Coutouvre
BIRTH PLACE OF OUR FOUNDRESS
Coutouvre was a small country village hidden away in the hills of France, which we are proud to claim as the cradle of our Marist Sisters’ branch of the Society of Mary.
It was here that Jeanne-Marie Chavoin our Foundress was born in 1786 and lived with her family for thirty years. She was a strong, healthy country girl with many natural gifts, an innate appreciation for the value of work and a great sensitivity to the needs of others.
At that time, in the wake of the French Revolution there was no school in the village so she was educated in her own home.
She lived in Coutouvre as Mary had lived in Nazareth.
Jeanne Marie Chavoin is remembered by the people in Coutouvre with her image depicted in the stained glass window of the parish Church.
