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Soeurs Grises De Montreal
Category: Religious Organizations Religious Organizations [Edit]
138 Rue Saint-PierreMontreal, QC H2Y 2L7
(514) 842-9411
One review for Soeurs Grises De Montreal
1 review in English
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Review from Lindsey J.
6/11/2009
This is for the hospital ruins that have been lovingly restored at this site and the small museum the Grey Nuns keep in memory of Mother Marguerite d'Youville, their founder and Canada's first native born citizen to be canonized in 1982. The Soeur Grises (Grey Nuns) still actively use the other buildings for their day to day operations.
Built In the 1730s, this is the site of Montreal's first public hospital. The eastern wall of the chapel was destroyed to make way for rue St-Pierre in the late 1800s, but the western wall of the chapel still stands and was restored into a small public park in the late 1990s. The charter granting the Freres Charon the right to start the hospital has been carved in brass and covers the windows of the now defunct chapel. It's really pretty to look at and they even have a plaque detailing the hospital's beginnings and the involvement of Mother d'Youville as well as stones from the destroyed eastern arches recovered during restoration.
The rest of the buildings (including the original hospital buildings) are still standing and house the day-to-day operations of the Soeur Grises, but they restored the room where Mother Marguerite received the poor and eventually died into a small museum in 2004. It is closed to the public except by appointment (call to get one). Without a tour, you can see the outside buildings without much of a problem for free. I didn't partake of the museum tour, so I can't comment, but I thought the restored ruins and history were interesting.
I discovered this by accident after I got lost looking for a restaurant and didn't mean to make this a stopping point (in fact I didn't even know it existed). But It was a nice add-on on after the Pointe-A-Calliere Musee. It's not that far from the waterfront of the Vieux-Port, so it's a nice little sidetrip if you are wandering around Old Montreal. It gets five stars not because I think it's a "must see" but because I think it's cool that Montreal takes enough pride in their old buildings and history to restore them for public viewing.
