Various griefs fell upon the colony at this time. On November 18, 1671, Madame de la Peltrie, one of the earliest pioneers of Montreal, died at the Ursuline Convent at Quebec, where she had dwelt in humble seclusion for eighteen years, in charge of the linen of the community.
Six months later another, Marie de l'Incarnation, whose valuable letters of this early period, from 1639-72, we have frequently quoted, also went to her reward.
But a greater grief fell upon Montreal on June 18, 1673, when the beloved and venerable Jeanne Mance, now aged sixty-six to sixty-seven years [108] passed away at 6 o'clock in the evening in the quiet of the Hôtel-Dieu which she had so lovingly founded and administered. According to her wish, made verbally to M. Souart, the executor of her last will and testament, her body was buried in the church of the Hôtel-Dieu and her heart was encased in a double vase of metal and placed "en dépôt" under the lamp of the tabernacle of the Blessed Sacrament until the new parochial church, then being built, should be ready to receive it. Unfortunately it never reached its destination, for during the delay of the church erection a fire, breaking out in the Hôtel-Dieu, consumed the venerable relic.
MONUMENT TO JEANNE MANCE
FOOTNOTE:
[108] Her friend, Marguerite Bourgeoys, did not die until June 12, 1700, in her eightieth year and the forty-seventh since her arrival in Montreal.