Angélique de Bullion was a French benefactress influential in the foundation of Montreal.

Life

Angélique Faure was born in Paris, at the beginning of the seventeenth century; her parents were Guichard Faure and Madeleine Brulart de Sillery. She was the niece of

Noël Brûlart de Sillery Noël Brûlart (or ''Brulart''"''Sillery''"
on Quebec toponymy commission.) de Sillery (1577 ...

, who, in 1632, donated twelve thousand

livres The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France. The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 ...

to fund the foundation of St. Joseph Mission in

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to King ...

(Canada), as a settlement for indigenous converts to Catholicism.Roy, Julie. "Angélique Faure", ''Dictionnaire des femmes de l'Ancienne France'', 2006 The mission would eventually be named Sillery, in memory of his generosity. On January 21, 1612, she married

Claude de Bullion Claude de Bullion (13 October 1569 – 22 December 1640) was a French aristocrat and politician who served as a Minister of Finance under Louis XIII from 1632 to 1640.Ranum, Orest A. (1963). ''Richelieu and the councillors of Louis XIII: A study of ...

, Keeper of the Seals and Superintendent of Finances under

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

;

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...

annually rewarded him with a bonus of 100,000 livres.

Société Notre-Dame de Montréal

The Society of Our Lady of Montréal for the conversion of the Indians of New France, (sometimes known as the "Company Our Lady of Montreal") was formed in 1641 by Jean-Jacques Olier de Verneuil and Jérôme Le Royer, Sieur de La Dauversière with the aim of establishing a fortified city in

in order to teach French settlers and Christian Indians. Upon the death of her husband in 1640, she inherited a large fortune, including the Château de Brie-Comte-Robert. In 1641, Father Charles Rapine de Boisvert, former Provincial of the Recollects, Director of Saint-Denis and a distant cousin of her husband, introduced her to

Jeanne Mance Jeanne Mance (November 12, 1606 – June 18, 1673) was a French nurse and settler of New France. She arrived in New France two years after the Ursuline nuns came to Quebec. Among the founders of Montreal in 1642, she established its first hospit ...

, a nurse from Champagne and member of the Society of Our Lady of Montréal, who plans to accompany

Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve (15 February 1612 9 September 1676) was a French military officer and the founder of Fort Ville-Marie (modern day Montreal) in New France (Province of Quebec, Canada). Early life Maisonneuve was born in ...

to New France. and her friend Madame de Villesasin (Isabelle Blondeau) are benefactors of the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris. Having learned that the Duchess d'Aiguillon had funded the establishment of a hospital in Quebec, Madame de Bullion offered Jeanne Mance 1200 ''livres'' for a similar undertaking at Ville-Marie. An agreement between Angélique Faure de Bullion and Jeanne Mance is the oldest letter in the Archives Department of the City of Montréal.Shaffer, Marie-Eve. "Montreal archives have 100 years", ''Metro'', February 20, 2013
/ref> The Hôtel-Dieu was founded in honour of Saint Joseph, and confided in 1657–59 to the care of the

Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph The Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph (RHSJ; french: Religieuses Hospitalières de Saint-Joseph) are a Catholic religious congregation founded in 1636 at La Flèche, France, by the Venerable Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière and the Vener ...

, an order instituted at

La Flèche La Flèche () is a town and commune in the French department of Sarthe, in the Pays de la Loire region in the Loire Valley. It is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton, and the second most pop ...

Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière Jerome (c.347–420) was a priest, confessor, theologian and historian from Dalmatia. Jerome may also refer to: People Given name * Jerome (given name), a masculine name of Greek origin, with a list of people so named * Saint Jerome (disambiguat ...

, one of the founders of Montréal. She also contributed more than 20,000 livres for the defence of the settlement against the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

.Lindsay, Lionel. "Angélique Bullion." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 19 Jun. 2013
/ref> In 1663, shortly after the death of Olier and La Dauversière, the company was dissolved. She insisted on being mentioned in the deeds ratifying her donations as "An unknown benefactress". Her identity was revealed only after her death, on July 3, 1664. She bequeathed her assets to the Compagnie de Saint-Sulpice, which was active in Montréal.

Legacy

Formerly Rue Saint-Constant and then Cadieux Street, on May 9, 1927, de Bullion Street, Montreal was named in her honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bullion, Angelique 17th-century French women Philanthropists from Paris People of New France French women philanthropists