St. Marguerite knew what it is

+ to be orphaned at a young age
+ to be a student without funds
+ to be a beautiful young woman
+ to be a rejected fiancee
+ to be a happy bride
+ to be a mother of six
+ to be a bereaved parent
+ to be a deserted spouse
+ to be a debt-burdened widow
+ to be a risk-taker
+ to be ridiculed and insulted
+ to watch fire destroy her works
+ to build again and again
+ to love unconditionally

Marguerite's father died when she was seven. She helped her mother raise her five brothers and sisters and grew to be a lovely young lady much sought after socially. Her fiance rejected her when her mother married beneath her social status. Another gentleman, Francois d'Youville, won her hand, but turned out to be a gambler whose illegal trade with the Indians often took him away from home for long periods of time.

Four of her six children died in infancy. She lovingly cared for her sick husband and sincerely mourned his death. She was a widow at the age of 28, burdened with Francois' debts. She had a powerful spiritual experience and gave her life totally to Jesus, desiring to serve Him in the poor. She opened a dry-goods store, paid off the debts, and had enough money to help the poor. She begged for money to bury criminals condemned to be hanged. She was able to send her two sons to the seminary. She devoted her life to the poor, searching out every human misery and doing all she could to alleviate the social ills of her time.

Marguerite is a Saint of the world because she loved and when there was nothing else she could do, she loved even more. In 1737 she founded in Montreal, the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity, known as the Grey Nuns. Pope John XXIII beatified her in 1959, calling her the Mother of Universal Charity. Pope John Paul II canonized her in 1990, the first Canadian-born saint, and gave her to the world as an example of an unconditionally loving person who helped all who needed her. She opened her heart and home to the poor, the sick, the elderly, wounded soldiers, abandoned infants, prostitutes, and the mentally ill.