Sisters of Saint Anne

Through her work as a domestic servant to the teaching Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal who had opened a parochial school in the town, she came to learn how to read and write.

Later that same year, having recovered her health, Blondin accepted the invitation from another former novice of the Congregation, who was running a parochial school in Vaudreuil, to join her in teaching there.

[2] Over the years, Blondin found out that one of the causes of the widespread illiteracy in the French-speaking community was a certain Church ruling that forbade that children be taught by members of the opposite sex.

In 1848 Esther presented to the Bishop of Montreal, Ignace Bourget, a plan to found a religious congregation "for the education of poor country children, both girls and boys in the same schools."

[3] She obtained the commitment of several young women for this endeavor and a novitiate was opened to form members for the proposed new congregation on 13 September 1848.

[5] Of this group, Blondin and four other Sisters made their profession of religious vows on 8 September 1850,[4] thereby allowing the congregation to become legally formed.

[5] On 22 August 1853, to accommodate their growing numbers, the Sisters were moved by Bourget from Vaudreuil to Saint-Jacques de l'Achigan.

As a result of this conflict, the bishop instructed Mother Marie Anne to resign as Superior of the community as of 18 August 1854, calling for new elections.

[5] In 1858, the congregation accepted a request to help Modeste Demers, the Bishop of Vancouver Island, with the education of the children of the First Nations and of the growing European immigrants in that remote mission region.

Four Sisters from Saint-Jacques who had volunteered for this endeavor set sail for the western coast on April 8, traveling by way of the Isthmus of Panama due to there being no rail connection across Canada at that time.

[5] The Sisters arrived in the United States in September 1867 at the request of the Bishop of Buffalo, opening a school in Oswego, New York.