Marie Guyart was born in Tours in 1599 and died in Quebec in 1672. She was canonized in 2014, an extraordinary destiny for a remarkable woman. She founded the first convent that educated women in North America, and was a key witness of colonial life.

Catholic missions among Native Americans, pursued by Jesuits, Récollets, and other clergy and religious from France, shaped the political, social, and religious history of New France in the 17^th and 18^th centuries.

The French Protestant presence in America dates back to the century before the official installation of the French and the English in St Kitts (Saint-Christophe) in 1626. Because of the seafaring and trading activities of merchants and sailors from Normandy and Saintonge, some of these Protestants knew the region well, and had tried to settle by organising their own colonies, particularly in Florida, but these attempts had failed.