Portrait of Jeanne Mance

Ville-Marie (Montreal), New France (Quebec), 1600.
Portrait of Jeanne Mance

Jeanne Mance was born on November 12, 1606 in Langres in Champagne (France). She probably heard about New France from her cousin, Nicolas Dolebeau. Jeanne Mance arrived on the island of Montreal in 1642 with the first group of settlers led by de Maisonneuve. In 1645, encouraged by her spiritual director and supported financially by Angélique de Bullion, she founded the first hospital in Ville-Marie, which was similar to the Hôtel-Dieu in Quebec. In 1659, Jeanne Mance entrusted the Hôtel-Dieu in Ville-Marie to the nursing Sisters of Saint Joseph, whom she had brought from La Flèche (France). She was the administrator of the hospital until her death in 1673.