Date Published:
July 2008

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Sisters Servant of the Holy Heart of Mary

Sisters Servant of the Holy Heart of Mary (Limoilou). The Congregation of the Sisters Servant of the Holy Heart of Mary was founded at Paris, France, by the Rev. Father Delaplace, of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost and the Holy Heart of Mary. Its first origin goes back to the establishment of the orphans' institute of the Holy Family, opened on March 19, 1860, for young orphan girls or girls of poor families. The founder was helped by Jeanne Marie Moisan, a native of Vannes diocese, Brittany. She became the first general-superior under the name of Mother Marie du St. Sacrement. The Congregation comprises but one category of members. The different functions are portioned out among them according to the physical strength and the intellectual and moral aptitudes of the members.

The Congregation has for its first and general end the glory of God and the sanctification of its members; and its secondary and particular end is the sal­vation of souls by (1) the instruction and education of youth in boarding schools, orphans' institutes, patronages, etc., and (2) works of mercy towards the infirm and sick, either by domiciliaryvisits or in hospitals. After having received the blessings of Pope Leo XIII, the institute opened houses in different dioceses of France; and in 1930 the mother house was transferred from Paris to Montgéron, Seine et Oise, in Versailles diocese. In 1889 the institute founded parish schools in the United States. This province has now many academies with boarders and day­pupils of both sexes, kindergartens, and two hospitals. The provincial house, with the novitiate, is at Beaverville, Illinois. In 1892 four French nuns were called in Canada to direct the small convent of St. Ephrem, Beauce county. In 1903 the Provincial House was fixed at Limoilou, Quebec. The Congregation received from Pope Puis X its definitive approbation in 1913.

Source: W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Volume VI, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 398p., p. 24.