Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/721

This page needs to be proofread.

668

of getting them to undertake the education of young girls, and broached her plan to her holy cousin, Mme. de Sainte-Beuve. To establish the new order they brought Ursulines ta Paris and adopted their rule and name. M. Acarie having died in 1613, his widow settled her afiFairs and begged leave to enter the Carmel, asking as a favour to be received as a lay sister in the poorest community. In 1614 she withdrew to the monastery of Amiens, taking the name of Marie de . rincamation. Her three daughters had preceded her into the cloister, and one of them was suo-prioress at Amiens. In 1616, by order of her superiors, she went to the Carmelite convent at Pontoise, where she died. Her cause was introduced at Rome in 1627; she was beatified, 24 April, 1791; her feast is celebrated in Paris on 18 April.

Du Val, La vie admirable de la aervante de Dieu, eoeur Marie de V Incarnation connue dans le monde aou8 le nam de Mdme Acarie (Paria, 1621; latest edition, Paris, 1893); Hodssate. M, de BSrulle et lea CarmSlitea de France (Paris, 1875); de Broqlie, La bienheureuae Marie de V Incarnation, Madame Acarie (Paris, 1903).

A. FOURNET.

Marie de L'incarnation, Venerable (in the world Marie Guyard), first superior of the Ursulines of Quebec, b. at Tours, France, 28 Oct., 1599; d. at Queoec, Canada, 30 April, 1672. Her father was by birth a bourgeois; her mother was connected with the illustrious house of Barbon de la Bourdaisidre. From infancy Marie gave evidences of great piety and detachment from the world. At the age of seventeen, in obedience to her parents, she was married to a silkmanufacturer of the name of Martin, and devoted herself without reserve to the duties of a Christian wife. The union was a source of trials: the only consolation it brought her was the birth of a son, who afterwards became a Benedictine as Dom Claude, wrote his mother's biography, and died in the odour of sanctity. Left a widow after two years of married life, she entertained the idea of joining the Ursulines, but the care which her child required of her delayed the realization of this project, until he had reached the age of twelve, when she followed her vocation unhesitatingly. The Ursuline Order had recently been introduced into France by Madame de Sainte-Beuve, and Madame Martin took the veil in the house of that order at Tours. The care of the novices was confided to her two years after her entry into the convent. She always felt intense zeal for saving souls, and at the age of about thirty-four she experienced new impulses of "the apostolic spirit which transported her soul even to the ends of the earth "; and the longing for her own sanctification, and the salvation of so many souls still under the shadows of paganism inspired her with the resolution to go and live in America. She communicated this desire to her confessor, who, after much hesitation, approved it. A pious woman, Mme de la Peltrie, provided the means for its execution. This lady, better known as Marie-Madeleine de Chauvigny, by her generosity, and the sacrifice she made in leaving her family and her country, deserved to be called the co-worker of Marie de I'lncamation in Canada. Sailing from Dieppe 3 April, 1639, with a few sisters who had begged to be allowed to accompany her, Marie de rincamation, after a perilous voyage of three months, arrived at Quebec and was there joyfully welcomed by the settlers (4 July). She and her companions at first occupied a little house in the lower town (Basse- Ville). In the spring of 1641 the foundation-stone was laid of the Ursuline monastery, on the same spot where it now stands. Marie de 1 Incarnation was acknowledged as the superior. To be the more useful to the aborigines, she had set herself to learn their languages immediately on her arrival. Her piety, ner zeal for the conversion and instruction of the young aborigines, and the wisdom with which she ruled her community were aiike remarkable. She suffered great tribulations


from vue Iroquois who were threatening the colony, but in the midst of them she stood firm and was able to comfort the downcast. On 29 December, 1650, a terrible conflagration laid the Ursuline monastery in ashes. She simered much from the rigours of winter, and took shelter first with the Hospitali,res and then with Mme de la Peltrie. On 29 May of the following year she inaugurated the new monastery. The rest of her hfe she passed teaching and catechizing the young Indians, and died after forty years of labours, thirtythree of them spent in Canada.

Marie de rincamation has left a few works which breathe imction, piety, and resignation to Divine Providence. "Des Lettres" (Paris, 1677-1681) ctmtains in its second part an account of the events which took place in Canada during her time, and constitute one of the sources for the history of the French colony from 1639 to 1671. There are also a " Retraite ", with a short exposition of the Canticle of Canticles, and a familiar " Explication" of the mysteries of the Faith — a catechism which she compiled for young religious women.

Casqrain, Histoire de la Vfn. Mire Marie de V Incarnation, (Quebec, 1888); Chapot, Hist, de la Vhi. Mire Marie de V Incarnation (Paris, 1892); Rxchaudeau, Lettrea de la rSv. Mhre M. de VI (Paris. 1876).

A. FollRNET.

Marienberg, Benedictine abbey of the Congregation of St. Joseph near Mais, Tvrol (in Vintschgau). The history of the founding goes back to Charlemagne, who established between 780 and 786 a Benedictine monastery near Taufers (Tuberis) in Graubunden (in Upper Vintschau), which later (after 880) was dissolved and then became a convent for both sexes. Two hundred years later there was a reorganization: Eberhard of Tarasp built for the male portion the little monastery of Schuls in the Engaaine, consecrated by Cardinal Gregor in 1078 or 1079, while the female inmates remained at Taufers (later called Mtinster). Destroyed by lightning, Schuls was rebuilt, and consecrated in 1131. Ulrich IV of Tarasp shortly after called monks from Ottobeuem to Schuls to instil new Hfe into the monastery. At the same time the monastery, which till then had been merely a priory, was made an abbey. In 1146 he removed the community to St. Stephen in Vintschgau, and in 1150 to the hill near the village of Burgeis, where the abbey has since continued under the name of Marienbei,g. Ulrich himself later assumed the habit of the order (about 1164) in Marienberg, and died on 14 December, 1177. Under Abbot Konrad III (1271-98) Marienberg was sacked by two nobles, and in 1304 Abbot Hermann was killed by Ulrich of Matsch. In 1 348 the plague carried away every inmate of the monastery except Abbot Wyho, a priest, one lay brother, and Goswin, later a chronicler. Goswin became a priest in 1349, and compiled new choir-books, two estate registers (Urbare), and the chronicle of the monastery. The chronicle, most of which Goswin had finished in 1374, is divided into three books, the first of which gives the story of the founding and donations, the second the history of the abbots, and the third the privileges conferred by popes and princes. It gives an account, without regara for order or chronology, of the founders, fortunes, benefactors, and oppressors of the monastery. Documents take up the greater part, and the narrative is poor. Under Abbot Nicholas (1362-88) Goswin became prior, while in 1374 he was appointed court chaplain to Duke Leopold III of Austria. In 1418 Marienberg was burned down. After a period of decline in the sixteenth century. Abbot Mat bias Lang (1615-40), from Weingarten monastery, became the reformer of the abbey. In 1634 Marienberg joined the Benedictine Congregation of Swabia*. Lang 8 successor, Jacob Grafinger (1640-53), enlarged the lib,ar>, and made the younger members finish their education at schools of repute. In 1656 the