View source for Agnès-Marie Valois

{{short description|French nun and nurse}}
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|birth_date    =30 June 1914
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|death_date    ={{Death date and age|2018|04|19|1914|06|30}}
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|nationality   =[[French people|French]]
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|occupation    =[[Nurse]]
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'''Agnès Cécile Marie-Madeleine Valois''' (30 June 1914 – 19 April 2018), also known as '''Sister Agnès-Marie''', was a French [[Roman Catholic]]  [[Religious sister (Catholic)|religious sister]] and [[nurse]]. She became known as "Angel of Dieppe" for her heroic efforts in caring for soldiers at the disastrous World War II [[Dieppe Raid]]. For this she was decorated by [[France]] and [[Canada]]. An Augustinian sister, she had been trained as a surgical nurse before the war. She died on 19 April 2018 at the age of 103, at a monastery near Dieppe, France.
==Early life==
Valois was born in [[Rouen]] in 1914. Her grandfather Jules Vallois had a rope factory in [[Notre-Dame-de-Bondeville]] which her father Gaston inherited. Today it is a museum.<ref>Aurélien Bénard (9 July 2014) [https://actu.fr/normandie/dieppe_76217/soeur-agnes-marie-vallois-fete-son-siecle_4335432.html Soeur Agnès-Marie Vallois fête son siècle] Actu.fr. Retrieved 19 April 2018</ref><ref>[http://corderievallois.fr/en/the-museum-3 The museum] Corederie Vallois. Retrieved 19 April 2018</ref>
==Career==
Valois entered the [[Hôtel-Dieu]] de Rouen convent of the [[Canonesses of St. Augustine of the Mercy of Jesus]] in 1936 where she started living as Sister Marguerite-Marie in 1937. She took a temporary vow to become a religious sister in 1938 and the permanent, solemn vow in 1941.<ref name=Chabaud>[http://lhistoireenrafale.lunion.fr/2018/04/19/deces-de-soeur-agnes-marie-valois-infirmiere-et-resistante/ Décès de sœur Agnès-Marie Valois, infirmière et résistante] L'histoire en rafale. ''L'Union''. Retrieved 19 April 2018</ref> Educated as a nurse, she worked in the military ward from 1936 to 1938 and then in the surgery ward where she eventually specialized in [[anesthesia]].<ref name=Chabaud/>
In 1942, Rouen had become part of the [[German military administration in occupied France during World War II#Occupation zones|German occupied territory]] in France  and the Hôtel-Dieu was under German control.<ref name=Chabaud/> On 19 August 1942, about 6,100 allied soldiers, most of them Canadians, but also some British and Americans, [[Dieppe Raid|attacked the port of Dieppe]]. The attack immediately failed and about 3,300 either died or were captured, many of them severely wounded. Valois was among 10 Augustinian nurses who cared for the wounded soldiers, first on the beach and later at the Hôtel-Dieu hospital.<ref name=bbc>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43844090 World War Two heroine 'Angel of Dieppe' dies at 103] BBC, 20 April 2018</ref> Her actions and behaviour made her part of Canadian military lore where several stories and legends about her showing courage and compassion circulated after the war.<ref name=np/><ref name=bbc/> She was nicknamed "Angel of Dieppe"<ref name=np/> and "''L'ange blanc''" (The White Angel).<ref>Charly Triballeau (21 April 2018) [https://www.la-croix.com/Religion/Deces-soeur-Agnes-Marie-Valois-ange-blanc-Canadiens-Dieppe-2018-04-21-1200933529 Décès de sœur Agnès-Marie Valois, l' ange blanc des Canadiens à Dieppe] AFP/''[[La Croix (newspaper)|La Croix]]''.</ref>
A veteran of the raid, Hardy Wheeler of the Essex and Kent Scottish regiment, described Valois as being "known for standing up to the German soldiers; they held a gun up to her to treat the German injured first, but she just looked at everyone as equal – regardless of rank, regardless of nation, regardless of who or what you are she treats those who needed help the most."<ref name=np>Adrian Humphreys (20 April 2018) [https://nationalpost.com/news/angel-of-dieppe-who-stood-up-to-nazi-soldiers-to-treat-wounded-canadians-dies-at-age-103 Angel of Dieppe' who stood up to Nazi soldiers to treat wounded Canadians dies at age 103] ''[[National Post]]''</ref>
Valois commonly described what she witnessed with the words, "It wasn't war, it was a massacre."<ref name=np/>
After the war, Valois would go on to become a healthcare administrator. When the Hôtel-Dieu in Rouen closed in 1968, Valois went to live in the convent Sainte-Marie de Thibermont in [[Martin-Église]] where she took the name Sister Agnès-Marie.<ref name=Chabaud/> She died at the convent on 19 April 2018, at the age of 103.<ref name=Chabaud/><ref name=np/>
==Awards and honours ==
Valois became a Dame of the French [[National Order of Merit (France)|National Order of Merit]] in 1992, and also a Dame, and later an Office, of the [[Legion of Honour]] in 1996. In 2009, she was awarded the [[Meritorious Service Medal (Canada)|Meritorious Service Medal]], civil division, from Canada.<ref name=Chabaud/> In 2012, she received the key of the City of [[Windsor, Ontario|Windsor]] during an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Dieppe raid.<ref>[https://windsorstar.com/news/dieppe-70th-anniversary In Windsor, Dieppe veterans mark 70th anniversary of ill-fated raid] ''[[Windsor Star]]'' 19 August 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2018</ref>
Valois's 100th birthday was celebrated by the city of Dieppe. Guests included the mayor of Dieppe, mayors from the nearby English town of [[Newhaven, East Sussex|Newhaven]], and representatives from Canada.<ref>[https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/angel-of-dieppe-celebrates-100th-birthday-1-6165627 'Angel of Dieppe' celebrates 100th birthday] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227235356/https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/angel-of-dieppe-celebrates-100th-birthday-1-6165627 |date=2017-12-27 }} ''Sussex Express'' 8 July 2014</ref>
== References ==
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[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century French nuns]]
[[Category:French nurses]]
[[Category:French women nurses]]
[[Category:World War II nurses]]
[[Category:People from Rouen]]
[[Category:Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite]]
[[Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:21st-century French nuns]]
[[Category:French women centenarians]]