Jeanne Mance, 1606-1673

A photo of Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal with her statue at the entrance. Photo credit - Wikimedia

A French nurse, among the founders of Montreal, Canada, and the founder and director of its first hospital.

Jeanne Mance was born in Langres, France, to a minor nobility family. From an early age, she decided not to marry and serve God and people in need. When the Thirty Years War reached her region, she started to work with charitable societies, developed nursing skills, and even attended to the victims of the plague that burst in her area and killed more than 5,000 people in Langres.

In 1640, at the age of 34, Mance was recruited by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve as a member of the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal, to travel to the New World and establish a new French colony on the Island of Montréal. Her role in the mission was to find a hospital for the settlers. Devoted to the cause, she persuaded donors to finance the mission and recruit more members. Thanks to her, the donations doubled, and the number of new settlers expanded from 8 to 38. Nine of them were women.

On May 9th, 1641, the expedition embarked on three months journey across the Atlantic, reaching the Island of Montreal on May 17th, 1642. On her arrival, she got the responsibility for all “indoors,” including food, housing, health, and property, while Maisonneuve was in charge of “outdoors and war.” In that same year, Mance began to operate a hospital in her home, and within three years, she founded the Hôtel-Dieu hospital, serving as a nurse, director, and treasurer.

The hospital was small, containing only eight beds (six for men and two for women). The equipment was poor, and the funds were running out. In addition, the living conditions were difficult, the climate was harsh, and many of the first settlers left the colony. Given the circumstances, in 1650, 44 years old Mance traveled to France and managed to recruit more donations and more colonists, one of them was Marguerite Bourgeoys, a French nun and the founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal. Seven years later, Mance went on another recruiting mission in France, returning with enough money and three nuns who helped in the hospital. With the new staff, Mance was able to work less at the hospital and focused on the colony’s administration.

She died at the age of 67 after a long illness.

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Fun Facts

  • She was the second of 12 children.
  • She was known as the “Angel of the Colony.”
  • In 1657, at the age of 51, she fell on ice, fracturing her arm and dislocating her wrist, losing the ability to use her right hand.
  • In 1672, she laid one of the first stones of Montréal’s Notre Dame cathedral.
  • Her tomb is preserved in the chapel of the Musée des Hospitalières de l'Hôtel-Dieu.
  • The Montreal Town officially recognized her as a co-founder of the city only in 2012.
  • In 2014, the Vatican declared her Venerable, recognizing her as a “heroic virtue.”
  • A statue of her is located at Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, in Maisonneuve Monument, and in her birthplace in Langres, France.
  • Rue Jeanne-Mance in Montreal is named in her honor.
  • Jeanne-Mance Park in Montreal is named in her honor.
  • Jeanne Mance Hall dormitory of the University of Vermont is named in her honor.
  • The Jeanne Mance Award of the Canadian Nurses Association is named and given in her honor.

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Category: Health and Politics & Leaders
Tags: Nurse

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Activism & Feminism

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