En route to Canada   The crossing   Departure for Sainte-Adélaïde de Pabos 
 A Letter Instead of a Trip   Letter From Mother Marie-Fidèle   School opening 
Second  Departure to Canada   Arrival of the Second Group   Stay at Halifax   A trip to Rimouski 
  Letter March 26, 1903     1897, A difficult end of year    October 9, 1897   On the way to England 
  Arrival in Minehead    A decisive meeting   Seeking Answers to Puzzling Questions
 Sr. Marie de Jésus, delegate of Mother Marie Fidèle   From on attempt to the next  New attempts
Endeavors of Mgr. F.-X. Bossé   Unusual offers   Mgr L-N Bégin Accepts the SCSL
The North American Branch Takes Root

 


March 2, 1898

Mrs. Christierson, God's instrument in the English foundation, welcomed the Sisters on their arrival at Southampton Harbour.  Because of a delay, they  missed the first train, so that when they arrived in Minehead, they found neither Mrs. Eccleson* who had come to meet them on the previous train, nor Father Chichester. (…)
*Mrs. Eccleson died at the beginning of the 20th Century and bequeathed f900 to the Sisters of Charity of St. Louis, a relatively important sum of money at that time.

Sr Thérèse de Jésus
1860 - 1927

Upon arrival, they found their new home  furnished by Mrs. Christierson who had come to Minehead a few days beforehand.

Sr. Thérèse de Jésus did not recognize in these renovated rooms the dilapidated house she had visited scarcely three months previously.

"Minehead and Frome owe their existence to the initiative of Sr. Thérèse de Jésus." She was  the 'Provincial' Superior in America form 1906 to 1927  (45 ans de dévouement sur le sol d'Amérique,  pp. 209-213)

Minehead 
1er Convent, Selbourne Place

The Minehead, 
Convent  shortly after

The first house outside France opened its doors on March 2, 1898 under the patronage of St. Joseph.  The temporary convent consisted of a a single thatched-roof building which, until very recently, had housed the Catholic church, the sacristy, the rectory, and the school. 


On April 12, 1898, our Sisters had 10 pupils :
5 Catholics and 5 Protestants.

On July 10, the first orphan arrived…
Three others joined her soon.*
*Archives of Minehead: 1st Book Archives 1898 to 1918.


First group of French Sisters
Minehead (Somerset)
March 2, 1898

Sr. St.Thomas d'Aquin (Joséphine Garrot) 45  years old  1853-1927

Sr. Fidèle de Jésus  (Anne Tigier)* 34  years old  1864-1944

Sr. St.Jean de la Croix  (Eugénie Jégorel) 32  years old  1866-1934

Sr. St. Chrysostome  (Marie-Louise Le Golvan)** 22  years old  1876-1908

Sr. St. Théodose  (Marie-Augustine Mahé) 36  years old 1861-1949

*   Sr. Fidèle de Jésus remained in England for 25 years, received her obedience for Canada in 1923, was superior of the Medicine Hat Convent (Alberta) for six years, returned to France in 1931.

**  Sr. St. Chrysostome remained in England for ten years, received her obedience for Canada in 1908, died a few months later in Pont-Rouge (Quebec) on August 7, 1908.
Other houses will be established in the  following years:
* Frome (Somerset) in 1902.
* Glastonbury (Somerset) in 1905.
* Richmond (Surrey, Greater London in 1959)
* Norwood (London, in 1967)
* Vauxhall in 1989
* Tolworth  (Surrey)  in 2000

"As is often the case, personal connections are at the origin of a foundation."
This quotation used in connection with the Sisters of Charity of St. Louis arrival in America applies remarkably well to their  foundation in England.

* (Guy Laperrière in Les Congrégations religieuses - De la France au Québec,
    1880-1914, Tome II, Québec, Presses de l'Université Laval, p. 149)

A decisive meeting...

SCSL au Québec