Mother Mary Joseph (Suzanne) Aubert was a French nun who landed in New Zealand in 1860 at age 25. She later founded the Sisters of Compassion in the 1880s and was the first known person to grow and use cannabis in New Zealand as medicine.

Before becoming a nun, Mother Aubert studied biology and chemistry in her native France and became a physician. When she expressed an interest in becoming a religious sister, her parents objected. Motivated by her piety and desire to be closer to God, she fled to New Zealand, joined a congregation of sisters and took her vows.

In addition to being a devout Catholic nun, Mother Aubert decided to use her talents and advanced education to start a Catholic mission to the local Māori tribes in New Zealand. She became a scholar in the Māori language and travelled the New Zealand outback healing the sick. During her travels, she carefully studied the Māori tradition of using herbal remedies in healing the sick.

Mother Aubert founded a mission to the Māori in the 1880s, providing them with a school, an orphanage and a hospice. She also planted fields of Indian Hemp, which she used to treat asthma, menstrual cramps and alcoholism. Her herbal remedies – “prepared only and exclusively by herself under her personal supervision” – became wildly popular, providing for the needs of her convent and orphanage.

Mother Aubert died in 1926 at the age of 91. Her cause for canonization in the Catholic Church was officially opened in 2010. She was later declared a Venerable. Her canonization process continues, and we’re waiting on two miracles so she can be raised to the altar as a Saint. You can read more about Venerable Aubert here: Suzanne Aubert