page_title: Marie-Marguerite d'Youville
section_title: Grey Nuns of Montreal
hierarchical_section_title: Marie-Marguerite d'Youville / Grey Nuns of Montreal
caption_attribution_description: English: Marguerite d'Youville Sanctuary (1961), Varennes, province of Quebec, Canada Français&#160;: Sanctuaire Marguerite d'Youville (1961), Varennes, province de Québec, Canada
context_page_description: Saint Marguerite d'Youville was a French Canadian widow who founded the Order of Sisters of Charity of Montreal, commonly known as the Grey Nuns of Montreal. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II of the Roman Catholic Church in 1990, the first native-born Canadian to be declared a saint.
context_section_description: Marguerite and three other women founded in 1737 a religious association to provide a home for the poor in Montreal. At first, the home only housed four or five members, but it grew as the women raised funds. As their actions went against the social conventions of the day, d'Youville and her colleagues were mocked by their friends and relatives and even by the poor they helped. Some called them "les grises", which can mean "the grey women" but which also means "the drunken women", about d'Youville's late husband. By 1744 the association had become a Catholic religious order with a rule and a formal community. In 1747 they were granted a charter to operate the General Hospital of Montreal, which by that time was in ruins and heavily in debt. d'Youville and her fellow workers brought the hospital back into financial security, but the hospital was destroyed by fire in 1765. The order rebuilt the hospital soon after. By this time, the order was commonly known as the "Grey Nuns of Montreal" after the nickname given to the nuns in ridicule years earlier. Years later, as the order expanded to other cities, the order became known simply as the "Grey Nuns".
caption: Marguerite d'Youville Sanctuary in Varennes
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