The  Misericordia  Sisters  of Montreal

History and Mission

The  Institute  of the  Misericordia  Sisters  has its head office  in Montreal (Quebec).  The Institute  was founded in this city in 1848 by Mrs. Rosalie Cadron-Jetté, a widow. Rosalie  was  born in  Lavaltrie, Quebec,  in 1794. She  married at the age of 17,  had  eleven children, six of whom  reached  the age of  adulthood. She  became a widow at the age of thirty-eight. While the family  was living  in Montreal, she dedicated her  life  to caring for expectant  single  mothers  rejected by society. At the request of  Bishop Ignace Bourget, she founded the community to perpetuate the work.

The  very  name  “Misericordia Sisters”,  received from Bishop Bourget, exemplifies the community charism of the Congregation. It  identifies  its  particular  spirituality and  charts the course of its  apostolic activity.

Extension  of the Mission

Since its foundation, the Institute has steadily developed, spreading out its services in Canada, the United States, in the Cameroun, Africa for several years and now in Ecuador, South America.

Rosalie Cadron-Jetté inspired those who  came after  her  to have  the audacity and the courage  that animated her  to meet the challenge  to found the said Institute.  

The Misericordia Sisters  have  operated  residences for  single  mothers and their children,  maternity  shelters  open to all women,  and general hospitals. In the early 1980’s they  withdrew progressively from the field of hospital care and  foster care homes  and  only  kept daycare  centres.

Involvements

Because of their particular ministry, the  Misericordia  Sisters are involved in  a  society where, to  this  day,  female  heads  of single parent families feel disadvantaged.  Very  often, they  live on the fringe of  society  and struggle to  meet their  needs  and those  of their child.  On this difficult path, support services are made available to  help  them  recover their autonomy,  rediscover their strengths  and  regain their  self-confidence  and confidence in others.    

The  accompaniment  they receive  is lived in a spirit of  authenticity,  hospitality and  compassionate  listening.  Then,  with  the desire to improve the situation, they  take part in  projects  of  solidarity  and collective promotion  in a struggle together  for greater justice, especially  for the  rights of children and female heads  of single-parent families.

The Misericordia Sisters work with lay people  who extend the mission through  their  deeds  in the  same  spirit of love, compassion and justice.  These persons form a  large  spiritual and apostolic family  called  “The Misericordia Family”.