The Religious of the Sacred Heart in Canada 1842-19801

CCHA Study Sessions, 48(1981), 43-60 The religious of the Sacred Heart in Canada 1842-19801 by Sister Marthe BAUDOIN, r.s.c.j. The Society of the Sacred Heart was founded by Madeleine-Sophie Barat in Amiens, France, in 1800. This was a distressing period for the Church both in France and in other countries. But the nineteenth century was to witness an undeniable Christian revival: old religious orders were revitalized, many new ones were founded and foreign missions began to thrive once more thanks, in part, to the initiative and zeal of Gregory XVI, who was Prefect of Propaganda before he became Pope in 1831. Madeleine-Sophie Barat was at heart a contemplative and a lover of the poor. But she felt the urge of meeting a great need of the Church in her time: the rechristianization of families by the education of youth. Hence she opened both boarding schools and “ poor schools,” the latter being financed by the formers’ proceeds. Her aim was to let the young live in contact with the God of Love, helped by religious educators that were deeply contemplative themselves. Hence the latters’' spiritual training was long and thorough. After a three to six months postulantship, they began a two years’ novatiate at the end of which they made their first promises. T hen they shared i n t h e Order’s apostolic works for five years. Finally, a second novitiate of six months culminated in the taking of their perpetual v o ws. Because Mother Barat felt that strict papal enclosure might hinder apostolic works, the religious of the Sacred Heart lived under a form of enclosure intended for contemplative Institutes with simple vows. This meant the sisters could leave the convent for reasons of medical care or for the occasional demand of the apostolate, but n o t fo r family contacts or 1 [In the original, notes are referenced by a mixture of asterisks and numerals; in this electronic version these have all been converted to numberals.] The following paper is based on materials in the Society's Archives. It is the sixth paper in a series on Canadian religious congregations begun with me 1976 edition of Study Sessions. — 43 — holidays. Madeleine-Sophie Barat early experienced a powerful attraction for the foreign missions. She herself was never to leave Europe, but as early as 1818 one of her companions, Philippine Duchesne, opened the first American Con v ent of the Sacred Heart near St. Louis, Mo. From there the society spread throughout the United States. 2 T he religious of the Sacred Heart came first to Canada in 1842. They opened houses in Montreal (1842), in Halifax (1849), in St.John, N. B. (1854), in Detroit, Windsor and London (1851), in Vancouver (1911), and in Winnipeg (1935 ). In these houses sisters shared in the common task of education. T here were fo u r n u ns in 1842, 87 in 1865; by 1900 there were 305. Then came a decrease so that by 1940 they had diminished to 200. Today there are half as many. Internationally, however, the Society saw its membership increase throughout the first half of the twentieth century to 6,000 mem b ers , and only after World War II was there a decrease. In 1980 the Sisters numbered 5,380 with some 80 novices. Six of the eight Canadian foundations took place between 1842 and 1861. During those years a great religious was at the head of all the North American houses: Provincial Superior Mother Aloysia Hardey. During her thirty years of government in this capacity she opened as many as 25 houses, including the Canadian foundations. B iographers stressed her courage, energy and keen business sense. We shall come across her name several times in the following pages. THE MONTREAL AREA The “sault” The religious of the Sacred Heart first settled in the neighbourhood of Montreal. This diocese, separated from that of Quebec in 1863, lacked apostolic works and labourers. The Bishop, the dynamic Mgr Ignace Bourget, brought eight religious Orders or Congregations from Europe while taking an active part in the foundation of several C anadian ones. Travelling in France in 1841, he made plans with Mother Barat for opening a house in the 2 Mother Barat was canonized in 1925. In 1940, Pope Pius XII beatified Mother Duchesne. — 44 — Montreal diocese, though not at first in the city itself. Until then only one religious Community, the Congregation of Notre Dame, had been authorized to run girls’ boarding schools in Montreal and the public highly appreciated their training and teaching. Moreover, they were patronaged and directed by the Sulpicians, who would look upon the coming of others as an intrusion. Bishop Bourget thought it best to act prudently and allow the Sacred Heart nuns to begin discretely, in a remote place; after awhile their graduates would be their best advertisement. So the nuns came to St. Jacques-de-l'Achigan, 36 miles North of Montreal. T he parish p ri es t, Father Romuald Paré, was so determined to establish a good school for girls in his parish that he had started to build it as early as 1838. The four nuns who came to open it had a journey full of hardships and adventure. Starting from New York on December 11th, 1842, the seven-day trip took them up the Hudson River by boat; then over the Adirondacks in a stage-coach unsheltered from the bi t ter wind; then across the St. L awrence River in a row boat amid the floating ice. In Montreal Bishop Bourget lodged them with the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame, who received them with warm hospitality. On December 26th, sleighs took them to S t. Jacques, where Fr. Pare greeted them with delight and took them to their new house which was comfortably heated with five large stoves. The pantry was abundantly supplied; the furniture was nearly complete, all made by the village carpenters and craftsmen. On the next day, the new religious were formally introduced to the St. Jacques people in the parish church. Within a week a day school was open. However, the population, though rich in the faith of their French ancestors, were poor in material wealth: they simply could not support the Convent and, consequently, their daughters were taught practically free of charge. The boarders, on the other hand, came from wealthier families in Montreal and they helped to keep the finances afloat. Bu t t heir numbers were small, owing to lack of space and also because the parents found the school too far from the city. Thus it was soon decided that the Convent had to move. In following years it went first to St. Vincent-de-Paul on Laval Island, then to Sault-au-Récollet on Montreal Island. There the parish priest, Father Jacques-Janvier Vinet, bought two neighbouring farms and donated them to the Sisters. In 1858 a stately gothic stone mansion welcomed students to “ the Old Sault”, as this institution was to be called for over a century. A large chapel was — 45 — added in 1864 and school wings in 1887 and 1913. An historical Canadian house, “ la Maison Meilleur”, stood on the property at the time of the sale. In 1864, Mother Barat gave the necessary sum of money to have this house enlarged and adapted. It become “ l’École Sainte-Sophie”, a free school intended for the children of the working classes. It -prospered. The curriculum covered basic subjects including book-keeping and dress-making. The large boarding school, “ the Sault”, prospered also. Within its walls many yo u ng people received a Christian education and many sisters laboured lovingly. However, seventy years later in the summer of 1929, lightning struck the building entirely destroying the older part. Notwithstanding the catastrophe, a few hours afterwards a telegram to the Mother General in Rome announced that all lives had been saved; and, promptly, a second telegram followed requesting permission to rebuild immediately. So the least damaged wing was repaired and the “ Little Sault” opened in the fall of that sam e year. For a whole decade, children and teachers squeezed into their narrow quarters until in 1938 a large modern building eased the situation. The City House From the early days of the foundation in St. Jacques, it had become apparent that a school for day-pupils and a meeting place for the Sodalists and Alumnae was urgently needed in the city. However, Bishop Bourget, for the reasons mentioned above, withheld his consent for a long time. Finally he gave his permission and in September, 1861, the city school opened with an enrolment of 50 pupils. Like most houses established within cities the Montreal Sacred Heart day school migrated several times until in 1 8 72 it was located at the corner of St. Catherine and Bleu ry Streets. This section of Montreal was still residential and even rural. T he old accou n t s t el l us of a “ very good cow” sent as a present from the Sault. Occasionally it would “ break enclosure” an d wanted for fresh air as far as what is now Sherbrooke Street; then it was the duty of the postulants to run after it and bring it back “ to the fold.” T he City House was to be exclusively a day school, and kept the students only up to “ Classe de Troisième” (about 9th or 10th grade). T he girls were t o co m p l ete their education as boarders at the Sault.

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