Marie Gabriel Bernard Couvent (c. 1757 – June 28, 1837), also known as Justin Fervin, and Marie Justine Cirnaire, was an African-American philanthropist in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. She is best known for dedicating the property that would be used to construct the Institute Catholique.

Biography

Early life

Marie Couvent was born in

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

(in

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

), a name that was often used to describe the west coast of Africa in this period. In her will, Couvent testifies that she was shipped to the

French colony The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas Colony, colonies, protectorates, and League of Nations mandate, mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "Firs ...

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the isl ...

as an

enslaved person Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

around the age of seven. Because of this, she lacked any memory of her parents and received no formal education. Throughout her entire life, she could neither read nor write.

Move to New Orleans

Couvent obtained her freedom and later lived in

, although the events that led to these changes, and their dates, remain unknown. She likely escaped during the

Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution ( or ; ) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolution was the only known Slave rebellion, slave up ...

. In New Orleans, she married Gabriel Bernard Couvent, a free black man and carpenter. Together, they lived on Barracks Street in the lower

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the (; ; ), is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans () was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Square" in English), a ...

, and accumulated land and other properties.

Slaves

The Couvents enslaved several people throughout their lives but petitioned the Orleans parish government to grant freedom to three of them. In 1821, Marie and her husband petitioned for the freedom of an enslaved woman named Pauline. In 1829, Bernard petitioned for the freedom of two other enslaved women, Seraphine and Fillette. However, Bernard died on May 22 before they were freed. In 1831, Marie refiled the petition, stating that the women had served her well and nursed her in times of illness.

Will

In her 70s, Marie Couvent informed Fr. Constatine Maenhaut (sometimes written Manehault), a priest at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, of her desire to help found a school for Black orphans. Couvent, a devout

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, considered Maenhaut to be a spiritual mentor. In 1832, she recorded her final will. It read, in part:

I bequeath and order that my land at the corner of Grands Hommes and Union streets ow Dauphine and Tourobe dedicated and used in perpetuity for the establishment of a free school for the colored orphans of the district of Marigny. ...

Maenhaut and the future clergy of the cathedral were entrusted with supervising this will and its aims. Henry Fletcher, a friend of Bernard Couvent, was tasked with executing the terms of the will.

Death

Marie Couvent died on June 28, 1837, at about 80.

School

The school she had hoped to establish in her will was not built until almost a decade after her death. Fletcher had failed to construct it, primarily due to opposition from city officials. Maenhaut then set about trying to construct the school himself and enlisted the aid of a man named

Francois Lacroix François Lacroix (1806–1876) was a wealthy Creole of color, tailor, fabric merchant, and prominent landowner in New Orleans, Louisiana. His son Victor Lacroix was killed in the infamous New Orleans massacre of 1866 when Republicans gathered and ...

. Lacroix aided in the foundation of the Society for the Instruction of Indigent Orphans, which raised funds and sued to gain access to Marie Couvent's property. They succeeded in winning their court case in 1846, and the school finally opened in 1848, eleven years after Marie Couvent's death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Couvent, Marie 1750s births 1837 deaths 18th-century Roman Catholics 19th-century Roman Catholics Haitian slaves African-American slave owners 18th-century American slaves African-American Catholics American Roman Catholics Women slave owners