The Sisters of Charity of Montreal, formerly called The Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Général of Montreal and more commonly known as the Grey Nuns of Montreal, is a Canadian
religious institute
A religious institute is a type of institute of consecrated life in the Catholic Church whose members take religious vows and lead a life in community with fellow members. Religious institutes are one of the two types of institutes of consecrate ...
of Roman Catholic
religious sister
A religious sister (abbreviated ''Sr.'' or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to pr ...
s, founded in 1737 by
Marguerite d'Youville, a young widow.
History
![Grey Nuns Convent building seen from Guy Street, Montreal, QC](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Grey_Nuns_Convent_building_seen_from_Guy_Street%2C_Montreal%2C_QC.jpg)
The
congregation
A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship.
Congregation may also refer to:
*Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship
*Congregation (Roman Curia), an administra ...
was founded when Marguerite d'Youville and three of her friends formed a religious association to care for the poor. They rented a small house in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
on 30 October 1738, taking in a small number of destitute persons. On 3 June 1753 the society received royal sanction, which also transferred to them the rights and privileges previously granted by letters patent in 1694 to the Frères Hospitaliers de la Croix et de Saint-Joseph, known after their founder as the Frères Charon. At that time they also took over the work of the bankrupt Frères Charon at the Hôpital Général de Montréal located outside the city walls. (In the seventeenth century, a "general hospital" was an institution that took in old people, the ill, and the poor. Medical care was dispensed at the Hôtel Dieu.)
In 1755 the sisters cared for those stricken during a smallpox epidemic. As the sisters were not cloistered, they could go out to visit the sick. Those assisted included the First Nations people in Oka, who were among the benefactors who later helped rebuild the hospital after a fire in 1765.
[
After 1840, the order rapidly expanded, and over the next 100 years became a major provider of health care and other social services throughout Quebec, Western and Northern Canada, and the northern United States.] In 1855, the Grey Nuns were called to Toledo, Ohio, to care for many suffering from cholera. St. Vincent's later became part of Catholic Health Partners
Mercy Health, formerly Catholic Health Partners, is a Catholic health care system with locations in Ohio and Kentucky. Cincinnati-based Mercy Health operates more than 250 healthcare organizations in Ohio and Kentucky. Mercy Health is the largest h ...
.
St. Joseph Hospital was founded in 1906 in Nashua, by the parish of St. Louis de Gonzague primarily to serve Nashua's French Canadian community. The Sisters of Charity of Montreal began to staff it in 1907. The hospital was dedicated on 1 May 1908, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. The sister also started a nursing school. In 1938, the parish transferred ownership to the "Grey Nuns".
In 1983 the Sisters of Charity of Montreal established Covenant Health Systems
Covenant Health Systems is a non-profit Catholic regional health care system sponsoring hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living residences and other health and elder services throughout New England.
The company was established in 1983 by the Si ...
, a non-profit Catholic regional health care system, to direct, support and conduct their health care, elder care and social service systems throughout New England. In 1996, sponsorship of St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua was transferred from the Grey Nuns to Covenant Health Systems
Covenant Health Systems is a non-profit Catholic regional health care system sponsoring hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living residences and other health and elder services throughout New England.
The company was established in 1983 by the Si ...
.
Participation in the residential school system
The Sisters worked as nurses and teachers in a number of Indian Residential Schools
In Canada, the Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches. The school sys ...
, as the preferred missionary partners of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, ...
, who were not allowed to teach girls. At the schools, they participated in the effort to remove children from their parents and traditional Indigenous ways of life, in order to "civilize" them.
The main goal of the Oblates and the Grey Nuns was to provide a Catholic education (in competition with schools operated by Anglicans
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...
) and to give limited secular education. Though often at odds, the Canadian government and the various religious organizations operating residential schools agreed that Indigenous cultural practices had to be suppressed.
Students at the schools were often subjected to horrific conditions including physical
Physical may refer to:
*Physical examination
In a physical examination, medical examination, or clinical examination, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a medical condition. It generally co ...
, sexual
Sex is the biological distinction of an organism between male and female.
Sex or SEX may also refer to:
Biology and behaviour
*Animal sexual behaviour
**Copulation (zoology)
**Human sexual activity
**Non-penetrative sex, or sexual outercourse
** ...
, and verbal abuse
Verbal abuse (also known as verbal aggression, verbal attack, verbal violence, verbal assault, psychic aggression, or psychic violence) is a type of psychological/mental abuse that involves the use of oral, gestured, and written language direct ...
; insufficient or rotten food; frequent outbreaks of disease
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...
and insufficient medical care; and being forbidden to speak their native languages or engage in their cultural practices. This treatment has been deemed cultural genocide
Cultural genocide or cultural cleansing is a concept which was proposed by lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944 as a component of genocide. Though the precise definition of ''cultural genocide'' remains contested, the Armenian Genocide Museum defines ...
by the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state act ...
.
The Sisters worked at one of the most notorious schools, St. Anne's Indian Residential School
St. Anne’s Indian Residential School was a Canadian Indian Residential School in Fort Albany, Ontario, that operated from 1902 to 1976. It took Cree students from the Fort Albany First Nation and area. Many students reported physical, psycho ...
(located in Fort Albany, Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
), where a homemade electric chair
An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...
was reportedly used on the children for the amusement of the staff, among other severe abuses. Survivor testimony later sparked a long-running OPP investigation; two nuns were eventually convicted of assault for their actions at St Anne's. The Sisters also worked at the Holy Angels Residential School in Fort Chipewyan
Fort Chipewyan , commonly referred to as Fort Chip, is a hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada, within the Regional Municipality (RM) of Wood Buffalo. It is located on the western tip of Lake Athabasca, adjacent to Wood Buffalo National Park, app ...
. The Mikisew Cree First Nation
Mikisew Cree First Nation ( cr, ᒥᑭᓯᐤ, mikisiw, ''meaning: "golden eagle"'') is an Indigenous First Nations government of Woodland Cree people in northeastern Alberta and in Northwest Territories, Canada.
Most Mikisew Cree First Nation m ...
, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation
The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN, chp, K'ai Taile Dené) is a band government. It represents local people of the Denesuline (Chipewyan) ethnic group. It controls eight Indian reserves: Chipewyan 201 and Chipewyan 201A through Chipe ...
and Fort Chipewyan Métis Community have hired archaeologists from the University of Alberta
The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...
to search the grounds of the school for unmarked graves reported by former students. The search began in March 2022.
Other residential schools where the sisters worked include Île-à-la-Crosse Residential School, Lac la Biche (Notre Dame des Victoires) Residential School, St. Albert (Youville) Residential School, Qu'Appelle Indian Residential School
Qu'Appelle Indian Residential School (Q.I.R.S.) or Qu'Appelle Industrial School was a Canadian residential school in the Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan. As one of the early residential schools in western Canada, it was operated from 1884 to 1969 ...
, St. Boniface Residential School, Assiniboia Indian Residential School, Shubenacadie Indian Residential School
The Shubenacadie Indian Residential School operated as part of Canadian Indian residential school system in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia between 1930 and 1967. It was the only one in the Maritimes and children from across the region were placed in ...
, Fort Providence
Fort Providence ( den, Zhahti Koe, Zhahti Kue, lit=mission house) is a hamlet in the South Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Located west of Great Slave Lake, it has all-weather road connections by way of the Yellowknife Highway ...
Residential School, Blue Quills Residential School, the residence at Fort Smith, Fort Resolution
Fort Resolution (''Denı́nu Kų́ę́'' (pronounced "deh-nih-noo-kwenh") "moose island place") is a hamlet in the South Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The community is situated at the mouth of the Slave River, on the shores o ...
Indian Residential School, and Chesterfield Inlet
Chesterfield Inlet (Inuit: ''Igluligaarjuk'')Issenman, Betty. ''Sinews of Survival: The living legacy of Inuit clothing''. UBC Press, 1997. pp252-254 is an inlet in Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is an arm of northwestern Hudson Bay, and the ...
(Turquetil Hall) Residential School.
The Sisters and the Oblates objected to the characterization of their actions during the IRSSA process, stating that they felt many students had positive experiences and that some of their members had been falsely accused.
, the Sisters had not turned over several thousand photos and records which they had promised to return to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. , the Catholic Church as a whole had not issued a formal apology for its role in the residential school system, although some dioceses and orders had issued their own apologies.
Name
The city residents mocked the nuns by calling them "les grises" – a phrase meaning both "the grey women" and "the drunken women", in reference to the color of their attire and d'Youville's late husband, François-Magdeleine You d’Youville (1700–1730), a notorious bootlegger. Marguerite d'Youville and her colleagues adopted the particular black and beige dress of their religious institute in 1755: despite a lack of grey colour, they kept the nickname. When a Grey Nun worked as a nurse in a hospital, she usually exchanged her taupe habit for a white one. They wore a bonnet instead of a veil, as that was more practical for everyday work.[
]
Constitution
The rule given to Marguerite d'Youville and her companions by the Sulpician priest, Father Louis Normant de Faradon, P.S.S, in 1745 received episcopal sanction in 1754, when Monseigneur de Pontbriant formed the society into an official religious community. This rule forms the basis of the present constitution, which was approved by Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...
on 30 July 1880. Besides the three vows
A vow ( Lat. ''votum'', vow, promise; see vote) is a promise or oath.
A vow is used as a promise, a promise solemn rather than casual.
Marriage vows
Marriage vows are binding promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a weddi ...
of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the sisters pledge themselves to devote their lives to the service of suffering humanity.
Sister communities
The sisters undertook the first mission by a female religious institute to Western Canada in 1844, when a colony of Grey Nuns left their convent in Montreal and travelled to Saint Boniface
Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant ...
, on the shore of the Red River.["Grey Nuns", ''Canadian Encyclopedia''](_blank)
Retrieved 26 August 2008. Several sister communities branched off from the Sisters of Charity of Montreal:
Sisters of Charity of Saint-Hyacinthe
The congregation was founded by Marie-Michel-Archange Thuot (Mother Thuot). She joined the Grey nuns in 1803. She served in the infirmary and pharmacy, and later became mistress of novices. In 1840, Thuot and three other sisters left Montreal to establish a community in the rural farming community of Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, and soon founded the Hotel-Dieu for their health care ministry. As a way to raise funds to support themselves and their ministry, they also took in female pensionnaires.
In response to increased industrialization of the area, in 1864 they founded the workhouse of Saint Geneviève to " procure work for the poor women when they are unable to find any on the outside."[ The workhouse produced woollen fabric and soap, and provided employment for ten women, fifteen girls, one man, and three boys. They became a separate pontifical congregation in 1896.
In 1888 the sisters founded the first hospital in Lewiston, Maine, called variously "the Sisters' Hospital", "the French Hospital", or "the Catholic Hospital". In 1902 the Sisters moved to a larger building that came to be called L'Hopital Generale Ste. Marie - St. Mary's General Hospital. St. Mary's developed into Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center.
]
Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart
The only American congregation of Grey Nuns, the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart branched off from the Ottawa congregation in 1921, to establish an independent English-speaking congregation to minister in the United States. They founded D'Youville College
D'Youville University (D'Youville or DYU) is a private university in Buffalo, New York. It was founded as D'Youville College in 1908 and named by the Grey Nuns after the patroness saint Marie-Marguerite d'Youville. As of Fall 2020 D'Youville Co ...
in Buffalo, New York. In 1966, the mother house moved to Yardley, Pennsylvania
Yardley is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Yardley borders the Delaware River and Ewing, New Jersey to its east and Lower Makefield Township to its north, west, and south. The United States Post Office assigns many addresses in Lower Mak ...
. The sisters serve in a variety of ministries in the East Coast states New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts as well as in Georgia and Alaska.
*the Sisters of Charity of the Hôtel-Dieu of Nicolet (1886), branched off from Saint-Hyacinthe, united with Montreal (1941)
* the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa (1845) ''formerly'' the Grey Nuns of the Cross
** the Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception
The Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception is a congregation of Roman Catholic sisters founded in 1926 in Pembroke, Ontario, Canada. It is dedicated to following the tradition of St. Marie-Marguerite d'Youville, and has established a number of ...
(1926), branched off from Ottawa
* the Sisters of Charity of Quebec (1849)
The 21st century
As of 2008 the various Grey Nun branches operate in Canada, the United States, Colombia, Brazil, Japan, Haiti, Central African Republic, South Africa, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay, Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic.[Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart Ministries](_blank)
Retrieved 26 August 2008.
Hospitals
They once operated a number of major hospitals in Canada; as provincial governments and church, authorities moved to standardize both ownership and operation of hospitals, many of these hospitals passed into the hands of Church corporations (or, in some cases, governmental organizations) and the Grey Nuns changed focus. The Grey Nuns' Hospital building built in 1765 in Montreal was designated a national Historic Site of Canada
National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment
An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of t ...
in 1973 to commemorate the Grey Nuns. In 2011, Grey Nuns Motherhouse
Grey Nuns Motherhouse, now known as the Grey Nuns Building, is a former motherhouse of the Grey Nuns located at 1190 Guy Street, in the Borough of Ville-Marie, Montréal, Quebec, Canada. It is also named Grey Nuns Hospital of Montréal (not to ...
, the former motherhouse
A motherhouse is the principal house or community for a religious institute. It would normally be where the residence and offices of the religious superior
In a hierarchy or tree structure of any kind, a superior is an individual or position at ...
of the Grey Nuns in Montreal, now part of Concordia University
Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...
, was also designated a National Historic Site.
Shelters
They now operate shelters for battered women (with and without children), shelters for women in need, clothing and food dispensaries, centres for the disabled, and some health care facilities. St. Boniface General Hospital in Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
is still owned by the Grey Nuns; hospitals previously owned, operated, or enlarged by the institute include the former Holy Cross Hospital in Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
, St. Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon
Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...
, and the Grey Nuns Community Hospital in Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
.[Alberta Heritage article on Grey Nuns.](_blank)
Retrieved 26 August 2008. Many of these health care institutions were founded by missionary nuns sent out from convents in Quebec and Ontario.
Other works
Grey Nuns may work with the incarcerated. Some chapters are also dedicated to peace and justice; at least one chapter, the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart
The Sisters of Charity of Montreal, formerly called The Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Général of Montreal and more commonly known as the Grey Nuns of Montreal, is a Canadian religious institute of Roman Catholic religious sisters, found ...
, has declared its properties a nuclear-free zone.
Classification as religious sisters
Although the institute's informal name contains the word "nuns", members are actually classified by the Roman Catholic Church as religious sisters
A religious sister (abbreviated ''Sr.'' or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to pra ...
, as they are not cloistered
A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...
and belong to a congregation, not an order. They no longer wear their distinctive habit and now wear street clothes.
Numbers
In 1993 it was estimated that there were just under 3,000 Grey Nuns in Canada, mainly in Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
and Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
. By 2013 they will vacate their Mother House in downtown Montreal
Downtown Montreal ( French: ''Centre-Ville de Montréal'') is the central business district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The district is situated on the southernmost slope of Mount Royal, and occupies the western portion of the borough of Vil ...
, after having sold the property to Concordia University
Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...
in 2005. As of 2014 there were about 136 nuns in the Montreal congregation, whose average age was around 85.[ The ]Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
congregation has not recruited any new members since before 2000. Sister Bernadette said the nuns' legacy will live on in other ways.CBC: Grey Nuns leave motherhouse for Concordia University takeover
/ref>
See also
* Covenant Health Systems
Covenant Health Systems is a non-profit Catholic regional health care system sponsoring hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living residences and other health and elder services throughout New England.
The company was established in 1983 by the Si ...
References
Further reading
*''The Grey Nuns and the Red River Settlement'' by Dennis King. Toronto: Book Society of Canada, 1980.
*''Mother d'Youville, First Canadian Foundress'' by Albertine-Ferland Angers. Montreal: Sisters of Charity of Montreal, Grey Nuns, 2000.
External links
Grey Nuns of Montreal Home Page
Sisters of Charity of Saint-Hyacinthe Home Page
Sisters of Charity of Ottawa Home Page
Sisters of Charity of Quebec Home Page
Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart Home Page
Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception Home Page
Manitoba Historical Society – The Grey Nuns and the Red River Settlement
{{Authority control
1738 establishments in the French colonial empire
Religious organizations established in the 1730s
Christian organizations based in Canada
History of Catholicism in Canada
Catholic female orders and societies
History of Montreal
Organizations based in Montreal
Christian organizations established in the 18th century
History of women in Canada