Saint Marguerite Bays

Marguerite Bays, OFS (8 September 1815 – 27 June 1879) was a Swiss seamstress and mystic. She lived a simple life as a member of the Secular Franciscan Order and adapted the tenets of the order's charism into her own life and social apostolate, especially after she was healed of bowel cancer on 8 December 1854. She was canonized by Pope Francis on 13 October, 2019. Marguerite Bays was born in La Pierraz - a hamlet of Chavannes-les-Forts in the canton of Fribourg - on 8 September 1815 as the second of seven children to Pierre-Antoine Bays and Josephine Morel. She had six siblings: Jean, Marie-Marguerite (known as "Mariette"), Joseph, Blaise (who died aged 12), Seraphine (the last-born), and Claude. Her parents were farmers and devout Christians; Bays herself demonstrated great intelligence as a student while studying at school in Chavannes-les-Forts, and demonstrated a particular, though noted, inclination towards reflection and contemplation, while deciding to cease interacting with her peers at school in favor of the solitude of talking to God. In 1823, she received confirmation, and received her First Communion in 1826. Following this, Bays took an apprenticeship as a seamstress in 1830, before offering her services as a seamstress to different households. Bays created a small altar in her room at home, where she placed flowers and a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Bays would awaken in the morning to request the intercession of the mother of God at the statue before going outside to complete her duties on the farm. In her spare time, she would tell children about the life of Jesus Christ. Despite the urgings of those around her, Bays dismissed the prospects of taking vows and enter a religious order. Instead, it was her desire to live a virginal life in the world in order to devote herself to an austere life for Jesus Christ.