Monsieur René-Jean Boucher, Sieur de Montbrun, father of our Sister Saint Placide, was the ninth of the sixteen children of M. Pierre Boucher, Sieur de Grosbois, Governor of Three Rivers, Seigneur de Boucherville. Before him came Pierre de Boucherville; Marie, dame de Varennes; Lambert, de Grand Pré; Ignace de Grosbois; Madeleine, dame de Le Gardeur; Marguerite Dumuy; Father Philippe, Pastor at Lévis and younger than M. de Montbrun were René de la Perrière, married to Mademoiselle Mailhot; Jeanne, dame Sabrevois; Nicholas, priest; Jean-Baptiste de Niverville, married to Mademoiselle Hertel; Jacques who died at 15 years of age; and Geneviève, Mother Saint Pierre, Ursuline.

Baptized on January 7, René-Jean de Montbrun married, on November 24, 1692, Mademoiselle Françoise-Claire Charest, of Lévis who bore him twelve children of which Françoise, Sister Saint Placide, was the fifth. She was born in 1701 when a peace treaty was signed with the Indian nations ending the Hundred Years' War that began under Champlain. At that time who would have known that this child, whose birth was like the dawn of peace, the bells that celebrated her baptism also invited the people to the Te Deum of thanksgiving... who would have thought that one day she would die on distant soil, exiled from her family and from her community!

Our sisters had only just settled in Boucherville when little Françoise de Montbrun was born; she was only four years old when in 1705 her grandfather, Seigneur of the land, gave our Community a piece of land near the church on which was built a small chapel in honour of the Blessed Virgin. It was believed that she went to school early and initially lived in the seigneurial house where M. de Montbrun seems to have raised his family. It is what we concluded from the fact that Pierre-Joseph, brother of Sister Saint Placide, who was Sieur des Noix, signed, in 1721, receipts for seigneurial allowance in these terms: "Des Noix, surgeon, acting on behalf of his grandmother."

In 1727, two other of Sister Saint Placide's brothers, with her cousins, the de Bouchervilles, the de la Perrières, the Godefroys who were family by marriage, and many others, organized a company to deal with the Sioux and other Western nations. They set sail off the tip of the Island of Montreal and travelled all the way to the top of the Mississippi. There, together they built a fort that they called "Beauharnois". Although they were not a part of Montreal until June 16, at the end of October all the houses were built and furnished. The French made a bonfire to celebrate "Saint-Charles", M. de Beauharnois's name day, that frightened the Sioux whose fort was very close-by. Seeing what looked like stars falling from the sky, many fled and the more courageous went to beg the French to stop this terrible medicine.

On December 19, 1725, Madame de Montbrun died, greatly missed by her family and the entire parish. She had a beautiful funeral and was interred in the church of Boucherville.

Four years later, on November 10, 1729, (at this time, M. de Montbrun commanded all the militia on the South Coast), a stepmother arrived at the father's house, Mademoiselle Françoise-Michelle, daughter of M. Jean-Amador Godefroy de Saint-Paul, from Three Rivers; she was forty-six years old. Only one of the de Montbrun daughters was established, Jeanne, the eldest, had married M. Augustin Roy-Desjardins two months before her mother's death. Catherine, the youngest child, married M. Joseph Damours seven year later, she was thirty-nine years old. All the members of this family who had established themselves in the world had done so after thirty years of age.

We do not know the date Sister Saint Placide entered the novitiate. When she was named for the mission in Louisbourg, she was thirty-three years old. She left in 1734 with Sister Saint Gertrude and Mademoiselle Paré, who later became Sister Saint Louis des Anges, she worked hard for the salvation of the children of Ile Royale, together with her four companions and their good superior, Mother Saint Joseph. Exhausted after twelve years of hardship and work, Mother Saint Joseph was called back to Montreal and on October 6, 1744 died on the ship before arriving.

Fourteen days later, on October 20, M. de Montbrun, father, died in Boucherville. Sister Saint Placide learned of these two deaths at the same time; this was a extra hard on her heart; her life was shaken and the disaster of Louisbourg, which occurred shortly after, killed her. It was a Sunday in April, the ocean was stirring, and the raging waves were crashing like thunder onto the shore... Our sisters and their students prayed, as one prays under these circumstances, for the poor travellers, when all of a sudden the tocsin rang in their ears... they listened... the sound of drums and artillery could be heard along with the bells... obviously it was war. "The English! The English!" cried out the poor weeping children.

Those who lived in exterior forts were soon told that the enemy was at the gates to the city. All came to take refuge in the fortress, not only to take cover, but to fight nobly to save it, if possible.

But the English carried out the siege with unsurmountable vigour... They began by setting fire to the stores on the hillside that they knew were filled with flammable goods: brandy, turpentine, tar, etc...; the smoke they were emitting soon began to suffocate the army that was defending the surrounding wall of the fortress, and they all had to take shelter as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the English soldiers made large breaches in the walls and spread the fire everywhere... the French Governor was forced to surrender after a forty-nine day siege. The warriors then entered the house of our sisters looted their old clothes, their lines, their provisions and placed them and their students, without money nor clothing, on a ship that was to transport them to France. Who could describe their anguish and their broken hearts when they said goodbye to Cape Breton where they had worked for several years for the glory of God, to which they had attached themselves by bonds stronger than flesh and blood!... They were deported from Louisbourg at the end of June and on August 24 were left in Rochefort more dead than alive. They could barely make it to La Rochelle where they asked to stay at the hospital for orphans called "Saint Etienne". Poor Sisters! They must have truly felt like orphans, so far away from their Mother House!... Sister Saint Placide could not withstand so many challenges; she died on September 17, 1745 twenty-four days after her arrival at 44 years of age. The news of her death coincided with the anniversary service for her father in Boucherville.

Sister Saint Placide had three brothers besides the two who were a part of the North-West Company; René, married to Madeleine Godefroy of Saint-Paul, sister of her stepmother, who was fifty years old when they got married; he had no children; Pierre-Joseph, Sieur des Noix, surgeon, married to Agathe Hébert, had only two girls; Etienne married Marie Racicot on November 17, 1744, one month after his father's death.

Four years after the death of M. de Montbrun, father, and the establishment of his youngest son, René, the eldest of the family purchased from M. de Contrecoeur a property neighbouring the convent in Boucherville, "a stone house, and land", on Sainte-Famille Street. To the back was the property of the Sisters of the Congregation, on the south-west side was Sieur Bergeron, and on the other were the heirs of the late Gilles Papin. In addition, there was an old stone house facing the first. This sale, averaging five thousand pounds, which, the parties agreed, would only be payed after the death of M. de Montbrun and dame de Saint-Paul, his wife; the payment for which he immediately charged and mortgaged all his goods. None of their heirs or having cause, could claim in their inheritance that, beforehand, the said amount of five thousand pounds was not payed to said seller and his wife, Madeleine Boucher de la Perrière. There was a double bond between the Pécody de Contrecoeur and the Boucher de la Perrière. All signed the aforementioned deed before Simonet and Adhémar, royal notaries, in the house of the said seller located on St-Paul Street. Madame René de Montbrun (demoiselle Godefroy) died in 1759 and was interred in the Church of the Congregation. M. de Montbrun died a sudden death in 1773... after which the aforementioned property went to the Boucher de la Bruyères.