Agnès-Marie Valois

Agnès Cécile Marie-Madeleine Valois (; 30 June 1914 – 19 April 2018), also known as Sister Agnès-Marie, was a French Roman Catholic religious sister and nurse. She became known as "Angel of Dieppe" for her heroic efforts in caring for soldiers at the disastrous World War II Dieppe Raid. For this she was decorated by France and Canada. An Augustinian sister, she had been trained as a surgical nurse before the war. She died on 19 April 2018 at the age of 103, at a monastery near Dieppe, France.

Early life Valois was born in Rouen in 1914. Her grandfather Jules Vallois had a rope factory in Notre-Dame-de-Bondeville which her father Gaston inherited. Today it is a museum.

Career Valois entered the Hôtel-Dieu de Rouen convent of the Canonesses of St. Augustine of the Mercy of Jesus in 1936 where she started living as Sister Marguerite-Marie in 1937. She took a temporary vow to become a religious sister in 1938 and the permanent, solemn vow in 1941. Educated as a nurse, she worked in the military ward from 1936 to 1938 and then in the surgery ward where she eventually specialized in anesthesia. Her actions and behaviour made her part of Canadian military lore where several stories and legends about her showing courage and compassion circulated after the war.

A veteran of the raid, Hardy Wheeler of the Essex and Kent Scottish regiment, described Valois as being "known for standing up to the German soldiers; they held a gun up to her to treat the German injured first, but she just looked at everyone as equal – regardless of rank, regardless of nation, regardless of who or what you are she treats those who needed help the most."

Valois commonly described what she witnessed with the words, "It wasn't war, it was a massacre."

Valois's 100th birthday was celebrated by the city of Dieppe. Guests included the mayor of Dieppe, mayors from the nearby English town of Newhaven, and representatives from Canada.