Sister Claire Ménard

Sister Claire Ménard, s.g.m. (1922-1998) Claire Ménard is still seventeen years old when she joins the Grey Nuns, whom she knows well from two elder sisters who preceded her and from her studies at the congregation’s École Ménagère. Throughout her life she puts her cooking talents to good use, starting at the Motherhouse kitchen (1942-1955), […]
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, 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 […]
Motherhouse, Cooking

Cooking The Nuns, assisted by lay kitchen staff, prepare more than 2000 meals daily. Industrial-sized kitchens are set up on the ground-floor of each wing. Smaller kitchens next to the refectories are used to reheat dishes. Various industrial machines were added over the years to assist in preparing meals: steam cauldrons, roasters, mixers, percolators, freezers, […]
Motherhouse, Food Preservation

Food Preservation A summer pavilion is built behind the chapel in 1926, a covered area serving as a place of recreation and reading for novices. In good weather the entire community occasionally gathered there for its meals. In preparation for the winter season, postulants, novices and professed Nuns gathered to preserve vegetables and fruits freshly […]
Châteauguay, The Maple Grove

The Maple Grove A large number of maples trees grew on Saint-Bernard Island in Marguerite d’Youville’s time. From the beginning, a sugar shack is mentioned where sap is collected to produce maple sugar and syrup. In 1895, the original maple grove is razed by a cyclone and again in 1910 by a hurricane. The sugar […]