Portrait of Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière

La Flèche, Pays de la Loire, France, 1600.
Portrait of Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière

Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière was born in La Flèche (France) on May 18, 1597 and, like his father, became a tax collector. In 1636, he established a community of nursing Sisters dedicated to Saint Joseph. With ardent religious devotion, he set in motion the missionary project of Ville-Marie (Montreal). After his meeting with Jean-Jacques Olier in Paris in 1639, he joined a group of pious individuals which became the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal. In the spring of 1641, he recruited the first settlers to establish themselves in Ville-Marie in 1642 under the direction of Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve. De la Dauversière died on November 6, 1659.