Establishing Congrégation de Notre-Dame farms: interview with Sister Madeleine Juneau

Sister Madeleine Juneau recalls that Maison Saint-Gabriel was a farm before it was turned into a museum. The historian Jacques Lacoursière underlines the importance of Saint-Gabriel Farm, he mentions how it was the mère nourricière of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame as were the other eighteen farms used to provide for the needs of the Congrégation.

Saint-Gabriel Farm, also called the smallholding of Point St-Charles, was worked for two and half centuries, that is, until 1956. Marguerite Bourgeoys first entrusted it to Catherine Crolo, who had come from France with her. Sister Crolo, in becoming the first farm manager, was one of the first women entrepreneurs of the colony. Over the decades, a total of 86 Sisters managed the smallholding.

The farm produce helped feed the Sisters of the Mother House in Montreal as well as the young girls in the suburban schools where the Sisters taught for free. The Sisters on these farms could rely on hired labourers for help.