In section: In Memory

Sister Marie-Thérèse Boyer

“You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you”  Is. 43: 4

August 16, 2012, Sister Marie-Thérèse Boyer,
in religion Marie-de-la-Trinité
went home to God.

She was 89 years old and had been professed for 68 years.

Born in Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague, Quebec,
she was the 3rd of 8 children of Henri Boyer and Germaine Sauvé.

Marie-Thérèse grew up as a happy child in a family that was profoundly faith-filled and united. She attended the convent in Saint Timothy and then the Normal School in Valleyfield. When she was 18, advised by his Excellency Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger who was, at that time, pastor of the Cathedral, she entered the novitiate of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.

“In so doing, I was fulfilling a dream which I had since my early childhood: to offer my entire life to God as a sacrifice and to follow Christ in the apostolate through the education of young people.”

For 27 years, Sister Marie-de-la-Trinité used her talents as a teacher with young people from the 2nd grade to the 12th Grade in our schools in Montreal and elsewhere in the province. With enthusiasm, she animated: the Eucharistic Crusade, the J.E.C. (Young Catholic Students) and the “Congrégation mariale”.

“If teaching was a source of dynamism for me, the 2nd part of my career was also interesting.”

After receiving training at the Universities of Montreal and Saint Paul’s in Ottawa, Sister Marie-Thérèse, consecutively, became assistant at the Office for Religious in Montreal, worked at the Center for Spiritual Animation for Eastern Canada, as director of continuing education for the Canadian Religious Conference in Ottawa; she returned to Montreal as assistant for the “Office de la famille” and then for the Catechumenate of the Diocese of Montreal. Her experience led her to the “Centre d’intégration psycho-spirituelle”.

“During the last phase of my career, psychotherapy took up all my time with university students and then with couples in a private clinic at the Centre Benoît Lacroix.”

When she was 72, Sister Marie-Thérèse again found a way of serving in St-Jérôme where she now lived, in a residence for seniors.  “She offered sessions for spiritual renewal and brought the Body of Christ to others with faith and love” in her own milieu and at the hospital.

Sister Marie-Thérèse was 87 years old when “illness gradually slowed her step and battered her body.” Upon entering our infirmary in Longueuil, she reiterated her faith:

" Lord, since I am your child,
I believe in your great mercy.
And I know that a great Love awaits me when the last beat of my heart stops here below,
and that your Spirit of love will lead me directly
to meet you face to face for eternity
and that the Blessed Virgin Mary will be present at this final encounter and, with maternal impetus, 
will gently guide me into your arms.
You are, O Father, Love, Light, Tenderness and Infinite Mercy.”

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Sister Jeannine Cornellier
Sister Claire Giroux
Sister Gisèle Marcil
Sister Gisèle Lalande
Sister Mary Ellen Collins
Sister Denise Rivet
Sister Madeleine Philie
Sister Monique Robitaille
Sister Claire Montcalm