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

Quebec City Quebec City 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 Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada, and affiliated with

Université Laval (; English: ''Laval University)'' is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university traces its roots to the Séminaire de Québec, founded by François de Montmorency-Laval in 1663, making it the oldest institutio ...

'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 Quebec City is the capital c ...

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

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

treatment,

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

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, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

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 de Pontcourlay, suo jure Duchess of Aiguillon (; 160417 April 1675) was a French nobility, French aristocrat, also remembered for her charitable work and her patronage of artists and mathematicians. Biography Vigne ...

(1604-1675), a niece of

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...

. 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 w ...

, the Hospitaller Sisters, whose spiritual vocation was nursing. Three young canonesses left their monastery in

Dieppe Dieppe (; ; or Old Norse ) is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department, Normandy, northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newhaven in England ...

, on the coast of the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

, and arrived in

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, 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 Kingdom of Great Br ...

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 gestat ...

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. In keeping with the wishes of the Duchess, their care was directed to the people of the

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

. 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 ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

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. 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 Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

in 1701. The hospital was designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada () are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being of national historic significance. Parks C ...

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

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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