Marguerite Bays

Marguerite Bays, OFS (8 September 1815 – 27 June 1879) was a Swiss seamstress and mystic. She lived a simple life as a member of the Secular Franciscan Order and adapted the tenets of the order's charism into her own life and social apostolate, especially after she was healed of bowel cancer on 8 December 1854. She was canonized by Pope Francis on 13 October, 2019.

Childhood and education Marguerite Bays was born in - a hamlet of in the canton of Fribourg - on 8 September 1815 as the second of seven children to and . She had six siblings: (who died aged 12), (the last-born), and . Her parents were farmers and devout Christians; Bays herself demonstrated great intelligence as a student while studying at school in , and demonstrated a particular, though noted, inclination towards reflection and contemplation, while deciding to cease interacting with her peers at school in favor of the solitude of talking to God. In 1823, she received confirmation, and received her First Communion in 1826. Following this, Bays took an apprenticeship as a seamstress in 1830, before offering her services as a seamstress to different households.

Bays created a small altar in her room at home, where she placed flowers and a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Bays would awaken in the morning to request the intercession of the mother of God at the statue before going outside to complete her duties on the farm. In her spare time, she would tell children about the life of Jesus Christ. coordinates=

Marguerite devoted part of her time on teaching catechism to children and often visited those who were ill. In 1853 she contracted bowel cancer and begged the Mother of God to heal her through her intercession. But at the same time she asked that her pain be linked with the suffering of Christ for her condition was her own cross to bear. The disease first came when she began suffering from dizziness and acute pain in her stomach as well as nausea that caused her often to vomit. But she tried to hide this and did not even take medicine for it until the condition was discovered and she was prompted to see a doctor who made the diagnosis and ruled out an operation.

Stigmata and death

Marguerite later discovered that she had the stigmata around 1854 and consulted with her local bishop to oversee the verification of just how authentic the stigmata were. Another local process lasted from 1953 to 1955. The two processes were ratified on 13 December 1985. Her writings were investigated and received approved on 25 November 1956. The Positio was forwarded to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (CCS) in 1986 for further evaluation. Theologians approved the dossier on 13 February 1990 as did the members of the CCS on 19 June. Pope John Paul II declared that she had lived a life of heroic virtue and proclaimed her Venerable on 10 July 1990. A miracle was investigated and the process was ratified on 12 April 1991. Medical experts approved this miracle on 25 February 1993 as did theologians on 2 July and the CCS on 16 November. John Paul II approved it on 23 December 1993 and beatified her on 29 October 1995 in Saint Peter's Basilica. The miracle that led to her beatification was the cure of Bernard Pochon in 1940.

A second miracle was investigated and the process closed on 27 May 2014; this was the 1998 case of a girl who survived a tractor accident after her grandfather invoked the intercession of Bays. The documents in the case were submitted to Rome. The CCS issued a decree that validated this medical investigation on 1 October 2015. The medical experts in Rome approved it on 15 May 2018 as did theologians and the CCS members. Pope Francis gave his assent to the miracle on 15 January 2019.

She was canonized alongside Mariam Thresia Chiramel, John Henry Newman, Dulce de Souza Lopes Pontes and Giuditta Vannini at St Peter's Basilica on 13 October 2019.