A young girl of Marieville, Delia Tétreault, discovered, through successive inspirations, that she carried within her the seed of a great missionary project. First of all, a mysterious dream which remained embedded in her youthful memory. She related the dream many years later : In this dream, I was kneeling beside my bed and, all of a sudden, I saw a beautiful field of ripe wheat spreading as far as the eye can see. At one point all the ears of wheat changed into heads of children… Little Delia then understood that these ears represented all the nations that do not know the Gospel. Reared in a fervent Christian family, she certainly knew the words of Jesus: The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers to his harvest.

Around the age of 18, Delia who wanted to become a Religious, applied for admission to the Sisters of Charity of St. Hyacinthe. It is there that she felt a strong intuition, like an interior message: One evening while I was in a small room with the postulants, it seemed that Our Lord was telling me that I would later found a Congregation of women for foreign missions and work toward the foundation of a similar society of men… Delia did not remain in that Congregation but she was haunted by the call received, a call that became more and more precise with time. She related the following : That same year or the following one, (1883 or 1884), being out in the country at my uncle's, I went raspberry picking with my cousins. While I was busy picking, I saw, in my mind, a big house, somewhat like a monastery, full of priests and another one full of sisters…

An illusion? A dream ? or a discreet notification to her youthful heart of a divine project in which she was called to collaborate? Delia felt weak and powerless. But at about the same time, she had a deep spiritual experience that comforted her : One day, seated in the family garden, she felt the Holy Spirit entering her soul and he let her know that he would guide her. Delia asked herself how that would come to be. In prayer and silence, during her long years of work at Bethany, the seed slowly germinated, bearing new life.