Out of darkness

Because of stubborn prejudice, Mother Marie Anne remained in the shadows long after her death. In 1917, a chaplain at the Motherhouse who had had an opportunity to speak to witnesses of Mother Marie Anne’s life gave a series of talks that ignited a growing enthusiasm.

In 1950, at the centenary of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Anne, Archbishop Paul-Émile Léger of Montreal authorized the beginning of the official process to recognize the holiness of Mother Marie Anne. A first complete biography, Martyr of silence, was published in 1956. Its author, Father Eugène Nadeau, OMI, related facts that had been unknown until then.

     Since the 1950s, there has been a rising wave of fervour toward Mother Marie Anne. The community has set up a place at the Motherhouse where people can come and pray to her. Many favours have been attributed to her intercession. In 1991, after several years of careful examination of her life, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her “venerable.” On April 29, 2001, she was beatified; now, we pray to her as “Blessed Marie Anne Blondin.”.

photo : General Archives
The tomb of Mother Marie Anne at the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Saint Anne.

Update : The tomb of Mother Marie Anne

• Opening page of this section
• A congregation dating back to 1850
  • 1858
  • 1886
• Esther Blondin, our foundress
  • The foundress
  • Life in the shadows
  • Out of darkness
  • Woman of courage and tenacity
  • Prophet for her time
  • Among the marginalized