OUR PETERBOROUGH STORY


We Sisters of St. Joseph of Peterborough have a complex history: daughter-congregation to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto , and mother-congregation to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Pembroke and Sault St. Marie. At the time of our founding in 1890, Peterborough diocese stretched from the shores of Lake Ontario northward, and westward beyond the western end of Lake Superior by a hundred miles or more - encompassing at least four present-day dioceses in northern and northwestern Ontario . Through the intervening years since 1890, we have established foundations in many other dioceses in the provinces of Ontario , Quebec , Newfoundland , Saskatchewan , Alberta and British Columbia , and in the prelacy of Itacoatiara in Brazil . Our sisters have served in Manitoba , the Northwest Territories , the Yukon , and in Honduras , Zambia and the far East.

A Daunting Challenge

Bishop R.A. O'Connor, who became bishop of Peterborough in 1889, had felt a great need for a diocesan congregation which would devote its energies to the educational and health needs of his huge diocese. He discussed the matter with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto, with the result that in May, 1890, he sent to the houses of the Sisters in Cobourg, Port Arthur and Fort William (now Thunder Bay ) a document to be signed by those sisters who would volunteer to remaining the diocese of Peterborough as members of a new congregation. A total of fourteen sisters signed. The task facing the new congregation was monumental. It had been arranged that they would take over the academy in Lindsay , Ontario , hitherto ably conducted by the Loretto sisters, and staff the newly opened St. Joseph 's Hospital in Peterborough as well as the existing houses. To further complicate the task, the new hospital was to care not only for the sick, but also for forty of Peterborough 's elderly poor who were at the time residents of the House of Providence in Toronto . Mother Vincent, one of the caregivers, describes the situation:

"They were truly God's afflicted, the blind, the lame, the epileptic, and the half-witted. No one but the Sisters who laboured in the hospital can realize the difficulty of caring for the sick, the poor, the aged and the orphaned under one roof in quarters both unsuitable and inadequate for these very different charities"

Congregation Flourishes

Realizing the almost insurmountable obstacles facing the little band of fourteen, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto generously permitted a limited number of their sisters to volunteer to join the new congregation, and the number of founding sisters rose to twenty. On August 15, 1890 Mother Austin Doran was elected General Superior

Fifteen new members joined the congregation during the first year, and the foundation prospered, although poverty weighed heavily. With growing numbers, a new residence on the outskirts of Peterborough was secured, and renamed Mount St. Joseph in the autumn of 1894. In the same year the new congregation began its teaching apostolate in the city of Peterborough . At the time of Mother Austin's death in 1901, the congregation numbered 86, and had assumed responsibility for staffing a House of Providence, built in 1900 to accommodate not only the elderly poor but orphans of the diocese.

New Foundations



In 1921 the three mission houses located in the diocese of Pembroke were, at the request of Bishop Ryan, formed into a new congregation with the motherhouse in Pembroke. The founding members were 27 sisters. The year 1921 saw three other significant events in our history - the withdrawal of the Peterborough sisters from Calgary , the opening of a convent in Campbellford, and the opening in Cobourg of a second orphanage. After 1921, we experienced a 15 year period of growth in numbers and in significant expansion of apostolates. By 1936, we numbered 395 sisters, and convents had been opened in Sudbury , West Fort William, in Wainwright and Clandonald , Alberta , in Kirkfield, and a hospital had been opened in North Bay .


The year 1936 marked another milestone in our history as Bishop Dignan of Sault St. Marie announced the formation of a new congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph for his diocese. In August the finalization was completed, and 120 sisters had become founding members of the new congregation. The Peterborough sisters continued to staff the high school and 3 elementary schools in Fort William and to conduct music lessons there until they withdrew gradually between 1945 and 1948. In 1938 we opened two new missions, a convent and school in Old Chelsea, Quebec, and a hospital in Estevan , Saskatchewan . In 1940, we opened the first of two convents in Ottawa (the second in 1950), and assumed charge of two large schools. In 1948, the congregation opened three new missions in Honey Harbour , Hastings and Edmonton . Through the years, we continued to expand our apostolate - to Port Hope in 1956, to Vancouver in 1959, to Itacoatiara , Brazil in 1965, to Bracebridge in 1973, to Labrador City in 1977, to Regina in 1984 and to Dawson Creek in 1985.

A Time of Transition

In spite of decreasing numbers, the closing of several convents and the handing over of well-established institutions, we continue to serve in many areas across Canada and abroad. At present we have three centers of spirituality in Peterborough , Ottawa and Cobourg (see links page), our sisters are serving in Lloydminster , London and Yellowknife as more recent missions, and we are blessed through the work of our sisters in Zambia and the Far East . In Zambia our sisters are directly involved in ministry to victims of AIDS as well as in our traditional apostolate of education. The Sister in the Far East is affiliated with the Scarboro Mission Society.

In our response to new ministries that call us forth, we network with other groups who share our mission to the most needy, and offer congregational support to some of the most urgent needs of our society, including adequate shelter for the aged, the homeless, women in need and refugees. As an example, we offer temporary shelter to refugees in a residence that has grown to include three different residences and an apartment. We are present on boards that struggle to provide adequate housing for the poor, and many of our sisters volunteer in parishes, health care facilities and organizations that respond to current needs. We have sisters dedicated to raising awareness about ecology and earth literacy. In this time of transition, we endeavour to be faithful to the same charism that called our first sisters to risk all for the sake of the mission.

Adapted from "History of the Sisters of St. Joseph " by Sister M. Ursula (Harrington)



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