Marie-Catherine of Saint-Augustin was in poor health and the very difficult living conditions in Canada worsened her condition. In spite of everything, nothing could make her abandon the mission that the Lord had entrusted to her in this country. The superior of the monastery of Bayeux, to whom she was attached, having one day known of her infirmities, illnesses and what she suffered, insisted that she returns to France, saying that she would serve a lot in their community. Marie-Catherine’s biographer recounts her reaction to this proposition: “This generous one refused it absolutely, telling this dear friend that she was attached to the cross of Canada, by three nails from which she would never come off. The first, the will of God; the second, the salvation of souls; and the third, her vocation in this country, and the vow she had made to die there; and she added that even when all the nuns wanted to return to France, provided that it was allowed, she would remain alone in Canada to consume her life there in the service of the poor Indians and the sick of the country.
Paul RAGUENEAU, La vie de la Mère Catherine de Saint-Augustin, 1671, p.48
