Esther Wheelwright | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal | |
| Born | 31 March 1696 |
| Died | 28 November 1780 (aged 84) |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Known for | Only foreign-born Superior of the Ursulines of Québec |
| Other names | Mère Marie-Joseph de l'Enfant-Jésus |
| Organization | |
| Order | Ursuline |
Esther Wheelwright (31 March 1696 – 28 November 1780[1]), also known as Mère Marie-Joseph de l'Enfant-Jésus, was born in Wells, Massachusetts (present day Maine). Wheelwright was captured during an attack of her village during Queen Anne's War in 1703 by a group of French-Canadians and Wabanaki Indians, or First Nations Peoples. For five years, Wheelwright was raised by the French-allied Catholic Wabanaki, and then was brought to Québec where she was placed in the school of the Ursulines of Québec. She remained there the rest of her life, becoming a choir nun and eventually the Mother Superior of the convent in the immediate aftermath of the 1759 British conquest of Québec. She is notable not only for having lived in three major North American cultures, but also because she was and remains the only foreign-born Mother Superior the Ursulines of Québec have ever elected.