The Sisters of St. Ann
In 1850, Marie Esther Blondin, now known as Blessed Marie Anne Blondin founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Ann, a Roman Catholic religious order dedicated to education and nursing in Lachine, Quebec.
Bishop Modeste Demers of Victoria went to the Sisters of St. Ann in Quebec to recruit volunteers to educate children. Her returned via Panama with Sister Mary Conception, Sister Mary Angèle, Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart, and Sister Mary Lumena.
On June 5, 1858, the Bishop and Sisters sailed into Victoria harbour, expecting to see a simple trading post of two-dozen log cabins. Instead, they found a gateway to the gold rush – a town of two hundred buildings surrounded by a sea of tents. Two days later they began their first classed in the schoolhouse. Other Sisters followed and the order established a network of schools and hospitals throughout the region as far as Alaska and Yukon.
[Photo caption]
Composite of P0023,P0018, P0024 and P0025, Sisters of St. Ann Archives
Marker can be reached from the intersection of Douglas Street and Belleville Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
