Dear IS team,
On September 23, as IS gathers for its Q3 town hall, Providence St. Joseph Health will be holding activities related to our annual celebration of one of our foundresses, Mother Emilie Gamelin.
Upon the 168th anniversary of her death, we look back at the tremendous impact her short life of just 51 years had on creating this organization. Her commitment to serving the poor and vulnerable endures. Not only did she serve her society in her time, she helped create the legacy of a Mission that continues to thrive today.
I wanted to share a bit about this remarkable woman.
MOTHER EMILIE GAMELIN (1800-1851)
Emilie Tavernier was born at Montreal, Quebec, on February 19, 1800, the youngest of fifteen children. Left an orphan at an early age, she was brought up under the care of her aunts. Naturally gifted and amiable, Emilie became an accomplished young lady, enjoying the modest pleasures of society but always concerned for the needs of the poor. On June 4, 1823, at the age of twenty-three years, she married Jean-Baptiste Gamelin, a wealthy Montreal merchant. In the course of their happy but brief marriage, they had three sons, but each died at an early age. Jean-Baptiste died on October 1, 1827.
As “the Widow Gamelin,” Emilie dedicated her energy and her financial resources to serving the poor in a spirit of humility, simplicity, and charity. A strong devotion to Our Mother of Sorrows gave her comfort and strength. Not content with visiting the poor in their homes, on March 4, 1830, she opened her first refuge for elderly and destitute women. Responding to numerous cholera epidemics and periods of civil unrest, Emilie began nursing the sick and visiting prisoners. These ministries flourished with the assistance of her many friends, and in 1841, Emilie obtained civil incorporation of her work. On February 2, 1842, Emilie took a private vow to serve the poor.
With the Most Reverend Ignace Bourget, Bishop of Montreal, Emilie founded the congregation of the Sisters of Providence on March 25, 1843. Although not one of the original seven women chosen for the community, she was admitted to the novitiate on October 8, 1843. After pronouncing her religious vows on March 29, 1844, Emilie was appointed as the first superior of the congregation.
The Sisters of Providence–grew rapidly under Mother Gamelin’s direction, serving the poor, mentally ill, aged, orphans, deaf-mutes, prisoners, and handicapped. Mother Emilie Gamelin died on September 23, 1851, a victim of cholera, after an illness of only twelve hours. On her deathbed, she urged her sisters to be ever mindful of the virtues she herself had embraced throughout life: “Humility, simplicity, and charity. Above all, charity.” We are called to do the same.