Congregation of Notre Dame

The Congregation of Notre Dame is a Roman Catholic religious congregation for women founded in 1658 in Ville Marie, present day Montreal, New France, by Marguerite Bourgeoys as an uncloistered community whose members take simple vows and undertake education, in contrast to the enclosed orders of the period. The sisters ran a boarding school for girls, cared for the filles du roi sent to the colony, taught in schools, assisted parish pastors and served as missionaries to Indigenous people; King Louis XIV granted the congregation civil recognition in 1671 and the Church granted official status in 1698. By 2020 the congregation numbered roughly 860 members, and Marguerite Bourgeoys was canonized in 1982, becoming Canada's first woman saint; the congregation founded Marianopolis College in 1908 and operated the Maison Saint-Gabriel farm for nearly 300 years.