Date Published:
July 2008

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

Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd

Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd. The founder of this community was St. Jean Eudes (1601-1680), a great missionary who established the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (Eudist Fathers) in 1643, and the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity in 1641, at Caën, France. In 1815, Rose Virginia Pelletier (1796-1868) entered the community of Our Lady of Charity, which had been founded at Tours, France. She became superior at the early age of 29, and in 1829 she was called to Angers, France, to found a convent there. In 1844, four zealous religious were sent from Angers to Montreal on the request of Mgr. Bourget, bishop of Montreal. This little branch became later on a large tree. It is the provincial monastery situated at 104 East Sherbrooke Street, to which is attached a novitiate. Three hundred protected girls find shelter under the maternai care of the devoted daughters of Blessed Mother Pelletier. From this house have spread the following foundations in Canada: Asile Ste. Darie (Female Jail and St. Helen's Home for Protected Girls), 1730 Fullum Street, Montreal; Maison Ste. Domitille (Industrial School and Solitude of the Magdalens), Laval-des-Rapides, near Montreal; Maison de Lorette (Reformatory School), Laval-des-Rapides; at Halifax, Nova Scotia, a refuge, an industrial school, a reformatory, a solitude for Magdalens, and also an English novitiate; at Saint John, New Brunswick, a refuge, industrial school, and reformatory; at West Kildonan, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, a reformatory, a refuge, and an industrial school; and at St. Hubert, Quebec, and at St. Louis-de-Gonzague, Montreal, board­ing convents for young ladies.

Source: W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Volume VI, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 398p., pp. 12-13.