Religious museum and teaching centre
The
Ursuline Monastery of Quebec City
(
French
:
Monastere des Ursulines de Quebec
) was founded by a missionary group of
Ursuline
nuns
in 1639 under the leadership of Mother
Marie of the Incarnation
, O.S.U. It is the oldest institution of learning for women in North America.
[1]
Today, the
monastery
serves as the General
Motherhouse
of the Ursuline Sisters of the Canadian Union.
[2]
The community there also operates an historical museum
[3]
and continues to serve as a teaching centre.
[4]
The complex was designated a
National Historic Site of Canada
in 1972.
[5]
Background
[
edit
]
The
Ursulines
are a
Roman Catholic
religious order founded at
Brescia
, Italy by
Angela de Merici
in 1535, primarily for the education of girls and the care of the sick and needy.
[1]
Their
patron saint
is
Saint Ursula
.
The Viceroyalty of
New France
was the area colonized by France in North America starting with the exploration of the
Saint Lawrence River
by
Jacques Cartier
in 1534. The French explorer
Samuel de Champlain
founded the city of
Quebec
in 1608 among the
Algonquin people
as the administrative seat for New France. Colonization was slow and difficult. Many settlers died early, because of harsh weather and diseases. In 1630, there were only 103 colonists living in the settlement, but, by 1640, there were 355.
History
[
edit
]
St. Marie of the Incarnation, O.S.U., Foundress of the Ursuline Monastery of Quebec
The Ursuline Sisters were the first Catholic nuns to land in New France (now known as Canada). The history of the Ursulines in Quebec begins on 1 August 1639, when its first members landed in Canada. The monastery was established under the leadership of Mother (now Saint)
Marie of the Incarnation
(1599?1672), an Ursuline nun of the monastery in
Tours
, and Madame
Marie-Madeline de Chauvigny de la Peltrie
(1603?1671), a rich widow from
Alencon
in
Normandy
. The
letters patent
sanctioning the foundation issued by
King Louis XIII
are dated 1639.
[6]
When they arrived in the summer of 1639, the nuns studied the languages of the native peoples and then began to educate the native children.
[7]
They taught reading and writing as well as needlework, embroidery, drawing and other domestic arts.
[8]
[9]
After three years spent in the Lower Town of
Quebec City
, the nuns moved to a new monastery built on ground ceded to them by the
Company of New France
. Their first pupils were Indian girls, with whom they succeeded better than the
Jesuits
with their native boys
[
citation needed
]
. The first monastery burned down in 1650, but was soon rebuilt.
[6]
The community was attacked by the
Iroquois
in 1661?2, when one of its chaplains, the Sulpician
Abbe
Vignal, was slain and devoured
[10]
near
Montreal
.
The Constitutions, written by Father
Jerome Lalemant
(1593?1673), uncle of the Jesuit martyr
Gabriel Lalemant
, combined the rules of the two Congregations of Paris and Bordeaux, and were observed until Bishop
Francois de Laval
decided in 1681 in favour of the former, which binds its members by a
fourth vow
to teach girls.
[6]
St.
Francois de Laval
, first bishop of New France (1659-1684)
The monastery endured the
siege and bombardment of Quebec
under
William Phips
in 1690, and a second siege by
James Wolfe
on 13 September 1759, known as the
Battle of the Plains of Abraham
, where the garrison of Quebec was defeated by Wolfe's army. After the battle, the French governor,
Montcalm
, who had died in it was buried by night in the monastery chapel. The first English governor,
Murray
, used part of the monastery as his headquarters. On that occasion the rations served to the nuns for nursing the wounded and sick saved them from perishing of starvation.
[11]
The governors and viceroys, both English and French, were always friendly to the institution.
The Quebec Monastery founded new communities at
Three Rivers
in 1697,
Roberval
in 1882,
Stanstead
in 1884, and
Rimouski
, with a normal school, in 1906, besides sending missionaries to
New Orleans
in 1822, Charlestown (Boston) in 1824, Galveston in 1849 and Montana in 1893.
[11]
Development and expansion
[
edit
]
The Ursuline Monastery of Quebec, established in 1639, founded the following monasteries and convents which were autonomous until 1953:
- Monastery of Trois-Rivieres: (1697)
- Waterville, 1888-1892
- Skowhegan, 1899-1900 (Maine, USA)
- Grand-Mere, 1900-1972
- Shawinigan, 1908-1977
- Trois-Rivieres, Christ-Roi Monastery, 1939-1996
- Monastery of Roberval: 1882?2002. (Residence since 2002 at the Augustines de la Misericorde de Jesus in Roberval; and other foundations)
[12]
- Monastery of Stanstead: 1884?2004. (Residence in Magog since 2004)
- Monastery of Rimouski: 1906?1970, the Ursuline Monastery became the Universite du Quebec a Rimouski
- Monastere De Gaspe: in 1924?1970,
- St-Simon, 1951-1970
- Anses-aux-Gascons, 1950 -1964
- Monastere d'Amqui, 1946-1972
- Hakodate, Japan, 1948,
- Matane, 1950
- St-Leon-le-Grand, 1952
- Maillardville, B.C., 1952-1968
- Sendai, Japan, 1936
- Tamonoki, 1967
- Tokyo, 1972
- Yagi, 1974-2004
- Loretteville: Boarding School, 1941?1997; Day School 1941
- Jacquet River, 1945-1971
- St-Leonard, N.-B. 1947-1987
[13]
The era is coming to a close. Article from Globe and Mail, July 26, 2018. Of 52 sisters only four will remain when 48 move to a care facility in September 2018. "When the last nuns pad out the door, it will not be easy to return. The massive wooden door to the Ursuline Monastery only has a doorknob on the inside. It was designed to keep outsiders from getting in. Ultimately, though, it could not keep out the realities of advancing age and a secular world."
[14]
Notable people
[
edit
]
Marie-Marguerite d'Youville (1701?1771), founder of the Grey Nuns
Mother Marie of the Incarnation, the foundress, practiced devotion to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus
, and had established it in the cloister years before the revelation to St.
Margaret Mary Alacoque
(1647?1690). The first celebration of the feast in the New World took place in the monastery on 18 June 1700. The register of the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart begins in 1716.
Pope Clement XI
(1718) enriched it with indulgences. Mother Marie mastered the local languages and composed dictionaries in
Algonquin
and
Iroquois
, a sacred history in Algonquin, and a catechism in Iroquois.
Genevieve Boucher
, more commonly known as Mere de Saint-Pierre, (1676-1766) served in the Order for over 60 years and is referred to in its annals as a "perfect Ursuline" and "the Methuselah of our history".
[15]
Anne Bourdon
, known as Mere de Sainte-Agnes (1644-1711), was the first Canadian-born superior for the order.
[16]
The first superior elected after the conquest of the colony by England (1760) was
Esther Wheelwright
, a New England captive,
[17]
rescued from the
Abenakis
by the Jesuit Father Bigot, and a protegee of the first governor,
Vaudreuil
. The Irish, Scottish and American elements in Canada have given distinguished subjects to this cloister, prominent among whom was Mother Cecilia O'Conway of the Incarnation, the first Philadelphia nun, one of St.
Elizabeth Ann Seton
's earliest associates. The list of alumnae includes
Jeanne Le Ber
(1662?1714), the saintly "recluse of Montreal", and Saint
Marie-Marguerite d'Youville
(1701?1771), foundress of the
Grey Sisters
at Montreal.
During the
French Revolution
(1789?1799) several French refugees were chaplains to the monastery, the most notable being Abbe L.P. Desjardins, who died in France as the
Vicar General
of the
Archdiocese of Paris
. Through him were procured the valuable paintings by
Philippe de Champaigne
,
Charles Le Brun
,
Hyacinthe Collin de Vermont
,
Pietro da Cortona
and others, that adorn the chapel.
Ursuline lace
Affiliations
[
edit
]
The Museum is affiliated with the
CMA
,
CHIN
and
Virtual Museum of Canada
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Fidelis, Mother Mary (1912).
"The Ursulines"
. In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
Catholic Encyclopedia
. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^
"Our History"
.
Les Ursulines
.
- ^
Ursuline Museum website
- ^
Ecole des Ursulines official website
- ^
Ursuline Monastery
.
Canadian Register of Historic Places
. Retrieved 2011-09-17.
- ^
a
b
c
Lindsay, Lionel (1912).
"Ursulines of Quebec"
. In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
Catholic Encyclopedia
. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^
Buescher, John.
"Religious Orders of Women in New France"
,
Teachinghistory.org
, accessed August 21, 2011
- ^
Chabot o.s.u., Marie-Emmanuel (1979) [1966].
"Guyart, Marie, dite Marie de l'Incarnation"
. In Brown, George Williams (ed.).
Dictionary of Canadian Biography
. Vol. I (1000?1700) (online ed.).
University of Toronto Press
.
- ^
Agnes Repplier,
Mere Marie of the Ursulines: a study in adventure
(New York, 1931)
- ^
1907 report by the Bureau of American Ethnology on cannibalization in North America
- ^
a
b
htm Sister Mary of Jesus, "Ursulines",
The Encyclopedia of Canada
, Vol. VI, (W. Stewart Wallace, ed.), Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 398p., pp.221-224.
- ^
Tremblay, Isabelle. "The Roberval Ursulines leave after 129 years",
The Daily
- ^
Ursulines of the Canadian Union
- ^
"Quebec's dwindling number of Catholic nuns spells end of era in province"
.
- ^
Lapointe, Gabrielle (1974).
"Genevieve Boucher"
. In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.).
Dictionary of Canadian Biography
. Vol. III (1741?1770) (online ed.).
University of Toronto Press
.
- ^
"Bourdon, Anne"
.
Repertoire du patrimoine culturel du Quebec
(in French). Culture et Communications Quebec.
- ^
Puritan child, native daughter, mother superior
Globe and Mail book review, 2011 April 22
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "
The Ursulines of Quebec
".
Catholic Encyclopedia
. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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