Farm and Convent of the Hospice Youville, Saint-Benoît
In 1859, the Grey Nuns establish a hospice for the needy & infirm as well as a girls’ school in the village of Saint-Benoît, county of Deux-Montagnes.
Map of Saint-Benoit Farm/Nelson Cossette (agronomist), undated. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Convent and Hospice Youville (Saint-Benoît)’s Fonds, L011-K-03
Youville Convent, [19-]. Photography: author unknown. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Convent and Hospice Youville (Saint-Benoît)’s Fonds, L011-Y1-1A
Plan of the grounds of Hospice Youville/reproduced by Sister Léonie Ferland, s.g.m., 1949. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Convent and Hospice Youville (Saint-Benoit)’s Fonds, L011-A-1-1
From the beginning they cultivate their land and a barn is built, with more arable land acquired over the years. Educational activities increase with the establishment 1916 of a home-making school, with many girls boarding on site (86 of them in 1938), who religious, household and agricultural education. The program contains practical work such as hoeing, seeding, weeding and watering a vegetable garden.
Recollections of Sister Éva Mercier (1896-1976) a teacher and later Superior of the Couvent d’Youville, 1918-1938:
“The students worked hard, particularly the older ones, as they knew they were preparing their future. (…) Our students kept busy with beekeeping and poultry farming. Seeds were provided free of charge by the provincial Ministry of Agriculture. During the autumn season, Sister Superior would provide drivers and vehicles when needed by students of advanced degrees to study onsite the apiary and henhouse at Oka. The Reverend Trappist Fathers had the humility to inform them on these subjects.”
Recollection of students, 1895-1954 (excerpt). Transcription.
Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Convent and Hospice Youville (Saint-Benoit)’s Fonds, L011-H-2-5-A
Recollections of Sister Agnès Jacques Dufrost (1865-1964), a resident of the Couvent Saint-Benoît from 1891 to 1905 as nurse (for eight years) and later as cook (for seven more years):
“It was us Sisters who worked as butchers. All the meat eaten at the Convent came from our farm, and the vegetables grew in our garden. I would milk the cows, evenings and mornings with the farmhands (at least twenty cows). I was in charge of raising the calves and sheep. One year we bought two pigs from the Trappists in Oka; they were sick and I looked after them all summer. In the autumn, both were awarded at the County Exhibition held that year in Saint-Benoît.”
Recollection of students, 1895-1954 (excerpt). Transcription.
Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Convent and Hospice Youville (Saint-Benoît)’s Fonds, L011-H-2-5-A
There are various outbuildings on the 162 acre farm: a butter factory, an ice-house, a bakery, a cellar, a woodshed, a barn, a stable, a pigsty and a henhouse. In 1959, records indicate two farmhands are employed full-time, helping with the production of oats, barley, corn and many other vegetables. Livestock includes a small herd of 20 cows, 30 pigs, 2 horses and 120 hens. All the produce is used for the hospice, the school and the convent, while a small portion is sent to other Grey Nun mission, notably to Notre-Dame-de-Liesse School in Montréal.
Farm inventory (extract), 1927. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Convent and Hospice Youville (Saint-Benoît)’s Fonds, L011-H-3-2
Faced with declining profitability and labor shortages, the farm ceases its activities in the early 1960s.
Public auction poster, 24 April 1961. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Convent and Hospice Youville (Saint-Benoît)’s Fonds, L011-H-3-3