Peter Fourier
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Peter Fourier (November 30, 1565 - December 9, 1640) was a French saint in the Roman Catholic Church and priest of Mattaincourt (Vosges) who founded the Daughters of Our Lady order.
He began his monastic career as a canon in the Abbey of Chaumousey, and he was ordained a priest at the age of twenty-four. He was a scholastic theologian who knew the Summa Theologica by heart. In 1597, he was sent to Mattaincourt to shore up religious orthodoxy (i.e. to counter nascent Protestantism in the area). However, he also sought to improve the financial lives of his community, and he began a community bank. His preaching style was to employ dialogues, and he had his pupils engage in dialectics on Sundays on the various virtues and vices in practice by the congregation. This style was immensely successful.
He founded a Congregation of Notre Dame known as the Daughters of Our Lady. This was exported to Canada by Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, and it has been highly successful both there and in the United States of America. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XIII in 1730 and canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1897. His feast day in the Roman Catholic Church is December 9.
