Marie-Élisabeth Turgeon (7 February 1840 – 17 August 1881), born Élisabeth Turgeon, was a
Catholic Canadian nun and was the founder of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Rosary. She assumed the name of Marie-Élisabeth as her religious name after she became a nun.
Turgeon was cleared for
beatification 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 by Cardinal
Angelo Amato on behalf of
Pope Francis.
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 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
Jean-Pierre-François-Laforce Langevin (22 September 1821 – 26 January 1892) was born and lived his life in Quebec. He was taught by a governess before entering the '' Petit Séminaire de Quebec''. He began his studies for the priesthood at t ...
(first bishop of
Rimouski) 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
confessor 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, 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, pass ...
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 th ...
to be bestowed upon her. The
Archdiocese of Rimouski was responsible for the diocesan process of the cause and submitted its work - the
Positio - to
Rome. The Congregation of the Causes of Saints then evaluated the documentation to assess whether or not Turgeon lived a virtuous life.
Pope Francis recognized her life of
heroic virtue and named her to be
Venerable on 9 October 2013 and later recognized a
miracle attributed to her on 17 September 2014. Her
beatification was held in
Rimouski 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
19th-century venerated Christians
Founders of Catholic religious communities
Superiors general
Catholic Church in Canada
Canadian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns
Venerated Catholics by Pope Francis