• Museum of the Sisters of Providence
Sisters of Providence International
The Museum of the Sisters of Providence was open in 1996; it presents the history of Emilie Gamelin and of the Sisters of Providence from yesterday to today.
The Community of the Sisters of Providence, founded in Montreal, Canada, in 1843 by Emilie Tavernier Gamelin and Bishop Ignace Bourget, excels in numerous and varied fields, including health care, education and social work. Within a few years after its foundation, the Community spread through Canada and the world thanks to the different works that demonstrate the essence of its Mission: “to respond to the urgent and multiple needs of the poor.”
Following in the footsteps of their foundress, the Sisters of Providence have left a lasting social print on our society. A visit to the Museum is a good occasion to discover, through multiple objects that are both tools and proofs, of this immense social work of love started in the 19th century by Blessed Emilie Tavernier Gamelin, who still inspires charity today.
Emilie Room
By visiting this exhibition you will live an experience of human and feminine charity: the story of Emilie Gamelin, the Great Lady of Montreal. Widow at 27 and having lost her three children on the threshold of the industrial revolution, Emilie Gamelin became the mother of the poor, devoting her life to help the needy. Called the Providence of the poor and the angel of political prisoners, she roamed the city of Montreal, arousing generosity of those better well-off and distributing the fruit of her work to the down-and-out. Woman of action and compassion, tireless worker, Emilie eventually became one of the most remarkable women in Montreal’s history.
Her visits to the Patriots at the “Au pied du courant” prison, the care of the sick and the elderly, the Work of the Soup, and the education of deaf girls are only a few examples of her work.
Providence Room
This room presents the Sisters of Providence from yesterday to today and highlights their history, spirituality, charism and mission. A visit of this room immerses the visitor in the daily life of the Community, which for more than 170 years has continued the work of the foundress, Emilie Gamelin
Thematic Exhibition Room
Freeing the Treasure” unveils for you the fascinating and little known world of deaf culture. Touch on the history of deafness through one of the works of the Sisters of Providence: educating deaf girls at the Institution des Sourdes-Muettes (Institute for the deaf) in Montreal. This institute was opened to end the isolation of deaf girls in the Province of Quebec. Within this Institution was also born the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Seven Dolors.
