The Hotel-Dieu de Québec is a teaching hospital located in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

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 ...

, Canada, and affiliated with

Université Laval Université Laval is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university was founded by royal charter issued by Queen Victoria in 1852, with roots in the founding of the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 by François de Montmo ...

's medical school. It is part of the

Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec ''Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec'' (CHUQ) is a network of three teaching hospitals affiliated with the medical school of ''Université Laval'' and several specialized institutions in Quebec City. It was created by the merger in Dece ...

(CHUQ), a network of five teaching hospitals and several specialized institutions. Its areas of expertise include

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

treatment,

kidney disease Kidney disease, or renal disease, technically referred to as nephropathy, is damage to or disease of a kidney. Nephritis is an inflammatory kidney disease and has several types according to the location of the inflammation. Inflammation can ...

and

cochlear implants A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted neuroprosthesis that provides a person who has moderate-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss with sound perception. With the help of therapy, cochlear implants may allow for improved speech unde ...

. It has an affiliated research centre, the Centre de recherche de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Québec. This hospital was the first such facility in Canada, and the first in North America, north of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

History

The hospital was officially founded in 1637 in order to meet the colony's need for healthcare by Marie-Madeleine de Vignerot, the

Duchesse d'Aiguillon Marie Madeleine de Vignerot du Pont de Courlay, Duchesse d'Aiguillon (160417 April 1675) was a French aristocrat, also remembered for her charitable work and her patronage of artists and mathematicians. Biography Courlay was the daughter of Car ...

(1604-1675), a niece of

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...

. She entrusted the task to the

Canonesses of St. Augustine of the Mercy of Jesus The Canonesses of St. Augustine of the Mercy of Jesus (Augustinian Hospitallers) are a Roman Catholic religious order of canonesses who follow a semi-contemplative life and are also engaged in the ministry of caring for the sick and needy, from whi ...

, a nun of the Hospitaller Sisters, whose spiritual vocation, was as nurses. Three young canonesses left their monastery in

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newha ...

, on the coast of the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

, and arrived in

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...

on 1 August 1639 with the goal of opening the hospital. They were

Mothers ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gesta ...

Marie de Saint-Ignace Guenet, Marie de Saint-Bonaventure Forestier and Anne de Saint-Bernard Le Cointre. The canonesses established the hospital at its first site in 1640, in what was then the village of Sillery, Quebec City, Sillery. In keeping with the wishes of the Duchess, their care was directed to the people of the

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

. Dwellings were built near the hospital for the native people to facilitate their care. By 1644, however, they had to abandon the site due to repeated attacks by

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

warriors, and the community moved to the town of Quebec. There the canonesses acquired the site and built the hospital that still stands. Serving the French colonists after that point, it became the leading medical institution for the care of the people of the city. A new hospital for the poor was built in 1693 by Jean-Baptiste de Saint-Vallier, the second Bishop of Quebec, known as the

Hôpital-Général de Québec The Hôpital-Général de Québec is a Canadian medical facility located in the tiny municipality of Notre-Dame-des-Anges, Quebec (which consists solely of the hospital), surrounded by the La Cité-Limoilou borough of Quebec City. It was clas ...

. Initially four canonesses were sent to help in running the hospital. The bishop formally entrusted it to the canonesses of the Hôtel-Dieu in 1698, and the Sisters who served there became an independent

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

in 1701. The hospital 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 1936. The Hôtel-Dieu continued to be operated by the Augustinian canonesses until 1962.

Description

The site has structures that range in date from 1695 to 2001. The vaulted cellars that support the three-storey wings were built in 1695. Stone walls surround an adjoining Augustine cemetery, monastery, garden and cloister. Opened in 1803, the hospital chapel had its interior and façade remodelled in later years by

Thomas Baillairgé Thomas Baillairgé (20 December 1791 – 9 February 1859) was both a wood carver and architect, following the tradition of the family. He was the son of François Baillairgé and the grandson of Jean Baillairgé, both men being termed architects u ...

References

Bibliography

Emporis: Hôpital de l'Hôtel Dieu

Profile

External links

Hôtel-Dieu de Québec
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hotel-Dieu De Quebec Buildings and structures completed in 1693 Hospital buildings completed in the 17th century Hospitals in Quebec City Monasteries of Canonesses Regular 1637 establishments in the French colonial empire Hospitals established in the 17th century National Historic Sites in Quebec 1693 establishments in the French colonial empire