Photo by Mylène Laurendeau, Director of Archives and Collections Services, Soeurs grises de Montréal.
The ESCC benefited from its home being in the Foundation of Catholic Community Services (FCCS) building at the corner of De Maisonneuve and St. Marc Streets for its first 42 years. The opportunities afforded within this community fostered and enriched the Council’s resilience, notably throughout the phases of the COVID pandemic.
The search for a new lease which best reconciled all the identified options was challenging but was successfully concluded in mid-June. The move to the Youville Motherhouse on Saint-Pierre Street in Old Montreal, a property of the Grey Nuns, occurred on July 13th, the very day that the Greater Montreal area was hit by severe storms! In the afternoon, staff had to hunker down on the first floor with the team of movers and our En Route partners in keeping with the emergency measures plan at the Motherhouse! Thankfully, all were safe, and the move continued once the crisis was past.
Built in 1693-94, the structure was home to Ville-Marie’s first charity hospital. According to the Youville Motherhouse, the hospital “originally provided basic care, shelter and food for the needy”. The site offers the ESCC new opportunities for community-building with humanitarian and faith-based organizations as well as social enterprises.
Stay tuned for our Open House activity!
About Marguerite d’Youville (1701-1771)
Marie-Marguerite d’Youville was a French Canadian Catholic widow who founded the Order of Sisters of Charity of Montreal, commonly known as the Grey Nuns.