Farm of the Hospice Lajemmerais, Varennes

Founded in 1859, the Hospice Lajemmerais in Varennes houses an orphanage, a wing where the elderly reside, a section for adult boarders and also a kindergarten. The early years are very difficult with the Nuns living in conditions described in the mission chronicles as heroic. The most severe poverty reigns throughout the house where all the residents suffer from cold and hunger.

A terrible fire in 1880 provides the opportunity to build an entirely new building on a much larger property with land for a farm and a vegetable garden.

Facade of the Lajemmerais Hospice, [195-]. Photography: author unknown. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Lajemmerais Hospice (Varennes)’s Fonds, L017-Album 5

Plan of the Lajemmerais Hospice grounds/Sister Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix, s.g.m., [1900-1908]. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Lajemmerais Hospice (Varennes)’s Fonds, L017-A-1-3

Map of the farm and Lajemmerais Hospice/Sister Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix, s.g.m., [1900-1908]. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Lajemmerais Hospice (Varennes)’s Fonds, L017-A-1-3

Over the years, agricultural facilities are modernized and expanded to meet the ever-growing needs of the Hospice’s residents: a pigsty, a soap factory and a smokehouse are all built in 1921; a new stable in 1928; a new dairy in 1950.

Sister Rose-Alma Lemire, s.g.m. remembers:

“I was a postulant then [in 1957]. I loved the farm! There were cows. It was milking time.  We had asked Sister Jeanne Vachon if we could milk a cow in our postulant habit. I was able to milk it since it had not been long since I stopped milking; I had experience! At a certain point the cow was tired of us: we were three postulants milking her at the same…”

Testimony collected at Square Angus (Montréal), the 28 November 2023

Garden produce, 1923-1924. Manuscript. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Lajemmerais Hospice (Varennes)’s Fonds, L017-E-4-2

Refectory and kitchen of the Hospice Lajemmerais, in Foyer et jardin de l’enfance/L’Abbé Lafontaine, undated. Film 16 mm. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, General Administration’s Fonds, F010B

The number of residents increases constantly: 129 in 1910, 141 in 1930, and 212 in 1960. In July 1962, the livestock is sold following numerous complaints from neighbors regarding their disturbing noise.