When you visit the Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum (Musée Marguerite-Bourgeoys), it is like stepping back in time to 17th century Montreal, when it was called Ville-Marie. The museum in the historic chapel presents the fascinating life story of Marguerite Bourgeoys and the early settlers who founded the city of Montreal.
Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620-1700) was a French nun who accepted the request of Paul de Chomedey, the Governor of the French settlement at Montreal in New France and the founder of Montreal, Jeanne Mance, to establish a convent in Ville-Marie. She left France in 1653, sailing to the new world with about 100 men. Upon her arrival, she started her mission and founded the Congregation of Notre Dame. In 1657 she started building the city’s first permanent church – the Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours Chapel (in English – the Chapel of Our Lady of Good Counsel). A year later, she established the first public school in the city. She left for France to recruit teachers and wives for the colony and took care of them in their first years in New France. Besides growing the religious congregation, she established a boarding school for girls in Ville-Marie, a school for the poor in Quebec, and other schools in small villages. She died in Montreal on January 12th, 1700, and was declared a saint by the Catholic Church in 1982. The first female saint of Canada.
The church was burned in 1754 and reconstructed in 1771.
The permanent exhibit in the museum is about the life of Bourgeoys, including miniature scenes of her whole life. A guided tour will walk you into the archaeological site below the chapel and see an 18th-century stone vault. On the upper level, there are rotating exhibitions of local artists.
And at last, the top of the chapel tower offers the highest views of Old Montreal. Visitors will enjoy the views of the Old Port, the clock tower, the round dome of Marche Bonsecours, and the St. Lawrence River.
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