Sanctity, Solitude, and Society in Early Canada: The Life of Jeanne LeBer, Recluse of Ville-Marie (1662–1714)

As a religious recluse in Ville-Marie (today’s Montréal), Jeanne LeBer pursued a devout life voluntarily confined to her dwelling. After her death, the Sulpician priest François Vachon de Belmont wrote her hagiography, or saint’s Life, in a report sent to the Sulpicians in France. Belmont describes LeBer’s early life as a gradual retreat from the secular world, culminating in reclusion. As a recluse, however, LeBer received visitors, made pious donations, and was sought out for protective prayers in times of need. Belmont’s Life presents LeBer as at once separate from the world and intimately involved in the aims and anxieties of her colonial society.