Founders
The
Four Founding Sisters
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Sister
Mary Angele
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ister
Mary of the Sacred Heart, Sister Marie Angele, Sister Mary Lumena,
Sister Mary Conception and a lay woman, who later became Sister Mary
des Sept Douleurs, set off April 14th, 1858. They left Canada for
the West, an area not yet included as part of the country. The journey
to Victoria involved a boat from Montreal, a train from New York,
a trip on the S.S. Philadelphia to connect to their rail crossing
of the Isthmus of Panama, a steamer to San Francisco, another sea
voyage as far as Portland, further travel north and the final passage
into Victoria aboard the S.S. Seabird.
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Sister
Mary Lumena
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Sister
Mary Conception
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The women arrived
on June 5, 1858. The Hudson's Bay Company fort and wilderness they
were expecting, from the description of Bishop Demers, was not what
they found.
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Sister
Mary of the Sacred Heart
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The women were shown to the log cabin that was to be their home and
school, on a piece of land which remains as part of the grounds of
St. Ann's Academy today. Mrs. Reed, a local woman, came with water,
coal and wood, and the Sisters prepared for their first night, hanging
their aprons in the windows in lieu of curtains. The school opened
on Monday, June 7, and twelve children were registered.
Early
Sisters
The early
Sisters told those they met on their journey to Victoria that they
were going to Vancouver Island in search of souls. Their intentions
were to establish a school as a Christian mission. When it became
clear that Victoria was a larger, more established centre than they
had expected, they sent to Lachine for assistance. In 1859, Sister
Mary Bon Secours arrived with her talents in the area of music.
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Mother
Mary
Providence McTucker
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There was also
a need to find a qualified, English speaking Sister, to teach the
Anglophone children of the Hudson's Bay Company employees. Sister
Mary Providence McTucker, a young woman of 22 from Sligo, Ireland,
filled this role. She became a leader in the Sisters' community,
and, as Provincial Superior from 1859 to 1881, guided St. Ann's
through religious, business and academic concerns.
There
is a long list of Sisters who made the voyage from Quebec to Victoria
to participate in the early years of the Academy. Many of them missed
their eastern home, and were afraid of the new lives they would
lead in the log cabin and View Street schools. They are not anonymous,
yet their roles as part of a community made their contributions,
as well as their mistakes and difficulties, a collective effort.
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