Sailing to America - A Story from the Calendar of Remembrance — Congregation of Sisters of St Joseph in Canada

In 1836 six Sisters of St. Joseph of Lyon set sail from Le Havre, France for the St. Louis Diocese in the United States. Sisters Fébronie and Delphine Fontbonne, Marguerite-Félicité Bouté, Fébronie Chapellon, St. Protaise Deboille and Philomène Vilaine were the first missionaries to North America.

We mark this day in remembrance that our Canadian communities are rooted in this history. It is said that when Mother St. John Fontbonne became the first superior after the French Revolution, the birth of new CSJ communities proliferated “like a swarm of bees”.

For an interesting commentary, we invite you to view:

This video was made by Mount Saint Mary’s University - History of the Sisters of St. Joseph - Mother St. John, Part II. The story of being missioned to America begins at 4:32.

Sailing to America - A Story from the Calendar of Remembrance

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada is situated on the Traditional Territories of:

the Mississauga Anishinaabeg adjacent to Haudenosaunee Territory and in the territory covered by the Williams Treaty, and Rice Lake Purchase Treaty 20

the Algonquin Anishnaabeg in the area covered by the Rideau Purchase or Treaty 27 and 27 ¼

the Anishinaabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and, the Lenape in the territory covered by Treaty 6 and Treaty 2 and,