Sisters of Providence (Montreal)

The community of Sisters of Providence or more accurately, "Daughters of Charity, Servants of the Poor", was founded in Montreal, Canada, by Bishop Ignace Bourget and Madame Jean Baptiste Gamelin (Marie Emélie Eugénie Tavernier), 25 March 1843.

After the deaths of her husband and three children, Madame Gamelin developed a particular devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows, whose commemoration remains the congregation's principal feast.

[1] With the approbation of the religious and civil authorities Madame Gamelin, a childless widow, had for some time been sheltering in her own house a number of infirm and poor old women.

After a voyage to Europe, Bishop Bourget wished to bring to Montreal some French Sisters of Charity, but the plan came to nothing, and he decided to appeal to the young women of his own diocese.

They settled in Vancouver, Washington and established a convent-school and shortly thereafter St. Joseph Hospital, which would develop into PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center.

She went on to design and build more than 30 hospitals, schools, orphanages and libraries across British Columbia, Washington, Montana, Idaho and Oregon.