Marguerite Bourgeoys
April 17, 1620 AD — January 12, 1700 AD · Feast day: January 12
Marguerite Bourgeoys crossed the Atlantic to a rough colonial outpost and turned a stone stable into Canada's first school. Sailing to New France in 1653, she founded the Congregation of Notre-Dame of Montreal — one of the Church's first uncloistered sisterhoods — and was canonized by John Paul II in 1982, becoming Canada's first female saint.