Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal facts for kids
The Congrégation de Notre Dame (CND) is a special group of religious women. It was started in 1658 in a place called Ville Marie, which is now Montreal, Canada. This area was then known as New France.
A woman named Marguerite Bourgeoys founded the CND. She came from France to create a new kind of religious community. Unlike many groups at the time, her sisters were allowed to live and work outside a convent.
The CND played a big part in building New France. They helped women and girls in the colony. They also created new roles for women beyond just staying at home.
The CND started a boarding school for girls. They also looked after the filles du roi. These were young women whose trip to the colony was paid for by the King. The King wanted them to marry and help families grow in New France. Some filles du roi and CND sisters even worked as missionaries with First Nations people.
The main home of the CND has been in Montreal for over 350 years. Marguerite Bourgeoys became a saint in 1982. She was the first woman from Canada to be made a saint by the Catholic Church.
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How the CND Began
The Congrégation Notre-Dame was a religious group for women. It was first started in France by Pierre Fourier and Alix Le Clerc. Their main goal was to provide education.
Marguerite Bourgeoys had a special vision in 1640. She wanted to create a new type of religious community for women. These women would be active and help people in need. They would not be confined to a convent. She based her idea on a group called the Canonesses of Mattaincourt.
In 1653, Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve visited Troyes, France. He was the founder of Ville Marie (Montreal). He invited Marguerite Bourgeoys to come to Ville Marie to teach. She sailed from France in June of that year.
When she arrived, she spent her time helping others. She opened her first school in April 1657. Soon after, she went back to France to find helpers. Four women joined her and returned to New France.
Where the CND Was Located
By 1665, the CND group included Marguerite Bourgeoys and three other sisters. They lived in Montreal. They taught in a stone building known as the "stable school," which opened in 1658.
The convent was near the corner of Notre-Dame and Saint Paul Street. This area is now called Old Montreal. The early convent was a private place. It was set apart from the busy public life of Montreal.
The convent was built deep inside its own land. Walls and the nearby Hôtel Dieu protected it. This kept the sisters safe and private. They were surrounded by merchants, soldiers, and workers in the colony.
The Maison Saint-Gabriel Farm
In October 1662, Maisonneuve gave land in Pointe-Saint-Charles to Bourgeoys. She wanted to start a farm there. This farm would provide food for the sisters and support their work.
In 1668, Bourgeoys bought the farm next door, called Maison Saint-Gabriel. The CND sisters ran this farm for almost 300 years. It was also a temporary home for some of the filles du roi.
On the farm, the sisters grew food and made products. These helped the CND, new settlers, and others who needed help.
Today, Maison Saint-Gabriel is a living museum. It shows what farming and life were like in the past. The buildings and grounds have been restored. The museum has about 15,000 items. They help recreate the feeling of a 17th and 18th-century home.
The CND group was officially recognized by King Louis XIV in 1671. The Catholic Church gave it official status in 1698. This was 40 years after it started. It was also two years before Marguerite Bourgeoys passed away.
In 1675, Bourgeoys built a chapel. It was dedicated to Notre Dame de Bon Secours. She wanted her group to have more freedom. So, she created a community where members were not cloistered. They took simple vows.
The sisters usually taught children. They also helped priests in different parishes where CND convents were set up. The Bishop of Quebec, François de Laval, approved the community. But Bourgeoys wanted the rule of being non-cloistered and having simple vows to be official.
She traveled to Europe a third time to talk with the bishop. After returning, she resisted many attempts to merge her new group with the cloistered Ursulines. She did not want to change her group's original character.
New CND houses were opened in places like Pointe-aux-Trembles, Lachine, Champlain, and Château Richer. In 1685, a mission was started at Sainte Famille on the Island of Orléans.
Changes to the CND Rules
Later, the nuns had to take vows, including a vow of stability. This meant women could not leave the convent whenever they wanted. A new rule also created a difference between women who had taken their vows and those who had not.
The bishop also required new members to pay a dowry. This made it harder for women from poorer families to join.
Even with these new, more traditional rules, the CND sisters kept some of their old ways. Many continued to teach, travel, and share their skills in other parishes across New France.
CND Sisters and Education
Schools in New France were mostly run by the church. Teaching Christian values was the first step in education. Children in religious schools learned Christian moral principles. Formal education in the 1700s aimed to create a polite Christian population.
Most teachers in New France were part of the clergy. A rule in 1727 said that all teachers needed approval from the Bishop of Quebec. Priests closely watched what teachers taught and how they taught it.
At this time, there was no formal school system in Île Royale. This colony was founded in 1713. It included French areas of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. When the colony was being set up, no one talked about starting schools. They thought missionaries would open parish schools.
By the mid-1720s, there were still no schools, but over 300 children. Local officials wanted schools, but royal officials disagreed. So, locals decided to handle education themselves.
Officials in Louisbourg asked for a public Catholic school. But imperial officials said no. Concerned about girls' moral teaching, local officials asked the CND in Montreal for help. They suggested sending CND sisters to teach girls.
Finally, in 1727, Marguerite Roy and two other sisters were sent from Montreal. They were to oversee the teaching of girls in the colony. Soon after arriving, they opened a school. They took 22 girls under their care.
The bishops of Quebec saw this as very important. Bishop Saint-Vallier was especially worried about girls' moral upbringing. But there were money problems. The sisters needed to buy a house to teach in. They sold straw mats to soldiers to earn extra money. Religious brothers, however, were much wealthier. Their teaching had more resources and better buildings.
Ile Royale was a poor religious community. Low income, debt, and budget problems were constant issues for the CND sisters until 1753.
Despite limiting the number of girls they admitted, many girls in Ile Royale were successfully taught by the CND sisters. As was common then, teaching morals and Christian ethics was more important than reading and writing. Both day students and boarders benefited from the school.
Along with religious duties, religious texts helped girls learn to read and write. Some math was also taught, but it was limited. The education given to girls by the CND sisters in Ile Royale was considered good for that time. Students followed a regular weekly schedule.
In the late 1800s, CND missions were started in Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and the United States. Many academies and schools were also opened in Montreal.
The CND Today
In 1908, the Notre-Dame Congregation founded Notre Dame Ladies College. This school is now known as Marianopolis College.
In 1926, Waterbury Catholic High School was founded in Waterbury, Connecticut. It was a high school for girls. In 1975, it joined with Holy Cross High School (Connecticut). That school was run by the Congregation of Holy Cross. The building was renamed Sacred Heart High School. As of 2018, ten CND sisters still worked in the Waterbury area. They served in churches, schools, a prison, and a hospital.
In 1981, a CND community was started in Troyes, France. This was Marguerite Bourgeoys' hometown. A second community in France began in 1989 in Estissac. There, the sisters created the Marguerite Bourgeoys Cultural Centre.
As of 2019, there are about 830 members in the CND. Their main home, or motherhouse, is in Montreal.
See also
- Peter Fourier
- Maison Saint-Gabriel
- François de Laval
- Jean-Baptiste de La Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier
