Société Notre-Dame de Montréal
The Société Notre-Dame de Montréal, otherwise known as the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal pour la conversion des Sauvages de la Nouvelle-France, was a religious organisation responsible for founding Ville-Marie, the original name for the settlement that would later become Montreal. The original founders of the organization were Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière, Jean-Jacques Olier and Pierre Chevrier. They were later joined by Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, and by Jeanne Mance. The organization's mission was to convert the Indigenous population to Christianity and found a Christian settlement, which would be known as Ville-Marie. Founding and activities Marie-Madeleine de Vignerot, the Duchess of Aiguillon, a strong lay leader of the Catholic Church, was a proponent of foreign missionaries. To develop a colony in Montreal, she instigated the formation of the Societe Notre-Dame de Montreal. Her ideas caught the attention of Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière, Pierre Chevrier, Baron de Fanchamp and Jeanne Mance, who expressed great interest and enthusiasm. A friend of Chevrier, Jean-Jacques Olier, future founder of the Seminary of St-Sulpice also expressed great interest in the project, donating a hundred pistoles to de la Dauversière and telling him to "commence the work of God." Olier