Born on May 3rd, 1632, Catherine de Longpré is touched at a very early age by divine grace. In her 12th year, she received the call to give herself totally to God and entered the monastery of the Augustinian Hospitaller nuns at Bayeux, France. She took the name of Catherine de Saint-Augustin.
Four years later, she is called to help the small communities of Augustinian nuns already settled in Quebec since 1639. She then decided to leave France to involve herself in missionary work in Canada. She arrived in Quebec on August 19th, 1648, in what she called “her little heaven of Quebec” which she wholeheartedly adopted. She took great care of the poor and the sick of her new country at the Hôtel-Dieu hospital of Quebec.
She died on May the 8th, 1668, at the young age of 36, twenty years after her initial arrival in New France, where will remain alive the vibrant memory of “the one who makes the interior more beautiful”, according to the nickname Iakonikonriiostha, given to her by the natives.
Humble and discreet in her cloister, her attitude would never reveal to her fellow nuns the rare and deep intensity of her mystical and spiritual life. This only came to light three years after her death, when her biography was published by Father Paul Ragueneau, her spiritual adviser.
The offering of her life for the Church and the salvation of souls and the safety of her adopted country firmly puts her in the company of the male and female founders of the Canadian Church. She was beatified in 1989 by pope Saint John Paul II.
To learn more, please consult the website: Who is Catherine? Centre Catherine de Saint-Augustin
“ (…) After receiving Holy Communion, I decided to enter religious life, since it was the will of God, and since I was afraid of giving up, I did not want to say that my goal was to become a nun, but only to try to see a little bit how they live their vocation. It was on October of the same year (1644) that I entered the monastery of the nuns in Bayeux, with one of my sisters who was my elder: but since I had told the nuns that I was not planning to stay with them, I received several mortifications, for I was doubly put to the test, fearing that my vocation was not based on human respect. Despite all they told me, I remained steadfast in the belief that I would become a nun, saying to the novice mistress: Say what you want, do as you please, but you will not take my habit off and I will not leave from here, unless it is to go to Canada. The Blessed Virgin had given me the firm hope that nothing could shake it off or make me doubt it.”
