This year marks one hundred years since the Sisters of St. Joseph formed a community in Pembroke, Ontario. This slideshow celebrates their century of service in the Ottawa Valley.
history
A short history of hospitals
The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada administered a number of hospitals in Canada, including in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario, as well as in Brazil.
The Pembroke Sisters established the Radville Community Hospital in Radville, Saskatchewan, and administered St. Joseph’s Hospital in Barrhead, Alberta and St. Francis Memorial Hospital in Barry’s Bay, Ontario.
The Peterborough Sisters founded several hospitals in Ontario including St. Joseph’s Hospital in Peterborough as well as St. Joseph’s Hospital in Parry Sound, and St. Joseph’s Hospital in North Bay. They also journeyed to Estevan, Saskatchewan to establish St. Joseph’s Hospital. Travelling even further, they opened St. Joseph’s Hospital in Itacoataria, Brazil.
The London Sisters founded St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chatham, and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Sarnia, Ontario. In London, they established St. Joseph’s Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital. They also set up several western hospitals including Stettler Hospital, Galahad Hospital, St. Paul’s Hospital in Rimbey, and Killam General Hospital, all in Alberta.
The Hamilton Sisters established St. Joseph’s Hospital in Guelph, St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hamilton, St. Mary’s Hospital in Kitchener, and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Brantford, Ontario.
Our archives has records relating to some of these hospitals. We are also engaged in cataloguing medical artifacts from the time the Sisters administered St. Joseph’s Hospital in London.
Please visit: History of Medicine and Medical Humanities – McMaster University
The 100th anniversary of the Pembroke Sisters
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 Year of St. Joseph
We are happy to launch the new website for our consolidated archives on the eve of St. Joseph’s Day in the Year of St. Joseph. We hope you will keep checking back as we add new content each month!
St. Joseph is our patron saint. St. Joseph was by birth of the royal family of David, but lived as a carpenter. He found Mary pregnant when he married her, and planned to quietly divorce her. However, an angel told him the child was the son of God and conceived by the Holy Spirit, so he took her as his wife. After the visit of the Magi, an angel warned him of violence against the child Jesus by King Herod, and so the family fled to Egypt, returning to Nazareth only after Herod’s death. Along with Mary, he searched for Jesus in Jerusalem and found him in the temple. Joseph died before the crucifixion and his feast is celebrated on March 19, the traditional day of his death. St. Joseph is the patron saint of the universal church, workers, social justice, and of Canada.
