Notre-Dame-de-l’Espérance Sanatorium

Notre-Dame-de-l’Espérance Sanatorium, Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts In 1914, the Sisters begin work at the Notre-Dame-de-l’Espérance Sanatorium in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts in the Laurentian Mountains. Nuns and lay people go there to rest and treatment of tuberculosis. The modest-sized facility never accepts more than 45 patients depending on the year. Grey Nuns Sanatorium, Sainte-Agathe, undated. Post Card: author unknown. Grey Nuns […]

Métairie Saint-Joseph, A Prosperous and Model Farm

A Prosperous and Model Farm From its beginning, the farm provides food and milk to the Hôtel-Dieu of Nicolet and the Christ-Roi Orphanage. In 1918 there are 318 residents including Nuns, orphans, children, elderly, and lay employees at the Hôtel-Dieu itself; this increases rapidly to nearly 373 residents at the Hôtel-Dieu in 1940 and nearly […]

Métairie Saint-Joseph, A Dairy Farm

A Dairy Farm Employees at the stable, 1931. Photography: author unknown. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Métairie Saint-Joseph (Nicolet)’s Fonds, L054-I-Album 1-page 14. From left to right: Misters Thuribe Tremblay, Martial Chauvette, W. Richard, Sévère Paquin, Adrien Chauvette (son of Mister Martial) and Charles-Edouard Verville Sister Claire Lauzier, s.g.m., 1940. Photography: author unknown. Grey Nuns […]

Métairie Saint-Joseph, A Poultry Farm

A Poultry Farm Sisters Claire Lauzier, s.g.m. and Fernande Dumont, s.g.m., busy taking care of the turkeys, 1946. Photography: author unknown. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Métairie Saint-Joseph (Nicolet)’s Fonds, L054-N5E Sisters Claire Lauzier, s.g.m. and Fernande Dumont, s.g.m., busy caring for the little chickens, 1946. Photography: author unknown. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Métairie […]

Métairie Saint-Joseph, The Beginnings

Métairie Saint-Joseph, Nicolet The Beginnings The Sisters of Charity of the Hôtel-Dieu of Nicolet, a sister congregation of Montréal, acquire in 1895 the farm of Charles McCaffey, becoming owners of four-hundred acres of land, several outbuildings and a maple grove of 1,400 trees. It is located some twenty acres from the Hôtel-Dieu of Nicolet itself. […]

Métairie Saint-Joseph, The Maple Grove and Sugar Shack

The Maple Grove and Sugar Shack In 1905, three additional acres of land are purchased along with all the equipment necessary to produce maple syrup, increasing the maple grove by over 750 buckets! A proper sugar shack is built a few years later around 1908 and remains in operation until the farm is sold in […]

Métairie Saint-Joseph, Development

Development Dévelop-pement Various modifications and improvements on the farm demonstrate its successfulness and the Nuns concern for good management practices: better lodging for the farmer and his family, the construction of an ice-house and a larger stable-barn provided with electricity, expansion of the henhouse in 1918, acquisition of 130 acres of neighboring land and outbuildings […]

Métairie Saint-Joseph, In the Fields

In the Fields Workers in the field, 1939. Photography: author unknown. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Métairie Saint-Joseph (Nicolet) Fonds, L054-I- Album 1-page 14B. 1-Jean-Louis Genest, 2-Louis-Georges Dufresne, 3-Laurent Lemire, 4-Almanzar Lamothe, 5-Roland Dufresne, 6-Wilfrid Gélinas Mister Bourgeois, employee working in the field, 1940. Photography: author unknown. Grey Nuns of Montréal’s Archives, Métairie Saint-Joseph (Nicolet)’s […]

Motherhouse, The Vegetable Garden and the Orchard

The Vegetable Garden and the Orchard Located between Saint-Mathieu and Guy Streets, the vegetable garden and orchard occupy an area of approximately two acres. Until the 1960s, many Nuns work there assisted by hired labourers. A wide variety of vegetables and fruits are grown but despite the abundant harvests it is not enough to feed […]

Motherhouse, 124 Years of Presence at the Motherhouse

Motherhouse, Montréal 124 Years of Presence at the Motherhouse In 1871 the Grey Nuns depart the General Hospital in Pointe à Callière, where they resided and worked since 1747, to escape the local urbanization and industrialization, the continual expansion of Montréal’s port, and the inevitable annual spring flooding of the neighborhood. They move to their […]

Saint-Charles Farm, A Prosperous Farm for Almost 50 Years

Saint-Charles Farm, Montréal (Côte-de-Liesse) A Prosperous Farm for Almost 50 Years With part of the proceeds from the sale of land at Pointe Saint-Charles, in 1907 the Grey Nuns acquire a parcel of agricultural land in the Côte-de-Liesse municipality. Subsequent acquisitions increase the property to a total of 575 acres, aptly named the Saint-Charles Farm […]

Saint-Charles Farm, A Model Farm

A Model Farm The numerous buildings onsite in 1952 underline its scale: a convent for the Nuns, two stone houses, eight dwellings for employees and their families, a cattle stall, three grain silos, a pigsty, a slaughterhouse, a chicken coop, an apiary, a horse-stable, a granary, sheds, a greenhouse, a soap factory, a cannery, barns, […]

Saint-Charles Farm, Departure

Departure The continual expansion of metropolitan Montréal invariably leads to parcels of land being expropriated for railways, roads, electrical and telecommunication grids, until almost all the properties are sold apart from the lots where the Notre-Dame-de-Liesse School and the Youville Nursery are located. Additionally, the rapid development of the sector and the implementation of factories […]

Saint-Bruno Farm

Saint-Bruno Farm Located in what is today downtown Montréal, the Saint-Joseph Hospice was on the verge of expropriation for a new Grand Trunk Railway station when the start of the Great War put the project on hold. That same year, 1914, the Hospice is gifted a 135 acre farm in the village of Saint-Bruno, county […]

Farm and Garden of the Saint-Joseph Hospital

Farm and Garden of the Saint-Joseph Hospital, La Tuque In 1912, the Sisters of Charity of the Hôtel-Dieu of Nicolet assume responsibility for the Saint-Joseph Hospital in the village of La Tuque, with an orphanage to accommodate around 50 children added in 1918. Saint-Joseph Hospital and Sacred Heart Orphanage, undated. Photography: author unknown. Grey Nuns […]

Farm and Convent of the Hospice Youville

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 […]

Farm of the Hospice Lajemmerais

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 […]