Marie Guyard (1599-1672)

Born in Tours in 1599, Marie Guyard moved at a very young age to the Faubourg Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, where her father was a master baker. In 1616 she married Claude Martin, a silk worker.

Widowed at 19 with a son, she worked for some ten years for her brother-in-law, Paul Buisson, owner of a large river and road haulage business in the neighbourhood.

Deeply devout, Marie Guyard had always been drawn to religious life. She entered the Ursuline convent in 1631 and took the name of Marie de l’Incarnation (Mary of the Incarnation). She left for Canada in 1639 and established an Ursuline community in Quebec. There she founded the first school for Native American and French girls in North America.

On 20 June 1980, Pope John Paul II declared Marie de l'Incarnation Blessed. She was canonised by Pope Francis on 3 April 2014, as the Ursulines were celebrating the 375th anniversary of her arrival in Canada.