Jeanne Mance

Jeanne Mance

By: Anthony Lombardi

Date: January 8, 2019
Updated August 27, 2020

Full Name: Jeanne Mance

Duration of life: 1606-January 18, 1673

Nationality: French

Trade: Nurse, Catholic Missionary

Achievement/Reputation: Co-founder of the city of Montreal, founder of Hôtel Dieu hospital (1645-2017)

Birth and Childhood
Jeanne Mance was born in 1606 in France. The earliest known date of her life is her baptism in Langres, Haute-Marne, France on November 12, 1606. She was the second child in her family of 11, made of of 6 boys and 6 girls. As a young girl, Jeanne was educated by the Ursulines of Langres, and may have been one of the first students admitted to the school since the nuns had installed themselves there in 1613. 

Life

In her early 20s, Jeanne's mother Catherine Émonnot passed away. Jeanne, with the help of one of her sisters, overlooked the education of her siblings. She also began her medical career by taking care of victims of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). Not drawn to a life of marriage, this young woman looked for spiritual fulfillment as a devout Catholic laywoman.

An answer to her prayers was soon to come. In April 1640, she learned of the missions of New France from a cousin, Fr. Nicholas Dolebeau, chaplain of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, whose own brother Jean was a missionary there. She desired to join them there. Following a meeting in Paris with the Jesuit priest who was in charge of the New France missions, Fr. Charles Lalemant, her mission was clear: she was going to the colonies across the sea.

In May 1640, Jeanne Mance left Langres for Paris, where she was presented to Mme. Angélique Faure de Bulion, a rich widow and donor, who commissioned her to build a hospital in New France. Following that, she joined the Notre-Dame society of Montreal upon invitation from Jérôme Le Royer de la Dauversière in April 1641. The goal of this society was to install a missionary colony on the island of Montreal, which they owned, where Amerindians and Frenchmen would live in harmony. Obviously, Mance's project would have gone well with it. Jeanne was about to join Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve, governor of the new colony, along with 48 other people, on three ships: the Gaston and the Renée left from La Rochelle. These were the ships that Jeanne, Maisonneuve and the majority of their companions embarked. Some people embarked on a third ship in Dieppe. Their destination was Quebec City. Jeanne left France on May 9, 1641. 

She landed in Quebec on August 8th, and the colonists wintered there. On May 8th, 1642, the party left Quebec and arrived on Montreal island on May 17th. The mission, named Ville-Marie, was soon started and Jeanne Mance operated her own small hospital until the official one was opened in 1645. It was called Hôtel Dieu. She was also the new colony's official treasurer and director of supplies, taking care of cases inside the mission. The hospital especially was very important as the colony was subject to Iroquois attacks due to its geographical location.

Between 1649 and 1664, Jeanne had to return to France at least three times. The first time was in 1649 when M. de la Dauversière was ill, and the Notre-Dame society was falling apart. When she left France a year later, all problems had been resolved, de la Dauversière was fine and the society was up and running again. Her second trip in 1658-1659 resulted in her return with three Hospitaliers of Saint-Joseph nuns chosen by M. de la Dauversière, as well as other laywomen and nuns, including Marguerite Bourgeoys, future founder of the Notre-Dame Congregation of Montreal. Her last time in France in 1662-1664 was spent supervising the passing of the ownership of the island of Montreal by the disintegrating Notre-Dame society to the Saint-Sulpice Seminary of Paris. 

Death

On January 28, 1657, Jeanne fell on ice while returning from mass and broke her arm, dislocating her wrist at the same time. She did not receive good treatment and was left with a handicapped wrist. However, her arm did heal on her second trip to France, when she received a relic of the recent deceased Fr. Jean-Jacques Olier, a priest part of the Notre-Dame society who had recently passed away. For a while, everyone thought she would be no longer able to run the hospital, but she miraculously continued.

Jeanne Mance carried on with the management of Hôtel Dieu until January 1673. She died peacefully on June 18th, 1673 towards the age of 67.

Legacy

Ultimately, Ville-Marie did not become the missionary resort that the Notre-Dame society and Jeanne Mance wished it to be. Its geographical location promoted it to become a great city. Now known as Montreal, this city is now the second biggest populated city in Canada.

But Montrealers should never forget where their roots come from, as diverse as the city is. If it would not be for Jeanne Mance's holiness and the Catholic piety of the people who accompanied her, this city would probably not be standing today, or would be much different. This webpage would not even be written. That is why Jeanne Mance has been recognized since 2012 as co-founder of Montreal with Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve. Her dedication to her duty in the future city was very fascinating. Not even a paralyzed wrist could stop her.

Hôtel Dieu, the hospital founded by Jeanne Mance, has no longer been in operation since 2017. It has moved several times from its original location on Saint-Paul St. in Old Montreal. Its last location was built between 1856 and 1861, with wings added over the years a little more north in the city, on St. Urbain St, in the Plateau Mont-Royal borough. According to the Montreal Gazette, in its history "The hospital... had scored a number of medical firsts over the years, including the world’s first removal of a kidney in 1868." 

The legacy of Jeanne Mance lives on with the city, although much as Montreal's original history may be forgotten in time and her hospital closed. One of the wishes she shared with her companions was having a colony where Natives and Europeans would live side by side in peace. Even though that is not totally reality, the city has a diverse population that live pretty much in peace together. Hopefully, this peace will continue not only in this city, but in the country that Jeanne Mance contributed to: Canada.

Sources

Book

Fournier, Marcel. Les Premiers Montréalistes 1642-1643: Les origines de Montréal. Montréal, Société de recherche historique Archiv-Histo Inc, 2013.

Picture

JEANNE MANCE (1606-1673). - French philanthropist in Canada. Painting by an unknown artist. Fine Art. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 25 May 2016.
quest.eb.com/search/140_1687115/1/140_1687115/cite. Accessed 23 Jul 2018.

Web

Connelly, John. "Canada's Top 10 Most Populous Cities." Business Chief Canada, April 13, 2011. https://canada.businesschief.com/top10/1003/Canadas-Top-10-Most-Populous-Cities. Accessed July 4, 2018.

Derfel, Aaron. "Patients to move from Hôtel Dieu hospital to Nouveau CHUM on Sunday." Montreal Gazette, November 3, 2017. http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/patients-to-move-from-hotel-dieu-hospital-to-nouveau-chum-on-sunday.  Accessed July 4, 2018.

Daveluy, Marie-Claire. "Mance, Jeanne.'' Dictionary of Canadian Bibliography, 1966. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mance_jeanne_1E.html. Accessed July 23, 2018.

"Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal." Le site officiel du Mont-Royal. http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/siteofficieldumontroyal/. Accessed July 4, 2018. 

"Hôtel-Dieu Hospital." Héritage Montreal. http://www.heritagemontreal.org/en/site/hotel-dieu-hospital/. Accessed July 4, 2018.

''Jeanne Mance, co-founder of Montreal.'' Pointe-A-Callière. https://pacmusee.qc.ca/en/stories-of-montreal/article/jeanne-mance-co-founder-of-montreal/. Accessed July 23, 2018. 

Noel, Jan. "Jeanne Mance." The Canadian Encyclopedia, February 27, 2008. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jeanne-mance/. Accessed July 23, 2018.