The old convent

The picture shows us the facade of the convent from the presbytery. Notice the large trees located very close to the street.

From nearly a century, from 1875 to 1971, a magnificent convent and its outbuildings located behind were built on this land which is now owned by the municipal housing office.

The establishment of a house of education under the direction or a religious community in the core of the village was accomplished by the priest Arthur-Hubert Lassiseraye. 

The latter approached the Superior General of the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa, Mère Élisabeth Bruyère, in 1874 to ask to receive a delegation of nuns who were renowned for their substantial and distinguished education.

However, his predecessor, the parish priest Jules Paradis, had made a first attempt in 1870 but illness forced him to abandon the project. 

To allow the construction of a convent, he had acquired a plot of land 100 feet long in front and 200 feet long in depth located on the other side of the church: the one which is now opposite the post office. 

The convent was finally built to the right of the presbytery on a portion of land donated to the parish Council by Mr. Phydime Richard, farmer, and his wife, Delphine Beland.

The building was of brick, measured 75 feet long by 45 feet wide, and had two floors. Its foundation was of row stone and its French-style roof was pierced with numerous dormers. 

Above was a steeple with a bell. A large gallery ran along its front facade. A first adjacent wooden building, 30 feet by 25 feet, also with 2 floors, was build for the installation of the kitchen.

This photo was taken at the back of the convent. Observe the furniture available on the ground dotted with tall trees as well as the fence that separates the convent grounds from a wooden outbuilding located on the presbytery grounds.

On September 24th, 1875, a first group of nuns arrived in Saint-François-du-Lac, but the construction of the convent was not quite finished. 

The first cohort of conventines, made up of 11 boarders and 20 day students, began its classes on October 6th, 1875, one month behind the school calendar.

In 1888, there were boarding students from Montreal, Hull, Ottawa and the United States.

Young girls could receive their education as boarders (accommodation and meals included) half-boarders (accommodation but meals not included) or quarter-boarders (accommodated and fed by a resident of the village.) 

The half-board or quarter formula-pension was suitable for girls living in the region: there was indeed an acquaintance or a member of the family ready to accommodate and/or feed the schoolgirls of the convent.

Music education occupies a part of choice. 

In 1907, a domestic school was affiliated to the convent. Particular attention was given to the culinary arts, as well as to the cutting and making of clothes. According to several conventines, the Gray Nuns were good teachers.

In 1908-1909, expansion work took place. A wing of 60 feet by 30 feet was built to house the chapel, the recreation room and the dormitory. 

In 1912, the boarding school received the title of Academy.

Until its closure in 1968, the convent received 8347 students. The Gray Nuns also taught at the village parish school. 

One of them, Sister Marie-Laurence, crossed the river morning and evening to teach about 30 students at the Odanak mission school.

On this land stood an important institution that marked generations of young girls from here and elsewhere: a convent-school.

It was built in 1875 and run by the Gray Nuns, or Sisters of Charity of Ottawa, for almost a century, until it closed in 1968. The brick building measured 75 feet long by 45 feet wide and had 2 floors. Its foundation was of stone and its French-style roof was pierced with numerous dormers. Above was a steeple with a bell. A large gallery ran along its front facade. An adjacent wooden building, 30 feet by 25 feet, also 2 floors, was built for the installation of the kitchen.

In 1908, a 60 by 30 foot extension was added to the convent, to serve as a recreation room, chapel and dormitory.

The Nuns had left the convent in 1968 and the building was demolished in 1971 to make way for 2 residences owned by the Municipal Housing Office. But the memory of the presence of the Gray Nuns remains. The names of these residences recall the 2 founding figures of the convent: one bears the name of the priest at the origin of the arrival of the teaching Sisters: Arthur-Hubert Lassiseraye. The other, overlooking rue Lachapelle at the back, bears the name of Mother Élisabeth Bruyère, the superior general who consented to the parish priest’s request and sent a first delegation of 5 Gray Nuns from Ottawa to Saint-François-du-Lac.

Between the two residences, the statues of Saint-Joseph and the Blessed Virgin still stand on the land which once constituted the backyard of the convent.

CHARLAND, Thomas-M, O.P. Histoire de Saint-François-du-Lac, Ottawa, Collège Dominicain,1942.

HUDON-BEAUDET, Florence. Saint-François-du-Lac 1673-1998, Saint-François-du-Lac, 1999.

MORVAN-MAKER(MAHER), Florentine. Florentine raconte… Laffont Canada, 1980.

Photo Credits: 

The convent of the Gray Nuns circa 1905: PINSONNEAULT, Couvent des Révérendes Soeur Grises. Saint-François-du-Lac, Québec, Carte postale, Fonds Laurette Cotnoir-Capponi, P186, S9, P292, BanQ Vieux-Montréal, dans BAnQ numérique.

View from the other side of the convent: Fonds Fabrique de la paroisse Saint-François-Xavier, Saint-François-du-Lac.

The back yard: HUDON-BEAUDET, Florence. Saint-François-du-Lac 1673-1998, Saint-François-du-Lac, 1999, pages 95 et 98.