Véronique Brunet dit L'Estang (Sister Sainte-Rose)

Véronique Brunet, known as L’Estang (L’Étang), named sœur Sainte-Rose, was born in Pointe-Claire on January 13, 1726 and died in Montreal on June 12, 1810. She entered the novitiate of the Congregation in 1744 and pronounced her vows two years later. She was sent as missionary in the Quebec City region and, in 1771, she was called back to Montreal to assume the office of Assistant to the Superior before becoming Superior the year after. The community continued to face numerous financial difficulties attributable largely to the British Conquest and a fire which destroyed several buildings of the Congregation in 1768. In order to generate income, Sister Brunet increased the number of Sisters assigned to tasks such as laundering and embroidery. In 1778, at the end of her six-year term, she was elected Novice Mistress and held this post until 1784, when she again became Superior. By then the socio-economic situation was more stable. In 1790, she was appointed Assistant to the Novice Mistress and, for two years, served as first Councillor. Towards the end of her life she gave religious instruction to Montreal girls who lacked the time and means to attend regular classes, and devoted her energies to washing and mending the clothes of the servant girls whom the community employed.