St. Marie of the Incarnation was “a wife, mother, widow, businesswoman, religious, mystic and missionary” according to Pope St. John Paul II who beatified her. She was the first woman to evangelize North America, a dream she was inspired by at a Ursuline convent in France which she had entered after the death of her husband and her son entered the Benedictines. Arriving in Quebec in 1639, she labored there until her death in 1672.

Mary of Egypt was reputed be a holy, wise hermit in Jordanian desert who had run away from home and lived a dissolute life as an actress, courtesan for 17 years. Going on “anti-pilgrimage” to Jerusalem to seek new experiences and clients, she was powerfully convicted of her sins before an icon of the Blessed Virgin and lived a life of penance in the desert fighting off great temptations for 47 years.