Délia Tétreault

Délia Tétreault, M.I.C., also known as Mother Marie of the Holy Spirit (French: Mère Marie-du-Saint-Esprit) (4 February 1865 – 1 October 1941), was a Canadian religious sister.

Alexis Tétreault subsequently decided to emigrate to the United States, and Délia was taken in by her aunt, Julie Ponton, and her husband, Jean Alix.

When she was a child, she would hide in the attic and read periodicals published by the Propagation of the Faith and the Holy Childhood Association, both founded to promote the missionary activity of the Catholic Church in Asia and Africa.

[citation needed] Deciding to act on her calling, at the age of 18, Tétreault asked to join the Carmelite monastery of Montreal, but they refused her.

During that time, she was inspired to establish a missionary service for Canadian women, modelled on the Paris Foreign Missions Society.

[1] In the 1890s, while serving in a poor neighbourhood of Montreal, Tétreault decided to form an apostolic school for women and a seminary for foreign missions.

She met Father Gustave Bourassa, who acted as her guide in establishing connections with the people who would enable her to fulfill her goal.