Marie-Josephte Fitzbach

[1] The daughter of Charles Fitzbach, a native of Luxembourg, and Geneviève Nadeau,[2] she was born in St-Vallier de Bellechasse, Lower Canada.

She did not go to school as a child and left home at the age of 13 to become a housekeeper in Quebec City to support her family.

After her husband died in 1833, the two older children were put in the care of grandparents and she was left to raise her three daughters.

In December 1849, at the request of bishop Pierre-Flavien Turgeon, she established St. Magdalen's Refuge, a home for women released from prison.

In 1849, upon visiting the city jail, lawyer George Manly Muir was moved to create a women's shelter.