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| Our History | ||||
| The Five Catholic Founding Congregations of Sisters (Extended Histories) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ST. VINCENT'S HOSPITALS + the Sisters of Charity To trace the history of St. Vincent's Hospitals and the Sisters of Charity who founded them, you need to start more than 400 years ago in rural France. There, Vincent de Paul was born in 1581 into a poor peasant family in the village of Pouey. A friend, who recognized his ability, provided for his education and encouraged him to seek his career in the priesthood. Ordained at the age of 19, Vincent experienced adventure early in his career. In 1605, while traveling at sea, he was kidnapped by Turkish pirates and sold into slavery. His second master was an alchemist who taught him about medicine and the use of herbs. The alchemist was also a former monk, and Vincent was able to convince him to let him return to France. Later he spent some time at the Vatican before being assigned to the court of Marguerite de Valois, former wife of King Henry IV of France, as an "almoner" — a dispenser of alms. As the Queen was very generous to the poor, Vincent was able to dispense a great deal of her money to those who most needed it. This work had a profound effect on Vincent. In 1617 he began a new life when he founded the Confraternity of Charity. With Marguerite's financial help he purchased a building near Lyon and encouraged ladies and peasant girls to join him in a life devoted to the care of the needy. Here abandoned children were cared for and meals were distributed to the poor and the elderly, to the galley slaves, and to the sick lying in the wretched hospitals of the time. The Confraternity served as the seed for the Sisters of Charity (co-founded with Louise de Marillac) and the Vincentians, a group of priests and brothers who continue his work to this day. For St. Vincent, social commitment and the spiritual life were united. He founded seminaries to mould missionary priests for rural France, and established schools and hospitals for the people. He integrated acts of corporal and spiritual mercy. He combined unselfish commitment to the poor with his connections to the rich and powerful, up until his death in 1660. St. Vincent de Paul was canonized in 1737. Across the ocean in Emmitsburg, Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Ann Seton founded an order of Sisters of Charity in 1809, using the rules that St. Vincent had drawn up for the Sisters in France. Her Sisters worked primarily in hospitals, schools and orphanages. A great influx of immigrants, mainly Irish, in 1847 had brought to Saint John more than 17,000 of the poorest, most illiterate and debilitated immigrants ever to reach North America shores. The Roman Catholic population was largely impoverished and uneducated. Such were the conditions when Thomas Louis Connolly became Bishop of Saint John in 1852. Bishop Connolly immediately took up the challenge of providing for the poor and orphaned, within a month of his appointment he was off to New York to seek assistance from the Sisters of Charity at Mount St. Vincent - on - the - Hudson, New York. Sympathetic to his cause, Mother Jerome, Superior wrote following his visit "I certainly did try to interest the Council by every statement I could think of to give sisters to the mission to have pity on the poor children there going to destruction, although candidly, I did not see who could be spared." As negotiations continued, Cholera broke out in Saint John, leaving a number of orphaned children. In 1854, Bishop Connolly appealed again on behalf of the homeless children. Although the Order was unable to provide professed sisters, it did permit the Bishop to plead his cause to the novices. He was not disappointed. A group of four novices volunteered to respond to the call and arrived in the port city in September, 1854. Honoria Conway (Mother M. Vincent) was recognized as Superior. Honoria Conway, a native of Galway, Ireland was born on June 18, 1815. In 1837, her family immigrated to Saint John, and eventually settled near Metegan, Nova Scotia. As the age of 37, Honoria entered the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul at Mount St. Vincent, New York, subsequently Honoria returned to Saint John, New Brunswick, as Foundress of the Sisters of Charity. The work of these pioneer Sisters prospered and their numbers and institutions grew. In 1906 the sisters ventured outside the founding province. Their ministries, which were mainly education and health care, took them to several provinces throughout Canada and to Peru. To site one example, in Radway, Alberta in 1926 when they opened the hospital it indeed was a challenge. In a small and very inadequate house, the first three sisters literally "pitched tent" and set out to serve an urgent need the best they could at the time. Conditions were most unfavourable from the world's point of view but Mother Alphonus viewpoint was we must go, there is great need. His Excellency Archbishop Duke, then Archbishop of Vancouver was very much aware of the Sisters of Charity Ministry in Health Care and Teaching, and being very concerned about Catholic Health Care in his Dioceses approached the Superior General, Sister M. Clarice for sisters to open a hospital. On August 12th, 1938, the work of St. Vincent's Hospital began, and on July 19, 1939 the Hospital was blessed and officially opened by his Excellency Archbishop Duke. In 1939 one hundred beds were opened, but that was not adequate to meet the demands of the day. In 1952 an additional one hundred beds were added. In 1970, Extended Care and Geriatric Psychiatry were added. Expansion was approved by the Government. These one hundred bed opened in 1974. In 1976 we were asked by the government to administer a private nursing home of seventy-five beds, namely, Arbutus. In the late eighties we were approached by the government to build and operate a 225 bed Extended Care Facility. We gladly accepted the challenge and St. Vincent's Langara opened in 1991. In 1993 when the Shaughnessy Hospital ceased operation we were approached to operate 150 Veterans beds at Brock Fahrni. Let us give thanks together that we the Sisters of Charity have had the privilege to be so involved in Christ's ministry of healing and reconciliation. Let us give thanks for the opportunity of making Christ known and loved for over 145 years. May we continue to go forth, reaching out in hope and sharing with all we meet as we journey. The Sisters of Charity of The Immaculate Conception was the first English speaking community founded in Canada. << Back << The Five Catholic Founding Congregations of Sisters |
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