As her health rapidly declined, Jeanne now spent most of her time bed-ridden, left to pray or reminisce about her life and friends, many of whom had already passed away. Knowing that she was losing her strength, she wrote her will in 1669 and, a few years later, added a clause agreeing to leave her heart to her beloved Ville-Marie.
Soon, the woman who had devoted her life to caring for others, could not even care for herself. On the morning of Sunday, June 18, 1673, Jeanne passed away. She was buried under the hospital chapel, but her heart was placed in a metal container and put under the sanctuary in the chapel until it could be transferred to the new church. It was a Catholic tradition to preserve the heart, a symbol of love for Christ, especially of devout persons such as Jeanne.
Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the chapel, and heart, in 1695. Below ground, her coffin remained untouched, and today rests under the present Hôtel-Dieu on Pine Avenue in Montreal.
June 3, 1669—A portion of Jeanne’s will from the Montreal Archives