• apostolic companionship in discernment for mission
• service for the greater glory of God - the 'magis'
• unity and diversity
• excelling in the obedience which sends us on our mission
• formation to interior freedom and maturity of spirit.

We include here a brief account of the story of the FCJ journey to and within the Americas, as well as a timeline of the major events in this history. For information about the early history of our Society and our development in other parts of the world, click on the "Our Roots" button at the bottom of this page.

Canada

This anthology opens with the story of Reverend Mother Josephine Petit, Superior General, responding to an invitation from Bishop Vital Grandin, OMI, to send sisters to his diocese of Prince Albert in northwestern Canada. M. Josephine's response was "Monseigneur, you are asking for sisters for your schools, and your diocese is in urgent need. The journey will be long, difficult, costly, even dangerous, and on our arrival we will find lodging which is very poor. Your poverty does not permit you to pay our travelling expenses. You ask us for . . .sacrifices. Well, we will do it for God." (p13)

Eight sisters left Liverpool, England, on May 10, 1883. They journeyed by boat across the Atlantic for eleven days. After a day in Quebec, they travelled to Montreal on the train and it is there, at the Grey Nuns' Motherhouse, that the FCJs met Bishop Grandin.

Some days were spent visiting different convents and schools before the pioneer FCJs, Bishop Grandin, and some Oblate students and novices took the train to Winnipeg.

In passing from Sarnia to Port Huron the train was divided into three large sections and placed on a large flat boat which steamed slowly across in about half an hour." (p 34)

En route Bishop Grandin told the sisters, "In reading the life of your Foundress I see that the spirit of poverty and humility has presided over all your foundations. Another thing that pleases me is that your Society was founded at the same time as ours, and approved of by the same Pope. And then your Mother had such zeal for the salvation of souls. I think that you are destined for the Missions, and I admire more and more the designs of Providence in choosing you for my diocese. You must expect the poverty and humiliation of a small beginning, but God will be with you, you are His faithful Companions... What an amount of good you have to do!" (p 36)

On June 11 the missionaries got off the train at Qu'Appelle. The remainder of their voyage was to be in covered wagons.
"Monseigneur told us how much he suffered while saying Mass sometimes, from the bites of the mosquitoes which often caused the blood to run down his face. We did our best this morning to screen him, for they came in swarms. We covered the opening of his tent with our thin canvas and knelt outside, this protected the good bishop and he found it a great relief. It was difficult for us to hear Mass in peace - not for an instant were we still. We were beating off these little creatures every moment. Our gloves and veils were, to some degree, a protection, but the mosquitoes stung through our shawls and stockings. The bishop says they will even pierce the leather of the moccasins. We were trying to find a good specimen for our beloved Reverend Mother General to look at and certainly we shall have no difficulty." (p 64)

"The little community of Prince Albert, four in number, reached its destination on the evening of the 30th June, thus beginning the work of our Society on the eve of the beautiful month dedicated to the Precious Blood." (p 75)

"On our first arrival we had been disappointed on finding that our Sisters in St. Laurent were to be separated from us by a distance of about 40 miles, as we thought we would have been able to see each other occasionally. It is true that in this country that is considered nothing, but we have no means of conveyance and it would be a great expense to hire a vehicle.

However we have been in constant communication with them, caravans set out nearly every week from St. Lawrence and Prince Albert to Winnipeg. By this means we can write to our dear mothers, as well as by the post, which, from the first day of our arrival, has been established regularly every week. At present, there is no communication by the railway; we are deprived of a great many temporal advantages, and we have also to wait two long months before receiving an answer to our letters from our beloved Reverend Mother. The telegraph is going to be erected and there is hope that the railway will be commenced next year." (pp 82,83 )

"On the 6th January (1884), an Indian baby was brought for baptism; its godparents asked us to give it a name. We called the little girl Philomena and she is probably the first in these parts who bears the name of the saint we love so much.

"Our dear pupils returned on the 7th evidently determined to make good use of their time at school. One new boarder and several day scholars were added to our number." (p 106) In the 1884 annals of St. Laurent we read: "On Low Sunday (April), twenty children approached the Holy Table for the first time.

For months the good father had devoted a considerable time to teaching them their catechism without counting the many hours we had employed ourselves, yet not withstanding all our efforts, the greater part scarcely knew what was strictly necessary. But their hearts were very pure and they longed so much for our Lord's visit. For many weeks before this happy day, although they are not very proficient in arithmetic, they counted the days and hours which separated them from this blessed moment, they increased the number of their mortifications in order, as they expressed themselves, that our Lord might find a great many flowers in the little house He was coming to inhabit. The first communion day was therefore a beautiful and lovely feast, the Fathers who were present said they had never before seen children so well prepared, nor had they ever had so much consolation in all their missionary life." (pp 119,120)

"In Spring when the snow should render the crossing of the river impossible to those who lived on the other side, a little girl, 10 years of age, fearing to lose her catechism lesson, and not to make her First Communion, begged of her parents to sell her little cow (to which she was greatly attached) in order that she might attend our school. Among our boarders we have a little orphan, a little girl of three years of age, who is of French, English, Cree, Saulteux and Assiniboine descent. This dear child charms everybody by her simple piety.'" (p 123)

The year 1885 was the time of the Northwest Rebellion. "We shall long remember the feast of St. Joseph 1885 for it was on that day that the standard of rebellion was raised and a few days later the town was threatened with an attack from the rebels. Who could tell our fears and anxiety for ourselves and our sisters of St. Laurent during the two months in which we lived in constant dread of attack. "But God watched over us in a special manner and we were preserved from the many and imminent perils of which we were surrounded. At last, the 14th of May, we had the consolation of knowing that our dear sisters of St. Laurent were safe and well." (p 125)

A little of the anxiety can be felt by reading the annals of St. Laurent: ". . .we learned that the father of one of our children had been arrested and condemned to death because he refused to take part in the rebellion. The large store in Duck Lake had been pillaged and then burned. Other items of bad news followed in succession, and all we could do was to share the sadness of our children and the dark presentiments of Father Fourmond. The Rosary was said and the Stations of the Cross were made from morning till night in our little Chapel, our children replacing each other continually. ‘Pray, my children, I beseech you,' Father would say to them. ‘Ask God that no blood be shed and that all those men disperse quietly.'" (p 163)

On July 11, 1885, the FCJ sisters left St. Laurent to establish a school in Calgary, Alberta. Two days before their departure Bishop Grandin visited them and said, "Poor Mothers, how you have suffered! What troubles you have had! How very worried your Reverend Mother must have been! And I, who was powerless to write her anything of reassuring nature regarding your fate." (p 204)

Another group of missionary FCJs was sent from Liverpool on September 13, 1883 to Brandon, Manitoba. They spent a few days at St. Boniface. A Fr. MacCarthy greeted them on behalf of Archbishop Tache. "He gave us a curriculum for the classes we would be starting, and even procured the necessary books with which to start. He assures us at Brandon we had complete freedom in Catholic teaching because a law had been passed by which His Grace has full and complete authority over Catholic studies. He is the absolute master and protector, the Protestants have nothing to do with it. Furthermore, here, like everywhere else in Canada, all social classes (rank) are mixed in education, thus the daughter of the poorest labourer would be seated, without distinction, next to the daughter of the richest middle class person. All receive the same instruction. In this regard, there is no reason to criticize." (p 239)

"At last, Monday, 8 October (1883) at a quarter to nine, the bell called the children and at 9 classes began. Only fifteen children, boys and girls, Catholic and Protestants, had arrived on time.... "We taught them catechism, bible stories, reading, writing, grammar, geography, arithmetic, French and singing, and we noticed day by day that everything was new to them. "Since October the number of day pupils has risen to more than 50. We have been notified of several boarders but the cold weather has kept them at home until spring." (p 244)

The school in Brandon prospered for some time, but by 1887 a change began. "In 1893 the number of boarders had run to twenty-four and the school was progressing satisfactorily. In this year, however, discrimination against Catholics became more pronounced. It was difficult for Catholics to obtain any kind of position or even a job in the bigoted city. In that year too, the convent, which had been tax exempt as Religious houses were elsewhere in Manitoba, was required to pay taxes on the property. Manitoba school laws became more severe and more difficult to cope with." (p 263) As a result the sisters moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and eventually, a year later to Fitchburg, Massachussetts.

Bishop Grandin wrote again to M. Josephine Petit, Superior General, to ask for sisters for Edmonton, Alberta. He pointed out that Edmonton and Prince Albert are joined by the same river and therefore that the sisters could communicate with each other rather easily!

"On August 9, 1888, a party of twelve ( nine Mothers and three Sisters) left Liverpool for Canada. After ten days travel they arrived safely in Quebec. The Grey Sisters, as with all former parties, were exceptionally hospitable towards them. The FCJ party boarded the train on August 20 headed for Brandon, and from Brandon four of the travelling companions left for Prince Albert, two remained at Brandon, and six travelled on to Calgary to arrive there much fatigued on August 25.

After a few weeks with their sisters in Calgary, on October 1st, 1888, at 9 o'clock in the morning, five FCJs left Calgary with the good-byes and God-speeds of their Sisters ringing in their ears. They were followed by a long line of Red River wagons bearing their luggage; the household goods for their new home; the vestments, vessels, and ornaments to be used at Holy Mass by

their leader, Reverend H. Grandin, omi. (Nephew to Msgr. Grandin); and last, but by no means least, food for the journey, and a couple of crates of hens and a rooster. The ride over the prairie would take ten "days during which time they were alone on these vast stretches of uninhabited country, with scarcely a house between Calgary and their destination." (pp 255, 256)

Next, on December 22, 1888, Bishop Grandin wrote to M. Josephine: "I am obliged to tell you, Reverend Mother - I am afraid of scaring you off by my rashness - but all I can do is ask you. "Your daughters have scarcely settled in Edmonton when I dare to make another request of you for another new town of my diocese. It is Lethbridge. . ." (p 259)

"Five Sisters from Prince Albert, Edmonton and Calgary met at a small coal trading post called Dunmore, east of Medicine Hat. As early as 1885, Dunmore had a narrow-gauge railway! (No C.P.or C.N. train ran into the Fort Lethbridge at this time.) Sometimes, at night, a fairly comfortable passenger-coach was attached to the coal trucks but since our nuns were advised by Fr. Van Tighem to travel by day, they used the guard's van at the end of the twenty or so coal cars for this their first, smutty, bumpy ride of 100 miles to their new mission. "Arriving earlier than was expected, the Sisters made their way to the Church where Our Divine Lord was the first to welcome them. ‘The good nuns', writes Fr. Van Tighem, ‘made themselves at home in the school room.' ‘There were no beds and no bedsteads, the Sisters state in the Annals, ‘so we put two desks together for a cozy bed and we gathered from our bundles all the clothing we could spare for covering.'" (p 260)

Meanwhile, Archbishop Tache was anxious to have FCJ sisters in Rat Portage, Ontario (now Kenora), a small town at one end of Lake of the Woods. Four FCJs moved to Rat Portage in August 1892. "Classes began in September with an enrolment of seventy children but before Christmas their number had tripled and there was much difficulty in fitting them all into the limited space. Inspectors came and were satisfied with the work done. The pupils, our Mothers found, worked hard in their classes and equally hard at their play... .  Yet, after ten years, the Society left Rat Portage and the community was dispersed to other FCJ Canadian or American convents." (p 265)

From January 1895 to July 1903, FCJs worked with Father Paquette, OMI, in the Indian School at Duck Lake, Saskatchewan.

Not until 1948 did the Society, Faithful Companions of Jesus, establish another convent in central Canada. Seven sisters arrived in Combermere, Ontario in mid-August, 1948. "Around 1965 the enrolment reached a peak of about two hundred boarding and day students. Some non-Catholics were accepted and this was instrumental in breaking down prejudice in the area." (p 270) Combermere closed in 1974.

"In 1950 the bishops of Toronto, Ontario invited the Faithful Companions of Jesus to teach in their diocese. The sisters were also looking for a foundation in a Catholic university town where their young sisters could be educated. So, in 1951, the first FCJ house was opened in Toronto." (p272) The Sisters have lived in several houses in Toronto where they ministered in elementary schools in the Weston area and in Madonna High School and St. Mary's High School. Since 1990, a ministry to refugees has developed into the now flourishing FCJ Hamilton House Project (click here for website)

USA

As a result of difficulties in the early mission of Brandon, the sisters moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in 1885 where they remained for one year. The earliest settlers in the town of Fond du Lac, situated south of Lake Winnebago, were undoubtedly French-Canadian. The area had also attracted Irish and German immigrants. They tended to settle in their native group and consequently, a need for ethnic churches soon arose. By 1895 Father Charles Boucher welcomed the Faithful Companions of Jesus from Brandon, to administer and staff a French speaking school which had an enrollment of 100 children. The year 1885-1886 had scarcely been spent when God showed the FCJs that He wished them to pitch their tent elsewhere. "Our modest success incurred the displeasure of the only other religious community in town, which had a large German population." The Faithful Companions of Jesus left Fond du Lac in small groups in July, 1896.

In 1922 Bishop William Hickey of Providence, Rhode Island, saw the pressing need for parochial schools in his diocese. Since Father Doran of Blessed Sacrament Parish knew the Faithful Companions of Jesus when he was pastor in Gilbertville, Massachusetts, he invited them to Providence. On August 22, 1922, five sisters took up residence at 75 Andem Street. The FCJs undertook the religious instruction of 1,100 children who were attending public school. The sisters also took care of the church sacristy, trained altar servers, and made altar breads.

With the renewal of religious life in the 1970's the sisters became involved in all aspects of parish life. As the number of sisters became fewer, the community moved out of the large convent on Atkins St., and moved to 350 Mount Pleasant Avenue. Other houses in the Providence area have been rented, or purchased and sold, as the needs of the community and their ministries changed.

St. Philomena Convent, Portsmouth, Rhode Island opened in 1927 as a summer vacation home for the communities of Fitchburg, Gilbertville and Providence. For almost twenty-five years the sisters came to this property on Cory's Lane overlooking Narragansett Bay for days of quiet and rest.

A small community took up residence at St. Philomena Convent in 1953 and started St. Philomena School (click here for website), a small, private day school and boarding school.

A new building was built in 1965, and by the 1970's some of the sisters began to consider St. Philomena Convent as a home for their retirement years. St. Philomena School, now a day school for Grades K-8continues to expand and to flourish. Sr. Anne Marie Walsh retired in 2006 after 25 years as principal.

Argentina

The first FCJ to live and work in South America, Mary Cavanagh, from the United States, founded the house in Córdoba, Argentina, in 1985, in a poor parish on the outer rim of this city, the second largest in Argentina. In the ensuing years, other FCJs joined Mary in Córdoba. Pastoral work, in conjunction with the La Salette missionary congregation, was a strong focus in Córdoba.

At about the same time, the FCJ community moved from Clodomira to La Banda, also in the Province of Santiago del Estero. Among her activities in Córdoba, Shirley helped a group of women in the barrio to form a mini-company to make and sell traditional products. In December 1998, after 14 years of service in Argentina, Mary and Shirley left Córdoba, and returned to ministries in North America.

The house in Córdoba was re-opened a year later by Patricia Binchy FCJ to provide an experience of building Christian community for some young women who are discerning their vocation in life.

Bolivia

FCJ ministry in Bolivia began when Paula Mullen, a Canadian FCJ who had been working in Córdoba, Argentina, arrived in Tarija in June 1988. Paula was quickly joined by other FCJs and the pastoral and educational work of the community grew both in Tarija itself and in the rural areas surrounding it.

Juana Rios was the first Bolivian woman to become a member of the FCJ community.

Mexico