves; the colony grows, the comfort increases. The foundress is still its soul, its principal mother, and finds herself now at the head of a kingdom which might be the model of that of our honeybee. But the model is still in the rough.

As was not unusual, the society included monks as well as nuns. In later times the Benedictine rule was adopted. In the very year of the foundation, possibly on account of its royal foundress and the support of the king, her brother, the special privilege of exemption from interference, either by king or bishop, was assigned to it in a national assembly.

On board the 'St. Joseph, as the safest and most commodious of the ships, was the Ursuline colony, five in number, including the Foundress with her secular companion, and three Hospital Sisters from Dieppe, who were going to establish a house of the Hotel Dieu at Quebec, under the auspices of the Duchess d'Aiguillon, a niece to Cardinal Richelieu.

It is quite remarkable that, in the writings left by this humble and admirable woman, she does not make use of a single word that could lead one to believe she had personally anything to do with the establishment of the Congregation, desiring, no doubt, that it should be directly attributed to the Queen of Angels, whom she wished to be recognized as its Foundress and first Mother.

Trevecca House was formally opened and dedicated as a theological college on August 24, 1768, the anniversary of the birthday of the foundress. Whitefield preached the sermon, choosing as his text Exodus xx. 24, "In all places where I record My name, I will come unto thee and bless thee."

It appears there were many unsatisfactory and protracted disputes on the subject, although the Sisters more than once made very humble remonstrances to the Bishop, and finding that the matter did not meet the prompt attention they thought it deserved, the Foundress determined to write a clear explanation to M. Troncon, Superior of St. Sulpice in Paris.

"O holy Virgin, behold this little band of your servants, who have consecrated themselves to the service of God under your protection, who wish to follow your example, as good children follow their earthly mother's, and who regard you as their cherished Foundress, and first Superior.

On the coffin-lid was placed the following inscription: "Here lies Venerable Sister Bourgeois, Foundress and first Superior of the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame, established in Montreal for the instruction of young girls; who departed this life on the 12th of January, 1700. Requiescat in pace."

The first expedition was placed under the command of a valiant gentleman, Paul de Maisonneuve, and of a certain Mademoiselle Mance, belonging to the middle class of Nogent-le-Roi, who was not yet a nun, but who was destined to become the foundress of the hospital-sisters of Ville-Marie, the name which the religious zeal of the explorers intended for the new colony of Montreal.