Marie-Élisabeth Turgeon (7 February 1840 – 17 August 1881), born as ''Élisabeth Turgeon'', was a Canadian

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated: Sr.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to prayer and ...

and the founder of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Rosary. She assumed the name ''Marie-Élisabeth'' as her

religious name A religious name is a type of given name bestowed for religious purposes, and which is generally used in such contexts. Christianity Catholic Church Baptismal name In baptism, Catholic Church, Catholics are given a Christian name, which should n ...

. Turgeon was cleared for

beatification Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the p ...

in 2014 after a miracle that had found to have been attributed to her intercession was cleared. She was beatified on 26 April 2015 in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

by Cardinal

Angelo Amato Angelo Amato, Salesians of Don Bosco, S.D.B. (8 June 1938 – 31 December 2024) was an Italian Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints between 2008 and 20 ...

on behalf of

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

Biography

Turgeon was born in 1840 as one of nine children to Louis-Marc Turgeon and Angèle Labrecque. As a child, she made frequent visits to the church and felt a religious call which solidified as she grew older. Turgeon's father died when she was 15 and she remained in the care of her mother during this time. She would graduate from the Laval Normal School in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

in 1862 and taught at several schools after her graduation in places like Saint-Romuald and Saint-Roch. On 3 April 1875 at the invitation of Jean Langevin (first bishop of

Rimouski Rimouski ( ; ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. Rimouski is located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, at the mouth of the Rimouski River. It has a population of 48,935 (as of 2021). Rimouski, whose motto is ''Legi patrum fidelis'' (Faithful to ...

) she entered the Sisters of the Little Schools and made her profession of vows alongside twelve others on 12 September 1879. She established the Sisters of Our Lady of the Rosary on 12 September 1878 as the order's first superior and devoted all her work to mentorship and the institution of educational facilities in Rimouski. As she fell ill, she continued to direct the order and its functioning. Emergencies in her health on 23 March 1881 and 26 March led to her doctor and

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being called in to perform medical examinations and the Anointing of the Sick. Bedridden, she was dying in August and the order led prayer vigils for her health. On 15 August, the

Feast of the Assumption The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of whether Mary died or whether she was ra ...

, she met with professed members of the order and the next day, she knew that her end was near. At 12:20am on 17 August, Turgeon died.

Beatification

The cause of beatification for Turgeon was called for after her death and the

Congregation of the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passi ...

granted "nihil obstat" (nothing against) which allowed for the title of

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

to be bestowed upon her. The Archdiocese of Rimouski was responsible for the diocesan process of the cause and submitted its work - the

Positio A ''positio'' (short for the Latin ''positio super virtutibus'': "position on the virtues") is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a Catholic person is declared Venerable, the second of four steps on the path to can ...

- to

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. The Congregation of the Causes of Saints then evaluated the documentation to assess whether or not Turgeon lived a virtuous life.

recognized her life of

heroic virtue Heroic virtue is the translation of a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs. The phrase is used by the Roman Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman a ...

and named her to be

venerable ''The Venerable'' often shortened to Venerable is a style, title, or epithet used in some Christianity, Christian churches. The title is often accorded to holy persons for their spiritual perfection and wisdom. Catholic In the Catholic Churc ...

on 9 October 2013 and later recognized a

miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...

attributed to her on 17 September 2014. Her

was celebrated in

on 26 April 2015.

References

External links

Hagiography CircleSaints SQPNSisters of Our Lady of the Rosary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turgeon, Marie-Elisabeth 1840 births 1881 deaths Canadian beatified people Beatifications by Pope Francis Founders of Catholic religious communities Superiors general Canadian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns