Sisters of the Charity of Montreal

The Order of the Sœurs of the Charity of Montreal is a religious congregation roman catholic founded by Marie-Marguerite Dufrost de Lajemmerais d' Youville) in 1737.

Beginnings of the order

With died of her husband, Marie-Marguerite de Lajemmerais d' Youville starts to take care of the patients of the General hospital of Montreal, then under the direction of the Hospitallers, then it accommodates at it the poor, in order to look after them. The first house of the foundation is not whereas very modest, and comes to discharge the rooms from the General hospital from Montreal, whereas the first women coming to join Marguerite have a whole an origin similar to the founder: they are fortunate, widowed or old maids. But, over all, they test all the same feeling of charity.

Following the rout about the Hospitallers, Sulpiciens will require of Marguerite d' Youville and her colleagues to deal with the General hospital of Montreal. Consequently occasion, the Sisters of Charity become administrators many grounds with Montreal, and Marguerite d' Youville makes at the same time the acquisition of the seigniory of Châteauguay, where it will build a mill, in order to increase the incomes of the ground. It is the abolition of the Régime seigneurial, in 1854, which will come to force the Institute to seek its financing elsewhere.

The monetary question

To be able to deal with their new responsibilities, the Sisters of the Charity of Montreal, administrator of Hospital Général, must then solve a problem of size, that of the financing of the Order. However, the congregation was, with its departure, a company of purely secular girls, plain between them by the bonds of purest charity.

In their beginnings, the Sisters will succeed in solving this important question, on the one hand thanks to their personal goods, on the other hand by the assumption of responsibility of the possessions of the Brothers Cartwright. Moreover, the financial aid brought by the Seminar of Sulpice Saint as by the colonial Government is not with being put on side.

Thereafter, the Sisters of Charity will acquire a certain number of grounds located on the island of Montreal, then thereafter of others located at Châteauguay, where they will make besides build a mill.

On the other hand, certain problems are encountered when it is a question of filing the financial position of the Gray Sisters, in particular the lack of rigorism in their financial archivism. Thus, it is difficult to recall the annual incomes coming from the various grounds, as well as the share of the dowry brought by the beginners.

To the fall of the mode seigneurial in Canada, the Sisters then will devote a certain part of the rooms of the General hospital to the reception of women boarders to fill their monetary needs. The direct contribution of various patrons and the government is then, him also, very important. Moreover, the Sisters they-even refuse to be opposed to the land regime change.

Finally, it is also necessary to mention the considerable contribution of manual work in the incomes of the Institute. These works are very diversified; needlework, washing, manufacture of ostie, candles, candles, lamps, but also the clothes industry of various sculptors, in particular that of wax Child-Jesus.

Later foundations

Sisters of the Charity of Saint Hyacinthe (1840)
Sisters of the Charity of Ottawa (1845)
Sisters of the Charity of Quebec (1849)
Grey Nuns off the Sacred Heart (1921)
Grey Sisters off the Immaculate Design (1926)

First Mothers Superior

Marie de Lajemmerais d' Youville (1737 - 1771)
Marguerite Saint-Germain Lemaire (1821 - 1833)
Marguerite Trottier de Beaubien (1833 - 1843)
Elizabeth Forbes McMullen (1843 - 1848)
Pink Coutlée (1849 - 1852)
Julie Hainault Deschamps (1853 - 1863)

Other important dates

1737 : Foundation of the Congregation by Marguerite de Lajemmerais d' Youville
1738: Installation of the first refuge for the poor by the Girls of Charity
1747: Assumption of responsibility of the General hospital of Montreal
June 3rd, 1753: Louis XV confirms officially Mr. D' Youville in his role of administrator of the hospital.
June 15th, 1755: Mgr Pontbriand approves the community
1765: The first hospital is the prey of flâmes; one spends 4 months to rebuild it.
1846 : Beginning of the assistance of the patients with residence
1847: Epidemic of typhus in Montreal
1849: Cholera epidemic in Montreal
1858: Opening of the noviciate

External bond

Web site of the gray Sisters

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