ABSTRACT
The initial expression of the spiritual is nothing but the decision to leave. Michel de Certeau
mon coeur dans un cloitre et mon corps dans le monde. Marie de !'Incarnation
The disparate writings that make up the work of Marie de l'Incamation are all in some way inspired by the author's desire to narrate the story of her life's renewal that began with her departure for the unknown world of Canada in 1639. Most of what she wrote can be said to be autobiographical in that she wrote either to relate her own life and inner development (as in the memoir she titled her Relation and in her correspondence), or to document a specific occasion in which she had been involved (as in her notes from retreats, readings, and teachings). By the time of her death in 1672 her place in French history was secure. Her narratives of life in the newly established missions of Canada were widely read in France in the letters she regularly sent home for circulation and in her contributions to the regular accounts produced collectively by missionaries and sent to France, the Jesuit Relations. As the first female member of a religious order to become a missionary in New France, Marie was a well-known spiritual leader in her lifetime. After her death her life story was presented to generations of Catholic schoolgirls as an exemplary tale of feminine virtue and religious devotion.
