April 18 Blessed Maria Anna Blondin

Sister Maria Anna was born into a poor family in Terrebonne, Quebec in 1809. She worked as a servant until she entered the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame where she learned to read and write. She became a parochial school teacher in Vaudreuil, Quebec.
As someone from humble beginnings, she had an unusual and radical outlook on life. She realized her own illiteracy into adulthood, and for so many woman around her, was due to the society’s view of woman and education. The widespread illiteracy of girls at the time was due to the fact that girls could only be taught by women, boys by men. Parishes or towns that could only afford one school chose to educate the boys. In 1848 she sought permission to form a congregation that would teach boys and girls under one roof. She had the local government’s support and the bishop agreed to a single test site. The Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Anne was founded in Vaudreuil on 8 September 1850 with Sister Maria Anna as first superior.
The community grew, and the motherhouse transferred to Saint Jacques de l’Achigan in 1853. There the new chaplain, Father Louis Adolphe Marechal, was a nasty, nasty man. He abused his power with mismanagement of funds and generally making the sisters lives miserable. He had a special hatred for Sister Maria Anna. He did all he could to sabotage her work and relationships. He succeeded in having her removed as Superior of the community. In her new position as Directress at Saint Genevieve Convent she continued to be harassed by Marechal. Accused of mismanagement, she was recalled to the Motherhouse in 1858, and was prohibited for her remaining 32 years from an administrative position and the sisters were ordered not to refer to her as “Mother”. Realizing that any fight she could make would only damage the Congregation, she accepted her lot, and worked in the laundry, the ironing room, and other menial positions. Her humility and resignation paid off as the Congregation continued to grow, and universal education became the norm.
It is thanks to Sister Maria Anna that we have coed education in North America.