On taking possession of the Hôpital Général from the Charron Frères, in 1747, Madame d’Youville and her companions devoted themselves to works of charity of every kind, receiving into the institution all classes of unfortunates without distinction of age or sex, never refusing any. During several years the Sisters cared for fallen women and had rooms for twelve. In 1756 a ward was opened to receive English soldiers, sick and wounded, who had been taken prisoners at Oswego under Shirley and Pepperel and others during the “Seven Years’ War” before the capitulation of Montreal. On September 7, 1760, the hospital being mistaken by the English as an outwork of defence, was about to be reduced by the cannon when a soldier ran to the general and on his knees implored him to save the hospital where he and his companions had been tended in the “Salle des Anglais.” The result was that the officers went in and were hospitably received by Madame d’Youville with biscuits and wine.
After the capitulation the hospital, as well as those of other communities in the town, suffered by the depreciation of paper money, receiving a very small percentage of its worth from the French government, thereby losing more than a hundred thousand francs.
The work of caring for abandoned children began on November 16, 1754, but was not developed till shortly after the conquest in 1760, when Madame d’Youville one day found the body of a little child frozen in the ice with the dagger still in its throat and its little hands raised as in supplication for justice. This incident with others caused her to develop this work which was then first undertaken systematically on this continent. Funds, however, were wanting. Under the old régime certain moneys had been appropriated for “enfants trouvés,” foundlings. The new military government, approached by Madame d’Youville and the Rev. M. Montgolfier, the brother of the inventor of the balloon, and the superior of the Seminary, could only procure a sum of 288 francs. On September 13, 1771, Madame d’Youville approached the sympathetic Governor Carleton, but with no good results. Yet, in spite of the extreme poverty of the sisterhood the work continued, supported by their needlework. Another contributing cause for their poverty was the loss of their hospital in the great fire of May 18, 1765, which devastated the lower part of the town. This was more disastrous to them than the fire of 1745, for it reduced their home to ashes. The children and the aged poor were about to be transferred to the barns of the farm belonging to the Grey Nuns at Point St. Charles when M. Montgolfier came with an invitation from the nuns of the Hôtel Dieu offering their hospitality. As, however, the number was too considerable, the nuns of the “Congregation” shared the problem of housing them. Not losing heart, Madame d’Youville dared, on the 9th of June following, to begin rebuilding, relying on the sum of 6,000 francs contributed by the Montreal faithful and the Indians of the settlements of Caughnawaga and the Lake of Two Mountains.
THE GREY NUNNERY OF TODAY
THE OLD “GREY” NUNNERY
As it looked from McGill Street in the late ’60s before the new building was erected on Dorchester Street. This site was that of the original General Hospital, founded by M. Charron in 1692, and transferred to Madame D’Youville in 1747. A portion of these buildings still remains in 1912, being employed as warehouses. The new Custom House is to be built on this spot.
But the Seminary came to her aid with a loan of 15,000 francs. By order of M. Montgolfier the workmen laboured constantly, even on Sundays, so that by September 23d the part for the aged men was ready. The Sisters entered their convent on December 5th and the poor women on Christmas Day. The rest of the buildings were not finished till 1767, the church being blessed on August 30th. Though housed, money was very scarce; yet Madame d’Youville had dared even nineteen days after the fire of 1765 to complete a contract already arranged since August 25, 1764, for the acquistion of the seigneury of Chateauguay, originally accorded in 1673 by Frontenac to M. Lemoyne of Longueuil, and then belonging to the family of Robutel de Lanouë. The development of this farm, which scarcely gave any revenue, was the object of the zealous solicitude of Madame d’Youville and now is the sanitarium and country house of the Grey Nuns for their different foundations. The property of Point St. Charles was afterward built upon for a country house for the children and the aged poor. It was burnt down in 1842 but re-erected in the following year. The death of this “mulier fortis” occurred at 8:30 P.M. on December 23, 1771, at the age of seventy years after a life full of fatigues, privations and sacrifices. The work undertaken by her devoted followers has spread from Montreal far and wide. On October 7, 1871, the Mother House was removed from its oldtime position “down town” to the block bounded by Guy Street, St. Catherine Street, Fort Street and Dorchester Street. The old buildings were converted by merchants into warehouses, part of which are still standing. The new custom house, being erected in 1914, marks the site of the southwest corner of their estate.