This year marks the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Sisters of St. Joseph community in Pembroke, Ontario. The Sisters departed their second Motherhouse in Pembroke in 2019, after faithfully serving Pembroke and the nearby rural communities for one hundred years. During their time in the Ottawa Valley, the Sisters served as music teachers, elementary and secondary school educators, and healthcare workers. They administered St. Francis Hospital in Barry’s Bay for many years. They established a Normal School, later St. Mary’s Teachers’ College, in Chapeau, Québec. They also branched out from Pembroke and administered hospitals and long-term care facilities in Barrhead, Alberta and Radville and Regina, Saskatchewan. They established a mission in Chincha Alta, Peru serving as nurses and educators. While the Sisters no longer live in the Motherhouse in Pembroke, they are still actively involved in serving the “dear neighbor” where ever they still reside – whether in Pembroke, Barry’s Bay, Ottawa, or Peru.
The farmhouse which was the first Motherhouse 
Additions to the first Motherhouse 
St. Joseph’s-on-the-Lake 
Pembroke second Motherhouse. Photo credit: Lowe’s Studio