Émilie Gamelin
Encyclopedia
Émilie Gamelin also known as Marie-Émilie-Eugène Gamelin and Amélie Gamelin, was a Canadian
social worker and Roman Catholic nun
. She is best known as the founder and first superior of the Sisters of Providence. In 2001 she was beatified
by Pope John Paul II
.
, the youngest of 15 children of Antoine Tavernier (a carrier) and Marie-Josephte Maurice. Nine of her siblings died before reaching adulthood. Gamelin's mother died in 1804 when Gamelin was aged 4 and her father died in 1814 when Gamelin was aged 14. Consequently Gamelin was raised by her aunt Marie-Anne Tavernier and her husband Joseph Perrault, to whom Gamelin's mother had entrusted Gamelin's care prior to her death. Gamelin shared the Perrault household with Marie-Anne and Joseph's four children.
In 1814 and 1815, Gamelin boarded at the St Jean Baptiste Street School run by the Congregation of Notre Dame
, before returning to the Perrault household. In 1818 Gamelin spent time at the household of her brother Francis, whose wife had recently died. When she returned to the Perrault household in 1819, her aunt, now old and infirm, put Gamelin in the care of Agathe (born 1787), Gamelin's aunt's daughter.
Aged 19, Gamelin spent time as a Montreal socialite and was frequently seen at social occasions. Between 1820 and 1822 Gamelin spent two stretches residing in with one of her cousins, Julie Perrault, ending in 1822 when Gamelin's aunt died, resulting in Gamelin and her cousin Agathe Perrault moving together into a house in Montreal West. In a letter to Agathe dated June 18, 1822, Gamelin wrote that she felt "a strong vocation [...] for the convent. [...] I renounce for ever the young dandies and also the [vanities of this] world; I shall become a nun some time in the autumn."
Despite her interest in convent life, on June 4, 1823 Gamelin married Jean-Baptiste Gamelin, a 50-year old bachelor of Montreal who made a living dealing in apples. The marriage lasted five years, ending in Jean-Baptiste's death on October 1, 1827. Gamelin had had three children by the marriage, but two had died shortly after birth and the third died within a year of Jean-Baptiste.
(also known as the Sulpicians). These groups were the Confrérie du Bien Public, which arranged work for the unemployed, and the Association des Dames de la Charité, a charity aimed at relieving poverty and destitution via home visits and the distribution of alms
. In 1828 she also joined the Confrérie de la Sainte-Famille, a group dedicated to the spiritual growth of its members and the spreading of the Roman Catholic faith. For a short period in 1929 she also worked with Agathe-Henriette Huguet-Latour's organisation the Charitable Institution for Female Penitents. While working with these groups, Gamelin gradually divested herself of her financial assets, funnelling the proceeds into the charities she was working with.
In 1829, Gamelin took four frail and sick elderly women into her home on Saint Aintoine Street. By 1830 Gamelin had decided she needed larger premises to care for the women, and on March 4, 1830, she opened a shelter for frail or sick elderly women in Montreal on the corner of Rue Saint-Laurent and Rue Sainte-Catherine, in the Saint Lawrence district near to the homes of many of Gamelin's relatives. The building for the shelter was provided by Claude Fay, the parish priest of Notre-Dame in Montreal. In 1831 the shelter moved to a larger building rented by Gamelin at the corner of Rue Saint-Lawrence and Rue Saint-Philippe. At the time of the move, the new building housed 15 boarders, with a maximum capacity of 20, and also provided a residence for Gamelin. The shelter expanded until in 1836 it again required larger premises. On 14 March 1836 a house on the corner of Rue Sainte-Catherine and Rue Lacroix was donated by Antoine-Olivier Berthelet
, a wealthy philanthropist, and shortly thereafter the shelter moved to these new premises.
In March 1838, Gamelin contracted typhoid fever
and became seriously ill; however she later recovered. On September 1841, the Legislative Assembly for the Province of Canada incorporated the shelter as the Montreal Asylum for Aged and Infirm Women.
, Gamelin was a supporter of the Patriot
movement. Her brother Francois Tavernier was an ardent supporter of Joseph Papineau
and the Patriots, and during the 1832 Montreal West
by-election he was arrested and charged with assaulting a supporter of Stanley Bagg
, an opposing Tory politician. Gamelin's cousin Joseph Perrault had been elected to the Assembly as a supporter of the Parti Canadien
, the forerunner of the Patriots.
In the 1832 by-election for Montreal West
, Lower Canada
, Gamelin was one of 226 women who sought to vote. She placed her vote for the Patriot
candidate Daniel Tracey
in preference to his Tory opponent Stanley Bagg
.
During the Lower Canada Rebellion
of 1837 and 1838, Gamelin obtained permission to visit imprisoned rebels who were under sentences of death, and gave them counselling and helped them to contact their families.
, newly appointed as Bishop
of Montreal
, travelled to Europe, where he visited France
. There, among other business, he attempted to persuade the Filles de la Charité de Saint-Vincent-de-Paul
, a French charitable brotherhood, to establish a missio
n in Montreal. He intended for the St Vincent de Paul brothers to take charge of Gamelin's Asylum for Aged and Infirm Women. He announced this intention to Gamelin and her staff on October 16, 1841, shortly after his return from France.
With that plan in mind, on October 27, 1841 the women of Gamelin's shelter elected Gamelin as head of their new corporation, and on November 6, 1841 Gamelin and her staff bought land on a block bounded by Rue Sainte-Catherine, Rue Lacroix, and Rue Mignonne. Plans for a new structure to be known as the Asile de la Providence were commissioned from architect John Ostell
, and on December 20, 1841, construction commenced. On February 16, 1842, Gamelin donated the last of her property to the corporation.
However, on November 8, 1842, Bishop Bourget received word that the Filles de la Charité de Saint-Vincent-de-Paul had decided not to pursue a mission to Montreal. Bourget therefore decided to found a new religious community to managage the newly built Asile de la Providence, and put out a call for suitable women to join such an order. By March 25, 1843 seven women had expressed an interest, and they were placed into a novitiate under the direction of Jean-Charles Prince
, co-adjutor bishop of Montreal. Gamelin was not one of those women, but Bourget was nevertheless eager to associate her with the project and therefore gave her the position of Superior over the novices. On July 8, 1843, one of the novices withdrew from the program, leaving an opening which Gamelin was intended to take. Prior to entering the novitiate, however, Gamelin was sent by Bourget to the United States to visit and study the Sisters of Charity of St Joseph , a Maryland-based order founded by Elizabeth Seton
in 1809, with the aim of obtaining a template for a new religious community. Gamelin returned with a handwritten copy of the rule of St Vincent de Paul, and on October 8, 1843, she took the novice's habit.
of Mother Gamelin. The following day (March 30, 1844), Gamelin was elected superior of the new order.
From 1844 the sisters provided shelter to orphan girls and elderly women boarders, and in 1845 they launched the Hospice St-Joseph, a hospice dedicated to the care and shelter of sick and elderly priests. Also in 1845 the sisters established an employment office to aid job seekers and prospective employers, and began caring for the mentally ill.
In 1846 the sisters opened homes at Longue-Pointe
in Montreal and at La Prairie
.
In 1847 a typhus
epidemic struck Montreal and Bishop Bourget
called upon the religious communities of Montreal, including Gamelin and the Sisters of Providence, to aid in the treatment of its victims. Following the epidemic Gamelin
assumed responsibility for the Hospice Saint-Jérôme-Émilien, a facility dedicated to the children of Irish immigrant typhus victims. Late in 1847 Gamelin dispatched some of the sisters to teach at the École Saint-Jacques, which was suffering from staff shortages. In 1849, Gamelin established a lazaret
(marine quarantine station) to help respond to that year's cholera epidemic.
In 1849 Gamelin successfully petitioned the Attorney-General of Lower Canada, Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine
, for permission to open an insane asylum at Longue-Pointe
. Also in that year she established a convent at Sainte-Élisabeth
, and in 1850 it was joined by a convent at Sorel
. Late in 1850 Gamelin visited the United States and toured the establishments of the Sisters of Charity of St Joseph, including their asylums.
In 1960, research was begun with the intention of founding the cause for Gamelin's possible beatification and canonisation. On May 31, 1981, the research was introduced in the Archdiocese of Montreal, with the result that an inquiry into Gamelin's canonisation was begun, and Gamelin was proclaimed a Servant of God
(the first of four steps on the path to Roman Catholic sainthood).
In 1983, an inquiry into Gamelin's canonisation cause was begun by a diocesan tribunal. The evidence heard by the tribunal was compiled into a document called a positio
, which was sent to Rome and presented to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. The positio was examined by a committee of expert theologians, and upon their recommendation, Pope John Paull II declared Gamelin to be Venerable (the second of the four stages of sainthood) on December 23, 1993.
Also in 1983, a 13-year-old boy named Yannick Fréchette was observed to make a surprising recovery from leukemia following prayer directed to Émilie Gamelin. The medical file relating to this case was submitted to doctors in Rome, and in 1999 those doctors unanimously declared Fréchette's recovery to be a miracle, attributable to the intercession of Gamelin. The healing was formally acknowledged as an authentic miracle by Pope John Paul II on December 18, 2000. The declaration of a miracle enabled Gamelin to meet the requirements for beatification
, the third of the four stages of sainthood, and on October 7, 2001, Pope John Paul II announced Gamelin's beatification. As a result of her beatification, Gamelin received the title "Blessed", and public devotions to her were endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church.
after the demolition of the building in the 1960s.
A statue of Gamelin, created in 1999 by artist Raoul Hunter
, stands in the Sainte-Catherine St. exit of Berri-UQAM
Metro station.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
social worker and Roman Catholic nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
. She is best known as the founder and first superior of the Sisters of Providence. In 2001 she was beatified
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
by Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
.
Early life
Gamelin was born February 19, 1800 in MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, the youngest of 15 children of Antoine Tavernier (a carrier) and Marie-Josephte Maurice. Nine of her siblings died before reaching adulthood. Gamelin's mother died in 1804 when Gamelin was aged 4 and her father died in 1814 when Gamelin was aged 14. Consequently Gamelin was raised by her aunt Marie-Anne Tavernier and her husband Joseph Perrault, to whom Gamelin's mother had entrusted Gamelin's care prior to her death. Gamelin shared the Perrault household with Marie-Anne and Joseph's four children.
In 1814 and 1815, Gamelin boarded at the St Jean Baptiste Street School run by the Congregation of Notre Dame
Congregation of Notre Dame
The Congregation of Notre Dame was founded in 1653 by Marguerite Bourgeoys in Montreal, Canada. This was one of the first non-cloistered communities. The community's motherhouse has continued to be based in Montreal...
, before returning to the Perrault household. In 1818 Gamelin spent time at the household of her brother Francis, whose wife had recently died. When she returned to the Perrault household in 1819, her aunt, now old and infirm, put Gamelin in the care of Agathe (born 1787), Gamelin's aunt's daughter.
Aged 19, Gamelin spent time as a Montreal socialite and was frequently seen at social occasions. Between 1820 and 1822 Gamelin spent two stretches residing in with one of her cousins, Julie Perrault, ending in 1822 when Gamelin's aunt died, resulting in Gamelin and her cousin Agathe Perrault moving together into a house in Montreal West. In a letter to Agathe dated June 18, 1822, Gamelin wrote that she felt "a strong vocation [...] for the convent. [...] I renounce for ever the young dandies and also the [vanities of this] world; I shall become a nun some time in the autumn."
Despite her interest in convent life, on June 4, 1823 Gamelin married Jean-Baptiste Gamelin, a 50-year old bachelor of Montreal who made a living dealing in apples. The marriage lasted five years, ending in Jean-Baptiste's death on October 1, 1827. Gamelin had had three children by the marriage, but two had died shortly after birth and the third died within a year of Jean-Baptiste.
Charitable works
After the death of her husband, Gamelin took an interest in charitable works. In 1827 she became a member of two groups organised by the Society of Saint-SulpiceSociety of Saint-Sulpice
The Society of Saint-Sulpice is a Catholic Society of Apostolic Life named for Eglise Saint-Sulpice, Paris, in turn named for St. Sulpitius the Pious. Typically, priests become members of the Society of St. Sulpice only after ordination and some years of pastoral work. Uniquely, Sulpicians retain...
(also known as the Sulpicians). These groups were the Confrérie du Bien Public, which arranged work for the unemployed, and the Association des Dames de la Charité, a charity aimed at relieving poverty and destitution via home visits and the distribution of alms
Alms
Alms or almsgiving is a religious rite which, in general, involves giving materially to another as an act of religious virtue.It exists in a number of religions. In Philippine Regions, alms are given as charity to benefit the poor. In Buddhism, alms are given by lay people to monks and nuns to...
. In 1828 she also joined the Confrérie de la Sainte-Famille, a group dedicated to the spiritual growth of its members and the spreading of the Roman Catholic faith. For a short period in 1929 she also worked with Agathe-Henriette Huguet-Latour's organisation the Charitable Institution for Female Penitents. While working with these groups, Gamelin gradually divested herself of her financial assets, funnelling the proceeds into the charities she was working with.
In 1829, Gamelin took four frail and sick elderly women into her home on Saint Aintoine Street. By 1830 Gamelin had decided she needed larger premises to care for the women, and on March 4, 1830, she opened a shelter for frail or sick elderly women in Montreal on the corner of Rue Saint-Laurent and Rue Sainte-Catherine, in the Saint Lawrence district near to the homes of many of Gamelin's relatives. The building for the shelter was provided by Claude Fay, the parish priest of Notre-Dame in Montreal. In 1831 the shelter moved to a larger building rented by Gamelin at the corner of Rue Saint-Lawrence and Rue Saint-Philippe. At the time of the move, the new building housed 15 boarders, with a maximum capacity of 20, and also provided a residence for Gamelin. The shelter expanded until in 1836 it again required larger premises. On 14 March 1836 a house on the corner of Rue Sainte-Catherine and Rue Lacroix was donated by Antoine-Olivier Berthelet
Antoine-Olivier Berthelet
Antoine-Olivier Berthelet was a businessman, philanthropist and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born in Montreal in 1798, the son of Pierre Berthelet, and studied at the Petit Séminaire de Montréal...
, a wealthy philanthropist, and shortly thereafter the shelter moved to these new premises.
In March 1838, Gamelin contracted typhoid fever
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...
and became seriously ill; however she later recovered. On September 1841, the Legislative Assembly for the Province of Canada incorporated the shelter as the Montreal Asylum for Aged and Infirm Women.
Political beliefs
During the years leading up to the Lower Canada RebellionLower Canada Rebellion
The Lower Canada Rebellion , commonly referred to as the Patriots' War by Quebeckers, is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada and the British colonial power of that province...
, Gamelin was a supporter of the Patriot
Parti canadien
The Parti canadien or Parti patriote was a political party in what is now Quebec founded by members of the liberal elite of Lower Canada at the beginning of the 19th century...
movement. Her brother Francois Tavernier was an ardent supporter of Joseph Papineau
Joseph Papineau
Joseph Papineau was a notary, seigneur and political figure in Lower Canada.Joseph Papineau was the father of Louis-Joseph Papineau who had the great distinction of being a fiery player in the history of the French dominated British colony called Lower Canada...
and the Patriots, and during the 1832 Montreal West
Montreal West, Quebec
Montreal West is a town in southwestern Quebec, Canada on the Island of Montreal. On January 1, 2002 it, along with its neighboring suburbs of Côte Saint-Luc and Hampstead, was merged into a borough of the City of Montreal to be known as Côte-Saint-Luc—Hampstead—Montréal-Ouest, though 97% of the...
by-election he was arrested and charged with assaulting a supporter of Stanley Bagg
Stanley Clark Bagg
Stanley Clark Bagg was a Canadian landowner in Villeray, a district of Montreal. He owned the land that became Jarry Park.-External links:*...
, an opposing Tory politician. Gamelin's cousin Joseph Perrault had been elected to the Assembly as a supporter of the Parti Canadien
Parti canadien
The Parti canadien or Parti patriote was a political party in what is now Quebec founded by members of the liberal elite of Lower Canada at the beginning of the 19th century...
, the forerunner of the Patriots.
In the 1832 by-election for Montreal West
Montreal West, Quebec
Montreal West is a town in southwestern Quebec, Canada on the Island of Montreal. On January 1, 2002 it, along with its neighboring suburbs of Côte Saint-Luc and Hampstead, was merged into a borough of the City of Montreal to be known as Côte-Saint-Luc—Hampstead—Montréal-Ouest, though 97% of the...
, Lower Canada
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
, Gamelin was one of 226 women who sought to vote. She placed her vote for the Patriot
Parti canadien
The Parti canadien or Parti patriote was a political party in what is now Quebec founded by members of the liberal elite of Lower Canada at the beginning of the 19th century...
candidate Daniel Tracey
Daniel Tracey
Daniel Tracey born in Roscrea, Tipperary County, Ireland, was a doctor, journalist and Canadian politician.He arrived in the Province of Lower Canada with his younger siblings in 1825.-The Vindicator:...
in preference to his Tory opponent Stanley Bagg
Stanley Clark Bagg
Stanley Clark Bagg was a Canadian landowner in Villeray, a district of Montreal. He owned the land that became Jarry Park.-External links:*...
.
During the Lower Canada Rebellion
Lower Canada Rebellion
The Lower Canada Rebellion , commonly referred to as the Patriots' War by Quebeckers, is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada and the British colonial power of that province...
of 1837 and 1838, Gamelin obtained permission to visit imprisoned rebels who were under sentences of death, and gave them counselling and helped them to contact their families.
Asile de la Providence
In 1841, Ignace BourgetIgnace Bourget
Ignace Bourget was a French-Canadian Roman Catholic priest who held the title of Bishop of Montreal from 1840 to 1876. Born in Lévis, Quebec in 1799, Bourget entered the clergy at an early age, undertook several courses of religious study, and in 1837 was named co-adjutor bishop of the newly...
, newly appointed as Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of Montreal
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montréal is a Roman Catholic archdiocese that includes part of the Province of Quebec. The Archbishop of Montréal is Metropolitan of a province that includes the suffragan dioceses of Joliette, Saint-Jean-Longueuil, Saint-Jérôme, and Valleyfield...
, travelled to Europe, where he visited France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. There, among other business, he attempted to persuade the Filles de la Charité de Saint-Vincent-de-Paul
Society of Saint Vincent de Paul
The St Vincent de Paul Society is an international Roman Catholic voluntary organization dedicated to tackling poverty and disadvantage by providing direct practical assistance to anyone in need. Active in England & Wales since 1844, today it continues to address social and material need in all...
, a French charitable brotherhood, to establish a missio
Mission (station)
A religious mission or mission station is a location for missionary work.While primarily a Christian term, the concept of the religious "mission" is also used prominently by the Church of Scientology and their Scientology Missions International....
n in Montreal. He intended for the St Vincent de Paul brothers to take charge of Gamelin's Asylum for Aged and Infirm Women. He announced this intention to Gamelin and her staff on October 16, 1841, shortly after his return from France.
With that plan in mind, on October 27, 1841 the women of Gamelin's shelter elected Gamelin as head of their new corporation, and on November 6, 1841 Gamelin and her staff bought land on a block bounded by Rue Sainte-Catherine, Rue Lacroix, and Rue Mignonne. Plans for a new structure to be known as the Asile de la Providence were commissioned from architect John Ostell
John Ostell
John Ostell architect, surveyor and manufacturer, was born in London, England and emigrated to Canada in 1834, where he apprenticed himself to a Montreal surveyor André Trudeau to learn French methods of surveying. In 1837 he married Eleonore Gauvin a member of a prominent French Catholic family...
, and on December 20, 1841, construction commenced. On February 16, 1842, Gamelin donated the last of her property to the corporation.
However, on November 8, 1842, Bishop Bourget received word that the Filles de la Charité de Saint-Vincent-de-Paul had decided not to pursue a mission to Montreal. Bourget therefore decided to found a new religious community to managage the newly built Asile de la Providence, and put out a call for suitable women to join such an order. By March 25, 1843 seven women had expressed an interest, and they were placed into a novitiate under the direction of Jean-Charles Prince
Jean-Charles Prince
Jean-Charles Prince was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest, teacher, seminary administrator, editor, and Bishop of Saint-Hyacinthe from 1852 to 1860.-References:*...
, co-adjutor bishop of Montreal. Gamelin was not one of those women, but Bourget was nevertheless eager to associate her with the project and therefore gave her the position of Superior over the novices. On July 8, 1843, one of the novices withdrew from the program, leaving an opening which Gamelin was intended to take. Prior to entering the novitiate, however, Gamelin was sent by Bourget to the United States to visit and study the Sisters of Charity of St Joseph , a Maryland-based order founded by Elizabeth Seton
Elizabeth Ann Seton
Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton was the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church . She established Catholic communities in Emmitsburg, Maryland....
in 1809, with the aim of obtaining a template for a new religious community. Gamelin returned with a handwritten copy of the rule of St Vincent de Paul, and on October 8, 1843, she took the novice's habit.
Sisters of Providence
On March 29, 1844, a ceremony was held at the chapel of the Asile de la Providence, in which Bourget conferred canonical status on the new religious community and named it the Daughters of Charity, Servants of the Poor (later to become popularly known as the Sisters of Charity of Providence, or Sisters of Providence). At this ceremony, Gamelin and the other six novices became nuns, taking the traditional vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, as well as a fourth vow to serve the poor. At this time Gamelin received the religious nameReligious Name
A religious name is a type of given name bestowed for a religious purpose, and which is generally used in religious contexts. Different types of religious names may be in use among the clergy of a religion, as well in some cases among the laity....
of Mother Gamelin. The following day (March 30, 1844), Gamelin was elected superior of the new order.
From 1844 the sisters provided shelter to orphan girls and elderly women boarders, and in 1845 they launched the Hospice St-Joseph, a hospice dedicated to the care and shelter of sick and elderly priests. Also in 1845 the sisters established an employment office to aid job seekers and prospective employers, and began caring for the mentally ill.
In 1846 the sisters opened homes at Longue-Pointe
Longue-Pointe
Longue-Pointe was a Montreal neighbourhood now located in the borough of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. The neighborhood was permanently divided by the construction of the Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine Tunnel...
in Montreal and at La Prairie
La Prairie, Quebec
La Prairie is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada at the confluence of the Saint-Jacques River and the Saint Lawrence River in the Regional County Municipality of Roussillon...
.
In 1847 a typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
epidemic struck Montreal and Bishop Bourget
Ignace Bourget
Ignace Bourget was a French-Canadian Roman Catholic priest who held the title of Bishop of Montreal from 1840 to 1876. Born in Lévis, Quebec in 1799, Bourget entered the clergy at an early age, undertook several courses of religious study, and in 1837 was named co-adjutor bishop of the newly...
called upon the religious communities of Montreal, including Gamelin and the Sisters of Providence, to aid in the treatment of its victims. Following the epidemic Gamelin
assumed responsibility for the Hospice Saint-Jérôme-Émilien, a facility dedicated to the children of Irish immigrant typhus victims. Late in 1847 Gamelin dispatched some of the sisters to teach at the École Saint-Jacques, which was suffering from staff shortages. In 1849, Gamelin established a lazaret
Lazaretto
A lazaretto or lazaret is a quarantine station for maritime travellers. Lazarets can be ships permanently at anchor, isolated islands, or mainland buildings. Until 1908, lazarets were also used for disinfecting postal items, usually by fumigation...
(marine quarantine station) to help respond to that year's cholera epidemic.
In 1849 Gamelin successfully petitioned the Attorney-General of Lower Canada, Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine
Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine
Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine , 1st Baronet, KCMG was the first Canadian to become Prime Minister of the United Province of Canada and the first head of a responsible government in Canada. He was born in Boucherville, Lower Canada in 1807...
, for permission to open an insane asylum at Longue-Pointe
Longue-Pointe
Longue-Pointe was a Montreal neighbourhood now located in the borough of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. The neighborhood was permanently divided by the construction of the Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine Tunnel...
. Also in that year she established a convent at Sainte-Élisabeth
Sainte-Élisabeth, Quebec
Sainte-Élisabeth is a parish municipality in the Lanaudière region of Quebec, Canada, part of the D'Autray Regional County Municipality.-Demographics:Population:* Population in 2006: 1440 * Population in 2001: 1474...
, and in 1850 it was joined by a convent at Sorel
Sorel-Tracy, Quebec
Sorel-Tracy is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada and the geographical end point of the Lake Champlain Valley at the confluence of the Richelieu River and the St. Lawrence River, on the western edge of Lac Saint-Pierre downstream and east of nearby Montreal. The population as of the Canada 2006...
. Late in 1850 Gamelin visited the United States and toured the establishments of the Sisters of Charity of St Joseph, including their asylums.
Death and beatification
On September 23, 1851, Gamelin died of cholera during the cholera epidemic of that year, following an illness that lasted less than 12 hours. She was buried on September 24 in the vault of the Asile de la Providence.In 1960, research was begun with the intention of founding the cause for Gamelin's possible beatification and canonisation. On May 31, 1981, the research was introduced in the Archdiocese of Montreal, with the result that an inquiry into Gamelin's canonisation was begun, and Gamelin was proclaimed a Servant of God
Servant of God
Servant of God is a title given to individuals by various religions, but in general the phrase is used to describe a person believed to be pious in his or her faith tradition. In the Catholic Church, it designates someone who is being investigated by the Church for possibly being recognized as a...
(the first of four steps on the path to Roman Catholic sainthood).
In 1983, an inquiry into Gamelin's canonisation cause was begun by a diocesan tribunal. The evidence heard by the tribunal was compiled into a document called a positio
Positio
In the Roman Catholic church, a positio is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a person is declared Venerable, the second of the four steps on the path to Roman Catholic sainthood...
, which was sent to Rome and presented to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. The positio was examined by a committee of expert theologians, and upon their recommendation, Pope John Paull II declared Gamelin to be Venerable (the second of the four stages of sainthood) on December 23, 1993.
Also in 1983, a 13-year-old boy named Yannick Fréchette was observed to make a surprising recovery from leukemia following prayer directed to Émilie Gamelin. The medical file relating to this case was submitted to doctors in Rome, and in 1999 those doctors unanimously declared Fréchette's recovery to be a miracle, attributable to the intercession of Gamelin. The healing was formally acknowledged as an authentic miracle by Pope John Paul II on December 18, 2000. The declaration of a miracle enabled Gamelin to meet the requirements for beatification
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
, the third of the four stages of sainthood, and on October 7, 2001, Pope John Paul II announced Gamelin's beatification. As a result of her beatification, Gamelin received the title "Blessed", and public devotions to her were endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church.
Legacy
The land in Montreal on which the Asile de la Providence was located was named the Place Émilie-GamelinPlace Émilie-Gamelin
Place Émilie-Gamelin is a city square in central Montreal, Canada. It was created to mark the 350th anniversary of the city....
after the demolition of the building in the 1960s.
A statue of Gamelin, created in 1999 by artist Raoul Hunter
Raoul Hunter
Raoul Hunter is a sculptor and caricaturist.- Biography :Hunter studied at the School of fine arts of Quebec city and at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts of Paris....
, stands in the Sainte-Catherine St. exit of Berri-UQAM
Berri-UQAM (Montreal Metro)
Berri-UQAM is the central station of the Montreal Metro rapid transit system operated by the Société de transport de Montréal . It is located in the Quartier Latin, in the borough of Ville-Marie, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The station opened on October 14, 1966, as part of the original network...
Metro station.