Elisabeth Bruyère 1818-1876
In the 1840s, Bytown in Ottawa was a growing timber-trade village with a substantial French-Canadian population but no Catholic schools and few social services. In February of 1845 the Sisters of Charity of Montreal (Grey Nuns) sent four nuns there.
Led by Élisabeth Bruyère, a devout, well-educated young woman, the sisters quickly established a bilingual school for girls, a hospital and an orphanage. They helped the poor, the elderly and the sick, including hundreds of immigrants stricken during the typhus epidemics of 1847-48. By the time of Bruyère’s death the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa had founded key local institutions and extended their services to sixteen other communities in Canada and the U.S.
Élisabeth was easily moved by the sufferings of others, and in 1839 entered the order of the Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Général of Montreal, commonly called the Grey Nuns. She professed in 1841 and was placed in charge of a ward of 40 orphan girls, whom she strove to train according to the principles she had received.
On 12 Feb. 1845 Ignace Bourget*, bishop of Montreal, gave Sister Élisabeth Bruyère and her three companions a letter of authorization allowing them to set up one or several communities in Bishop Phelan’s diocese, provided that they conformed in every respect to the rule followed by the mother house, the Hôpital Général of Montreal.
The typhus epidemic of the years 1847 and 1848 was for the young institute its initiation to heroism. With none but themselves to tend more than 600 patients sent to them by Dr Edward Van Cortlandt, the sisters saved some 475. In addition they were entrusted with the care of about 15 infant orphans. The epidemic overcome, they returned to their labours. In 1850 a capacious stone house replaced the cramped dwelling of the early days. This building housed the nuns, the orphans, the aged, and a girls’ boarding-school which subsequently became the convent of Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Cœur. A hospital was also equipped, and a school erected at Bishop Guigues’ expense.
Mother Élisabeth Bruyère directed the community until her death, on 5 April 1876. During her long administration the community had opened some 25 houses in Ontario, Quebec, and New York State; all were under the direct control of the mother house at Ottawa. The majority were intended for teaching, and some concerned themselves with orphans, Indians, the aged, and the sick. It was an impressive achievement on the part of Mother Élisabeth Bruyère, who from the very beginning sought to make of her trainees workers who were deeply religious, zealous, and competent.
BRUYÈRE (Bruguier), ÉLISABETH, founder and first superior of the Sisters of Charity of Bytown (Ottawa); b. 19 March 1818 at L’Assomption, L.C..; d. 5 April 1876 at Ottawa, Ont.
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