Élisabeth Bergeron

Élisabeth Bergeron, religious name Saint-Joseph, (May 25, 1851 – April 29, 1936) was a Canadian religious sister who was the founder of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Saint-Hyacinthe in 1877. She was the Mother superior of the congregation for the first two years.

Before entering the religious life, Bergeron worked in a cotton mill in the New England region of the United States and taught catechism in evening school to local impoverished children with no religious education. She was declared venerable by Pope John Paul II in 1996.

Biography Bergeron was born on May 25, 1851, in the small village of La Présentation, Quebec, Lower Canada, close to Saint-Hyacinthe. She was the fourth of eleven children of the farmer Théophile Bergeron and Basiliste Petit. She asked her parents if she could do her First Communion, but they refused and barred her from attending catechism classes. At age 14, Bergeron unsuccessfully wanted to join the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Saint-Hyacinthe since the Superior general thought her too young. Bergeron was declared venerable on January 12, 1996, by Pope John Paul II, after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints gave recognition of her heroic virtue, "especially her humility, her understanding, and love of the Church and her submission to the will of God." Some buildings in the Saint-Hyacinthe area are named after her, and the "Elisabeth Wednesdays" that took place on nine successive weekends from 2005 to 2009 were held to promote her work.