Marie-Jeanne-Madeleine Legardeur de Repentigny

Article by

Nancy Schmitz

Published Online	February 7, 2006
Last Edited	March 4, 2015

The first Ursuline Convent was built in 1642. This retrospective view was painted by Joseph Légaré (courtesy Ursuline Convent).

Repentigny, Marie-Jeanne-Madeleine Legardeur de, dite de Sainte Agathe

Repentigny, Marie-Jeanne-Madeleine Legardeur de, dite de Sainte Agathe (1698-1739), remembered because of the "lamp which is never extinguished," a lamp burning at the foot of the statue of Notre-Dame du Grand Pouvoir in the Ursuline convent in Québec City. Madeleine entered the convent after the death of her soldier fiancé, according to official accounts, but legendary tradition remembers her as having an Indian lover, who was killed by a sentry when she tried to help him escape from imprisonment. After entering the convent, she had difficulty in maintaining her vocation but succeeded through prayer to the Virgin Mary. In gratitude, a legacy ensured that the lamp would burn at the foot of the statue in perpetuity.