Les Soeurs Du Sauveur

In 1895, the Chanoinesses (renamed as the Soeurs du Sauveur in 1967) arrived from Lyon, France to Notre Dame de Lourdes, Manitoba Canada. A new parish had been founded there in 1891. Very soon, the pastor, Dom Paul Benoit, requested nuns for the education of the children and the care of the sick and the elderly.

Bishop Adelard Langevin contacted and reached an agreement with the religious order, the Chanoinesses, whose charism was an echo of the request by Paul Benoit: educate the children and care for the elderly.

The Chanoinesses arrived to engage in their mission work with determination and love.
In March 1950, the sisters purchased the rectory from the Roman Catholic Parish to accommodate the elderly. The rectory would be referred to as the “little foyer”. *

The plans for “foyers” at the time were gender specific. This meant the women lived in one place of the building and the men in another. Sr M. Celine, the superior of the Chanoinesses introduced a new idea: plan the rooms of the “foyer” so spouses could live as a couple in the new facility without being separated by gender.

This idea was welcomed and praised by the community of Notre Dame de Lourdes itself and by the people in the surrounding areas.

In 1960, Dr. Hubert Delaquis of Notre Dame de Lourdes convinced the government of Manitoba to build the “foyer.” Furthermore, the legislature also approved the undertaking. A committee called “Les Amis du Foyer” took the project in hand. When Foyer Notre Dame opened in 1962 the new idea had been incorporated. Sr M. Celine (Zephirina Payette), Sr M. Bernard (Josephine Baril), Sr M. Jean (Marion McEachran) and Sr M. Laurent (Denise Jubinville) worked in the new facility. They brought with them the tenderness of Jesus through their respect, their compassion and their righteousness.

In 1952, Mgr. Georges Cabana, formerly of the diocese of Saint Boniface was so impressed with the project, that he requested the Chanoinesses come to Sherbrooke, Quebec to establish the same type of “foyer” to accommodate both men and women, and especially as married couples.

In 1953, three Chanoinesses left Manitoba to open a “foyer” in Sherbrooke, PQ.