Convent of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart - Ottawa, Ontario
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N 45° 24.625 W 075° 40.000
18T E 447832 N 5028760
This convent, built in 1915 for the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, (Les Soeurs du Sacré-Coeur de Jésus) is located on Oblates Avenue, in Ottawa, Ontario.
Waymark Code: WM140NC
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 03/24/2021
Views: 1
The Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Les Soeurs du Sacré-Coeur de Jésus) celebrated 100 years as an Ottawa East institution in 2002. Angelique Le Sourd started the Order in Brittany.
In 1902, at the request of the Oblate Fathers, five Sisters were sent to the Scholasticate to provide domestic service and that continued until 1969. A small convent was built just adjacent to the Scholasticate as seen in the photograph below. This original convent was lost to fire in 1913 and was replaced by the present structure in 1915.
By 1910 the Sisters had established their own convent at the present-day site on Oblate Ave. to receive novitiates for their Order. In 1911 the Sisters opened a boarding school that initially taught elementary levels and later secondary levels up to Grade 13. During the busiest years up to Sacred Heart Convent students in 1937, 200 students boarded at the school. The original name of the school was the "Pensionnat à Externat du Sacré-Coeur". Outside students came mainly from the Ottawa East area.
The training of novitiates for the Order initially took 2 years and that was later extended to three years. Many of the Sisters received teacher training at the University of Ottawa and taught in many of the schools throughout Ontario. The Sacred Heart Sisters taught at De Mazenod School on Main St. from 1938 to 1969.
As the Sacred Heart Order grew, so did the building with wings added to the original structure as the photographs of the convent below demonstrate. Well into the 1940's the Sisters maintained a large Sacred Heart Chjicken Coop - 1954vegetable garden on the northwest portion of the property near Main St. as well as a chicken coop that supplied food for convent. At one point they even had a milk cow that regularly escaped the fence to prowl Ottawa East. A major renovation and extension of the building took place in 1954 with the addition of the back wing and the chapel. In addition the Order has living quarters for many Sisters in the houses on Main St. between Oblate and Springhurst Avenues.
By 1961 the Order had grown to a point where it regrouped forming two "religious provinces": the Province of Notre-Dame-du-Cap (Ontario) headquartered on Oblate Avenue; and the Province of Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur in St. Hubert (Quebec). In that year there were 246 Sisters, 31 Novices, 25 students and 2 pensioners in the Ontario Province.
By 1995 the convent ceased to train new novitiates. Many Sisters continue work outside of the convent in Sacred Heart Convent - modern chapel teaching and nursing positions. Today 95 Sisters live at the convent with many of the aged cared for in second floor infirmary that is staffed with nurses 24 hours a day. In addition the Order continues to maintain many missions throughout the world that are supported in part by the many crafts that are produced by the Sisters.
As with the Oblate Fathers, the Sisters of the Sacred Heart have played a major role in the churches and schools of the Ottawa East and continue to do so even today.
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