Seeing the whole world as our neighbour, we desire to collaborate with others in creating a world with inclusive love at its core.

For us, as CSJ in Canada women, many of our conversations take us into the mystery that is “tomorrow”.  We are always working on how to engage new generations in our mission, vision, and values.  How will we bring “active and inclusive love” to generations with a markedly different way of engaging life.  How do we communicate who we are to those who seek employment with us or who volunteer in our many ministries?   In the spring of 2023, we commissioned a short video to encapsulate years of history into a brief detailed mission. Guided by Spirit. ENJOY.

The Sisters of St. Joseph began in Le Puy, France in 1650 when Father Jean Pierre Médaille S.J. gathered six courageous women together to form a religious community. Their purpose was to offer their lives in ministry to the most vulnerable in their area. They were among the first women religious to live and work among the people doing “any work of which women are capable” just as Father Médaille had envisioned. These women cared for the sick, the aged, the orphans, and the imprisoned; they instructed young girls, guided devout women in their faith, and worked tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of the poor.

The Congregation flourished and spread during the seventeenth century, but convents were suppressed during the French Revolution and the Sisters had to disperse. Many were imprisoned and some died as martyrs. Mother St. John Fontbonne was imprisoned during this time but was saved from the guillotine by the fall of Robespierre. After the French Revolution, most communities of Sisters had disbanded. When the revolution ended in 1807, Mother St. John became head of a community of girls and women from dispersed congregations at Saint Etienne. Cardinal Fesch of Lyon, the uncle of Napoleon Bonaparte, advised this community to become the Sisters of St. Joseph. She reopened the convent at Monistrol, and the congregation received government approval in 1812. Following this, Mother St. John Fontbonne was appointed General Superior and opened the motherhouse and novitiate at Lyon in 1816. In 1836, at the request of Bishop Rosati, the Sisters were sent for the first time to North America to the diocese of St. Louis.

Among these missionaries was Mother Delphine Fontbonne, a niece of Mother St. John, and three other Sisters travelled from Philadelphia to found the Toronto congregation in 1851. The next year, in 1852, three Sisters from Toronto founded the Hamilton congregation. Later, in 1868, five Sisters from Toronto established the London congregation. The Peterborough congregation was established by 20 Sisters from Toronto in 1890. In 1921, a new Pembroke congregation was formed by 27 Sisters from Peterborough. The last Canadian community was established in 1936 in Sault Ste. Marie by Peterborough Sisters.

On November 22, 2012, a new chapter began for the Sisters of St. Joseph. Four of the six Canadian Congregations - Hamilton, London, Peterborough, and Pembroke - joined together to become one new congregation, the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada. Today, the Sisters of St. Joseph can be found worldwide in over 54 countries. We continue to respond to needs in our culture and are aware that our neighbourhood is the whole world as well as the person next to us.

For a perspective and commentary on the history of the Sisters of St. Joseph visit our Federation website.

For a detailed history and timeline, please visit the consolidated archives website: www.csjarchive.org

At the end of 2017,  the Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph became a Blue Community so that we can protect water as a shared commons, sacred gift, and human right.

The Blue Communities Project encourages us to:

• Affirm the human right to clean water both locally and globally.

• Limit the use of bottled water because water is not a commodity.

• Protect publicly owned and managed water services from being privatized.

• Re-connect to our watersheds with education, gratitude and action. 

Learn and connect with what we do by visiting our website: https://www.bluecommunitycsj.org/

The consolidated archives is a private, religious archives which is under the jurisdiction of the Congregational Leadership. There is a mission statement and policy manual for the archives.

The goal of the archives is to collect past and present records of congregational members and institutions engaged in work that reflects the charism of the congregation from 1852 to the present. These records reflect the development of the congregation, the conduct of its affairs as a corporation, and the personal lives of its members and those served through its various ministries. It is the goal of the archives to make these records accessible to the public unless there are restrictions placed on the records by the donor or for reasons of privacy or sensitivity of the records.

The consolidated archives contains the business records of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada from November 18, 2012 onward. It also contains the records of the Hamilton, London, and Pembroke archives which have been consolidated with the main archives.

To learn more, please visit the consolidated archives website: