Mother Ignatia
St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, Ontario recently mounted a special exhibit honoring the life and legacy of Mother Ignatia Campbell. On October 15, 165 years ago she took her final vows and then, 135 years ago, also on October 15, she founded St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1888. This was just 20 years after she and four Sisters travelled from Toronto to London to establish a community on Dec. 11, 1858. The staff of the fledgling hospital was 2 Sisters and 4 doctors, with a capacity of 24 patients. Compare those numbers with today’s numerous programs and hundreds of staff.
The stirring Mother Ignatia exhibit is a collaboration between Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada Archives and St. Joseph’s Hospital. The display consists of a variety of artifacts including Mother Ignatia’s prayer book, rosary, and pocket watch. A beautiful, black Sister’s habit is also featured. Medical articles from both the hospital and Mount Hope across the street are of interest. On view is an 1870 coal oil lamp used at Mount Hope as well as a large brass bell, and chapel artifacts.
Standing in the quiet serenity of the tiny exhibit room, surveying medical items from another era is reminiscent of the simplicity of the medical world of over a century ago. Among the artifacts in Dr. Luney’s treasured doctor’s bag is an irrigator circa 1880, a hematocytometer circa 1900, an atomizer circa 1909, and a pocket surgical kit circa 1880.
The steady progression of improvements, adaptations, and growth experienced by St. Joseph’s throughout the intervening decades right to our present day is mindboggling. The trail blazers of dedicated men and women such as Mother Ignatia, have instilled the values of compassion, care, and excellence as each generation of healers gives way to the next. Despite the many changes in health care and medical technology, one aspect that has never wavered is the love and compassion of caregivers. The city of London and St. Joseph’s Hospital in 2023 are a far cry from the horse and buggy days of Mother Ignatia Campbell and her companions but the values of excellence and compassionate care remain unchanged.
-Sister Jean Moylan, CSJ
Photos: Photos of display taken by Noelle Tangredi.