The Centre Marie-de-l’Incarnation is a spiritual environment focusing on making better known the life and work of its foundress, Marie Guyart de l’Incarnation, wife, mother, businesswoman, nun, teacher, writer, but above all a lover of God, whom she called “my divine Spouse”. The story of Marie Guyart de l’Incarnation is told to the visitors by passionate guides, using watercolors painted by the Ursuline Sister Louise Godin.
The visitor will also have access to our most precious spiritual treasures: the rosary belonging to Saint Marie de l’Incarnation, early editions of her personal letters (1681), and various edifying objects such as a 17th-century Missal.
The visitor will also be able to travel through time while admiring a model of the monastery in its successive stages of expansion. The visitor can also admire the original side façade and the elementary school, still active 380 years after it opened.
Under the supervision of the Canadian Union of the Ursulines, in collaboration with a small group of lay persons, the Centre welcomes visitors of all background, beliefs and spiritual quests in order that they may discover the historical importance of Marie Guyart de l’Incarnation and her rich interior life.
“Together with the talented sculptors of the Levasseur family, the Ursuline community, preoccupied with the education of the faith, have achieved, using local wood, an exceptional result. (…)
This masterwork, more than three centuries old, underwent many vicissitudes, since the first chapel had to be demolished and rebuilt at the beginning of the previous century. With the utmost care, the original sculpted interior was kept intact after the new construction in 1902. Thus, this ancient jewel of the Québec decorative art maintains today its splendor in the chapel.”
Marguerite Chénard, o.s.u. préface de La chapelle des Ursulines de Québec
This oratory, erected in honor of the memory of Saint Marie de l’Incarnation, dates back to 1972. The stone of the tomb comes from Saint-Gédéon in the Lac Saint-Jean region. It was sculpted by Raymond Delwaide. Other sculptures found here are the work of the Bourgault of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli. The stained glass windows come from the Ateliers Bettinger of Montreal. The statue found in the mezzanine is the work of Émile Brunet. It shows Marie de l’Incarnation, Mother of the Church of Canada. Many pilgrims and visitors stop here asking for the intercession of Sainte Marie de l’Incarnation hoping to obtain various favors.
