Sister Armande Marien      

On July 4, 2025, at Maison Jésus-Marie, Longueuil, Quebec,

Sister Armande Marien (M.-Alice-de-la Croix)

was called home to God.

Armande, the daughter of Salomon Marien and Alice Majeau,

was 98 years old, with 75 years as a vowed religious sister.

Born on May 18, 1927, in Saint-Roch-de-l’Achigan, she was the third of the six children in the family. For her elementary education, Armande attended the country school. Then, for high school she attended Saint-Roch Boarding School, run by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary (SNJM). She got her first teaching diploma in Joliette, with the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame.

 On July 24, 1947, after two years of teaching, Armande entered the SNJM Congregation. Thus, she began a long career of teaching at both the primary and secondary levels, as well as in the Home Economics Schools in Ste-Martine, Saint-Lambert, etc. For her, the highlight years as an educator were as a missionary in Haiti, where she taught in the Teachers’ College in Papaye-Hinche. “That experience was life-changing for me,” she admitted, “as I was opened up to another culture and committed myself to an apostolic ministry among the disadvantaged.”

In 1989, Armande began a new chapter in her life: that of community service as local superior and as animator for groups of sisters residing in our Motherhouse infirmary in Outremont. As a secretary, she assisted provincial teams with their projects and mission. In 2005, Armande was welcomed into Maison Jésus-Marie, where she devoted herself to caring for and accompanying the sick sisters. Armande worked tirelessly in a sewing room and second-hand clothes store for the sisters of the house. There, she also gave special attention to missionaries who were home on temporary leave, and in need of a few items of clothing. “I have something just right for you,” she would say and she had excellent taste!

A woman of the beatitudes (Matthew 5–11), Sister Armande blessed God without ceasing

“for the richness of life and of love that have enveloped my very existence.”