Delia Tetreault
Délia Tétreault, M.I.C., also known as Mother Marie of the Holy Spirit (
Early life
She was born in
Tétreault was raised in a very religious household. When she was a child, she would hide in the attic where she would read through the stacks of copies of the periodicals published by the
One night the young Tétreault had a very significant dream. She was kneeling by her bed when all at once, she saw a wheat field. The heads of the wheat each changed to heads of children from different parts of the world. At the age of 13, she begin to feel a calling to the
Religious life
Deciding to act upon her sense of calling, at the age of 18, Tétreault asked to join the
Foundress
In 1891, Tétreault joined the Sisters of Bethany and stayed there for 10 years.[
In 1905, Tétreault took religious vows for the first time and the religious name of Mother Marie of the Holy Spirit. In 1909, the first six Sisters of the new congregation left for Canton, China. Within a short time, several convents opened throughout Quebec to provide support for the missions of the congregation. In 1920, they launched a missionary review, Le Précurseur. On 2 February 1921 the school of formation for the foreign missions began to operate. By 1933, the foundress had established 36 communities of the Missionary Sisters in Canada, China, Japan and the Philippines.[1]
In 1933, Tétreault became seriously ill. She died on 1 October 1941 and her body lay in state for four days at the motherhouse of the congregation. Approximately one thousand people came to pray over her remains. She was buried in the cemetery on the grounds of the motherhouse on 7 October.[1]
Veneration
In 1958 the first steps were taken to obtain Tétreault's
Presently the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception are in 13 countries and of 17 nationalities, including 582 professed sisters and 87 sisters in initial formation.