Coffee & Saints

Born: April 17, 1620 – Troyes, France
Died: January 912, 1700 – Fort Ville-Marie, Montreal, Canada

What I appreciate about St. Marguerite Bourgeoys:
It can be very frustrating when we seek God out in prayer but do not think that we received what we asked for. Her life is a great reminder that God does not necessarily say no; instead, He says, “Let’s try it this way.”

Coffee Order:
She spent the majority of her life as a teacher to young indigenous children in Canada. Because of her work with kids, I picture her as someone with a sweet demeanor and a welcoming aura. For her coffee order I think Marguerite would have enjoyed a caramel macchiato as this is a coffee-forward beverage with a sweet finish.

I would be so excited to meet Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys for a cup of coffee! Not only is she a very interesting and relatable person; she also shares the name of my oldest daughter. We clearly would not run out of things to talk about! She spent most her life as a teacher of young children; therefore, I picture her as someone with a sweet demeanor. For her coffee order I think Marguerite would have enjoyed a caramel macchiato as this a coffee-forward beverage with a sweet finish. As you will soon learn, our Saint was a sweet woman who had a bold personality and a determined spirit.

For our coffee outing, I think Marguerite would choose an intimate coffeeshop with comfortable seating, natural lighting, and the type of atmosphere that welcomes hushed tones. As one of twelve children (she fell right in the middle!) I think she would have enjoyed a little bit of quiet time. I am a child of four, so I cannot imagine growing up in such a big family. I wonder what it was like for her to always be with other people. Did she enjoy her alone time? Or did she get energized from being around others?

A fun fact about her is that she was born on Good Friday in 1620 – talk about a holy birthday! She grew up in France where her father made a modest living as a candlemaker and coiner. In her own writings she has mentioned that she got along with the other young girls around her and had a cheery personality. I picture that she must have had a fun childhood; with so many siblings there was always someone to play with.

Saint Marguerite would probably wipe a tear as she told me about how at nineteen years old she lost her mother. The death of a parent is difficult at any age, but to lose a mother when a girl is entering adulthood must have been especially hard. I am sure her oldest sister would have been a huge help during this time for the family.

When she was twenty, she experienced something that would change her life. She attended a procession on the Feast of the Holy Rosary and saw a statue of the virgin Mary there. This statue looked back at our Saint and seemed to be gazing upon Marguerite with love. This moment had an impact on Marguerite who decided that she wanted to live her life like the Virgin Mary: complete trust in the Lord.

Our Saint felt called to enter the religious life; and so she began to pray. She brought her requests to the Lord, asking Him to guide her life as He did for Mary. She applied to both the Carmelites and the Poor Clares and was turned away by both. This must have felt so disheartening to feel called to the religious life and yet be sent away. I can imagine her feeling let down, frustrated, and sad.

This is where I feel as though she and myself could connect on a deeper level. In my own life I sometimes feel called to change direction; however, the door never opens for me. I am sure that you have felt this way too in your own life. Maybe you feel burned out in your current career but the right job has not come along to move to. Or maybe your family is growing and you want more room but there are no houses that are the right fit. For those of you who are single and feel called to marriage you may be frustrated to not have found the right relationship yet. As humans, we all face these moments of feeling as though God is saying no to us or ignoring our cries.

Saint Marguerite did not give up and she became a teacher alongside a cloistered religious community in her town. She was not a nun like them; however, she worked through their organization to work with poor young children. Because the nuns were cloistered, they sent women out to do the teaching. Marguerite was a natural and soon became in charge of the program. I have to wonder if she felt the tiniest bit of sadness to be working with the nuns but to still not be one of them? It cannot have been easy to be surrounded by women living the calling that she so badly wanted to be a part of.

And then God changed the direction of her life once again. Saint Marguerite found herself in New France, working as a missionary in a colony. Her passion was teaching the children and so she as given a stone barn to turn into the first public school in Montreal. What a joy this must have been for our Saint as she witnessed the children have the opportunity to learn. I picture her as a very sweet and devoted teacher with much patience and understanding.

As the school grew, so did the workload. Naturally, this meant that Marguerite needed to bring in more women to help. Huh, women all living and working together for the Catholic Church…kind of sounds like a convent, no? Well, as much as Saint Marguerite wanted them to be an official religious community, they faced many obstacles. At that time, non-cloistered communities were extremely rare. Our determined Saint would not give up; going as far as traveling to France to see the King in order to get documents signed. I can picture the sly smile on her face as she shares with me how delighted she was to have finally received the recognition they needed. Because she would not give up, she was able to start The Sisters of Notre Dame.

Being a religious community was important because it meant that settlers and indigenous people could come to them; they would not need to go out and find them. The sisters worked tirelessly to tend to the children, settlers, and native people. Life was not easy; however, as they faced many obstacles. At one point their convent was burned to the ground, killing two of the sisters. It must have taken so much strength for Marguerite to pick herself back up and continue leading the women who were all in mourning together. These women were family, they were doing the Lord’s work; and they were now facing tragedy. However; I can picture her determined face as she told the sisters that they would not give up.

Saint Marguerite, when she had reached old age, was notified that one of the sisters in her community had fallen ill. Marguerite prayed fervently for the health of the sister; asking God to make her sick instead. Miraculously, the other sister was healed, and Marguerite fell ill. Did the other sister, when recovered, get to go and see Saint Marguerite? Was she told what had happened? If so, how did she feel? I can picture the young sister saying, “Why me?”. She would have recognized that Marguerite had built the convent from the ground up, brought more women into the community, and spearheaded the education of the poor. And that amazing woman, in an act of pure selflessness, prayed to receive the illness from the other sister who would then recover.

To me, I find this incredibly beautiful. This woman longed to live like Mother Mary when she was twenty years old and witnessed the statue looking at her with love. To her, she felt that this meant that she was to enter a cloister and give her entire life to the Lord. It is so obvious that God did not say no; He said, “Not this way.”. All of her frustration and prayer about the religious life happened in a different way than what she thought she had wanted. He did not want her in a cloister; He needed her to be with the people!

I believe that God has a plan for each one of us, if we are willing to follow it. It gives me chills when I think about this Saint’s life. She was born on Good Friday – the day that our church celebrates the passion of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. He took away the burdens of everyone else, and put them on Himself. Then in the 17^th century, this woman changed the lives of so many people in New France and took the illness off of someone else and ended up dying! She longed to emulate Mary, and I think she emulated Jesus as well. What an amazing gift!

Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys would be an incredible woman to chat with over coffee. I would love to hear her tell me all about the school she built and the children she worked with. It takes a special person to tend to children in a school (shout out to all the teacher’s out there!). She is a wonderful role model to us of unconditional love. She recognized the dignity in people from all different walks of life. And then at the end of her life, she freely accepted the illness of someone else so they could be spared. I long to give her a long hug, thanking her for showing us what true love looks like.

I encourage you that if you are someone who feels stuck, do not give up on praying to the Lord about it. He is not ignoring you! Maybe today is the day to stop praying for the same thing, and to instead ask God to show you what He has in store for you. Yes, it might not be what you “want”; however, He knows you better than you know yourself and He’s got this!

Prayer:
Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, patron Saint of people rejected by religious orders, you understood frustration in prayer. Even though it must have felt as though the Lord was not listening to you, you continued to follow Him and to seek out His Will above your own. Please pray for those of us who feel as though God is not listening to our prayers, that we may remember that God has a plan and when we look back at our lives we will see the ways He led us. We pray for those in poverty, those who are struggling, and those who are discerning their vocation. Please pray for our hearts to be opened to where God is leading, not just where we want Him to lead us. Amen.

I hope you enjoyed learning about this Saint! The artwork above was created using AI and my own imagination – this is how I picture what it would be like to sit with her in a coffeeshop today. I would love for you to share your own thoughts in the comments. How do you picture Saint Marguerite? What do you think she would have ordered at a coffee shop? Let me know below!

Cheers! ☕
Maggie