TIMELINE
Founding of the Daughters of Charity Servants of the poor (Sisters of Providence)
Bishop Ignace Bourget (1840 – 1876), succeeds Rev. Lartigue as Bishop of Montreal, and becomes Émilie’s collaborator and adviser. He is a dynamic man of action, who knows the life of the diocese in depth and envisions great projects for the organization of the pastoral and social life of the metropolis. The work of Mrs. Gamelin and the Ladies of Charity is well known to him and he considers their joint work as an element which will be important in the realization of his vision.
Bishop Bourget invites the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul in Paris, France, to take on the work of Mrs. Gamelin and to continue it. With Mrs. Gamelin and the Ladies of the Corporation, he agrees to erect a new building to house the Sisters and the work of Providence. This building will be called Providence Asile.
However, as the future Providence Asile is being built, Bishop Bourget learns that the Daughters of Charity of Paris will not come. He then quickly decides to found a community of Canadian religious: The Daughters of Charity, Servants of the Poor.
One month later, on March 25th, 1843, during the Feast of the Annunciation, seven young women join the community. Canon Jean Charles Prince is the director of the religious formation of the novices and Mrs. Gamelin remain the lay director of the work. In May, the boarders, the novices and Mrs. Gamelin leave the “Yellow House” to settle in the new Providence Asile.
Having spent long hours reflecting and praying with her confessor, Bishop Jean Baptiste Bréguier, sulpician, Mrs. Gamelin experiences with more strength the call to religious life. Bishop Bourget first asks her to visit the Daughters of Saint Vincent de Paul in Emmitsburg, in the United States, and to borrow a copy of their rules. Upon her return, Émilie joins the novices of Providence, on October 1843.
On March 29th, 1844, Bishop Bourget recognizes the community as a religious congregation. Seven novices, including Mrs. Gamelin, make their vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and service to the poor, in the chapel of Providence Asile. The next day, Émilie Tavernier Gamelin is elected Superior of the community, a position which she will keep till her death on September 23rd, 1851.
Upon the death of Mother Gamelin, the Providence Institute includes 7 houses and 53 members.
Chronology
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1840
November 6, 1841
The Association of Ladies of Charity of the Asylum is granted canonical status. The life of the new community is modeled on that which Saint Vincent de Paul has set up for his Daughters of Charity.
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February 2, 1842
Émilie privately commits to serving the poor as long as her strength will allow her to do so.
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May 10, 1842
Blessing is given to the first stone of Providence Asile which will house Mrs. Gamelin’s work.
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March 1843
Bishop Bourget and Canon Prince select the six first postulants of the new Institute. Émilie welcomes a 7th postulant.
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March 25, 1843
The Feast of the Annunciation marks the official founding date of the Providence Institute. The seven postulants join the community.
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May 24, 1843
Émilie, the novices and boarders of the « Yellow House » enter into the new Providence Asylum.
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September 11, 1843
Émilie visits the Daughters of Saint Vincent de Paul in Emmitsburg, United States in order to borrow a copy of the rules of their community.
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October 8, 1843
Émilie joins the novices of Providence.
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March 29, 1844
The community of the Daughters of Charity Servants of the Poor is granted canonical status. Seven novices, of whom one is Mrs. Gamelin, make their religious vows: poverty, chastity, obedience and service to the poor, in the Chapel of Providence Asile.
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March 30, 1844
Émilie becomes the Superior of the community and will remain as such until her death in 1851. As of November 11, 1845, the Superior will have the title of Mother.
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November 30, 1845
Acceptance of a first foundation, in Longue Pointe, for the purposes of teaching and home visits.
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May 12, 1846
Acceptance of a second foundation in Laprairie for the elderly and the orphans.
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June 26, 1847
The Sisters of Providence replace the Grey Nuns at the side of typhus patients.
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July 11, 1847
Mother Gamelin organizes a refuge for 150 orphans of the typhus epidemic, which becomes known as the Saint Jérôme Émilien Hospice, in the house of Mrs. Nowlan.
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August 28, 1847
Mother Gamelin is appointed director of the Saint Jacques School for girls. It will be destroyed by a fire in 1852; it will be rebuilt in 1853 under the name of Saint Alexis Orphanage.
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April 1849
The Sisters of Providence devote themselves to the patients suffering from cholera.
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July 1849
The Sisters of Providence manage the Saint Camille Hospital to take care of the victims of cholera.
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August 24, 1849
Opening of a third house in Sainte Élisabeth for the purposes of education and caring for the elderly.
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1850
May 3, 1850
Opening of a fourth house in Sorel for the purposes of education and caring for the poor, the sick and the disabled.
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May 16, 1850
Mother Gamelin makes a second trip to the United States to visit the establishments for mental patients and gain experience from the Daughters of Charity, so as to be able to ensure the success of the works and their development.
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November 22, 1850
Bishop Augustin-Magloire Blanchet calls for some Sisters of Providence to come to his diocese in the American West.
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February 19, 1851
Sister Albine Gadbois devotes herself to working with the deaf in Longue Pointe House.
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September 23, 1851
Mother Gamelin dies of cholera. The Providence Institute includes 7 branches and 53 members.