Sister Sainte-Anne-Marie (Marie-Aveline Bengle) in her office

Sister Sainte-Anne-Marie (Marie-Aveline Bengle) was born on October 15, 1861 in Saint-Paul d’Abbotsford (Quebec). After her primary instruction in a one-room school, she continued her studies at the Mont Notre-Dame boarding school in Sherbrooke where she obtained a teaching certificate. Her first teaching experience was in the one-room school in her village. She entered the novitiate in 1878 and pronounced her vows in 1880. Sister Sainte-Anne-Marie dedicated herself to her first teaching mission at the convent in Iberville until 1883 and continued her ministry at Mont Sainte-Marie in Montreal. She became Associate to the Local Superior in 1893, and Local Superior in 1903. Under her administration, remarkable changes were made in the academic programme. She obtained a Degree in Literature and Language when the Université Laval in Montreal established a Chair in French Literature. In 1908, she set in motion the establishment of a school of higher education for girls (Collège Marguerite-Bourgeoys), the first female classical college in Quebec. Around 1913, she was named Directress General of Studies for the Congregation and envisioned the establishment of a normal school for higher education (Institut pédagogique) for a more complete formation of teachers. The Institute opened in 1926. These two major projects contributed to modernizing women’s education. Sister Sainte-Anne-Marie died in Montreal in 1937.