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Our History

On December 11, 1868, at the request of Bishop John Walsh, five Sisters of St. Joseph of

Toronto arrived in London, Ontario, Canada. Mother Teresa Brennan, Sister Ignatia

Campbell, Sister Ursula McGuire, Sister Francis OMalley and Sister Appolonia Nolan

were accompanied by Reverend Mother Antoinette McDonald and were welcomed by

Bishop Walsh, Rev. J.M. Bruyere, V.G., and Rev. P. Egan, pastor of St. Peters Church.

Awaiting the Sisters were sleighs that transported them from the train station to a

temporary home on Kent Street.

1800s

In accordance with their mission in London, three Sisters began teaching at St. Peters

School in January, 1869. After classes, they visited the sick, the poor and the imprisoned.

They were also mandated to open an orphanage in the future. In order to accomplish

these tasks, more Sisters and larger facilities were necessary.

On October 2, 1869, the Barker House at the corner of Richmond and College Street in

North London was purchased and the Sisters moved there from Kent Street. The building

was named Mount Hope, and it became the first Motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Joseph

of London eventually housing the elderly, orphans, Sisters and Novices.

On December 18, 1870, the Sisters of St. Joseph became an autonomous congregation in

the London Diocese, independent of the Toronto congregation. Sister Ignatia Campbell

was appointed Superior General, an office she held until 1902.

The Sisters began to establish mission houses outside of London, from which they

continued to carry out their work locally. The first of these houses was established in

Goderich in 1873, followed by St. Thomas and Ingersoll in 1879. In these locations, the

Sisters undertook the education of youth and music instruction. In 1889, Sisters began

teaching in Belle River, and in 1894, they were asked to teach in Walkerville (Windsor),

Ontario.

In 1888, the Sisters began hospital ministry. They acquired land on the corner of

Grosvenor and Richmond Streets and opened a 10-bed facility which became known as

St. Josephs Hospital. Another St. Josephs Hospital was established in Chatham,Ontario in 1891, and a third St. Josephs Hospital was opened in Sarnia, Ontario in 1946.

1900s

As the Congregation flourished, Mount Hope, the Motherhouse in London, became

crowded, and more space was needed for the orphans and the Sisters. In June 1899, a

college on 38 acres of property was purchased at Windermere Road and Richmond

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Street. The building had been home to Hellmuth Ladies College, which had ceased

operation. In 1900, the orphans, along with the Sisters and novices, were moved there

from Mount Hope. The building became known as Mount St. Joseph Orphanage and

Motherhouse. Later, beginning in 1954, this building served as Mount St. Joseph

Academy, a boarding school for girls, but was demolished in 1975.

Other missions opened in Sarnia in 1906, and in various areas of the London Diocese in

the following years. In 1922, eight Sisters established a mission in Edmonton at the

request of Archbishop OLeary, and they eventually opened hospitals in Galahad and

Killam, Alberta.

As the orphanage and the congregation continued to grow, more room was needed for the

Motherhouse in London. In 1914, the Motherhouse moved to its third location at the

corner of Queens Avenue and Colborne Street in downtown London. This was known as

Sacred Heart Convent, and was acquired from the Sacred Heart Sisters, who had returnedto Montreal. From 1914 until 1953, Sacred Heart convent served as Motherhouse and

Novitiate while also accommodating a few student boarders.

In September 1953, three Sisters volunteered to go to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

to open a separate school at the request of Bishop Trocellier. Haney, British Columbia

(later re-named Maple Ridge) was the next destination for four Sisters in 1956. The first

foreign mission opened in 1962 when four Sisters left for Peru where they established a

foundation in Chiclayo Diocese. Meanwhile, expansion of community works continued

throughout the London Diocese.

Increasing community membership and crowded conditions at Sacred Heart Convent

eventually made it necessary to plan for a larger Motherhouse. In 1954, the new Mount

St. Joseph Motherhouse was built and opened beside Mount St. Joseph Orphanage on the

hill at the corner of Windermere Road and Richmond Street. The orphans, now few in

number due to social changes, had been moved in 1953 from the old building to

Fontbonne Hall at 534 Queens Avenue.

The late 1960s ushered in a period of great change in the Catholic Church and in society.

It was a time of social upheaval and traditional values were called into question. In the

Church, Vatican Council II, which ended in 1965, urged the church and religious

communities to update and move into the modern world. Consequently, many Sisters in

North America left religious communities over the next 15 years and few women were

entering religious life.

Throughout the 1980s, convents of the Sisters of St. Joseph throughout the London

Diocese closed as Sisters aged and there were no Sisters to replace them. In addition, a

significant number of religious women opted out of the traditional works of education

and hospital ministry to embrace a variety of other ministries such as parish work, prison

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chaplaincy, counseling, and spiritual direction. Our community embraced these apostolic

works and opened a retreat centre which gave birth to the expanded Medaille Program

Centre.

Over the years, several social service programs in London have been initiated by theSisters. St. Josephs Hospitality Centre was opened in the downtown core to serve

nutritious meals to the poor. Sisters of St. Joseph Womens Transition Home offered

refuge to mentally ill and homeless women. Josephs House was established to minister

to immigrants arriving in London. A home on Boulle Street housed an outreach

program for that neighbourhood. A detoxification centre was opened near downtown

London for alcoholics and those suffering from drug addiction.

An Associate Program of the Sisters of St. Joseph began in 1988 with the appointment

of Sister Doreen Kraemer as director. These lay associates bond together in small groups

in various areas such as London, Windsor, Essex County, Sarnia, Chatham, St. Thomas,Simcoe, Woodstock and Chiclayo, Peru. In their lay lifestyles, they are committed to

working to achieve unity both of neighbour with neighbour and neighbour with God.

through loving, healing and reconciling service.

The Peruvian mission closed in 1994 after 32 years where the Sisters shared the Peruvian

peoples struggle to live, work, and grow personally and communally, thereby creating

more dignified and acceptable standards of living in the valley of Zana. Sister Janet

Zadorsky, one of the last Sisters to serve there, founded Heart-Links as an effort to

bridge the gap from isolation to friendship; from the deadening situations of disease,

hunger and illiteracy to life-giving support in friendship and to provide funds. In 2003Heart-Linksbecame an autonomous non-profit organization with charitable status.

2000s

As the 21st century dawned, the Sisters of St. Joseph realized that it was time to sell

Mount St. Joseph Motherhouse. On June 7, 2005, the 13 acres on which the beautiful

edifice stands was sold to Ivest Properties Limited and London Property Corporation.

The new owners made a lease agreement with Retirement Residences Real Estate

Investment Trust (REIT) from Toronto to operate a retirement home called Windermere

on the Mount in the west wing. The Sisters leased back the rest of the building until their

new home was ready for occupancy in June, 2007.

Before selling Mount St. Joseph, the Sisters severed five acres of their property to build a

new, one-hundred unit, energy-efficient residence for the Sisters. The residence has since

received a LEED gold certification. The large, 17-acre bush area along the Thames

River also remains in the Sisters possession.

Looking back over the 140 years that the Sisters of St. Joseph have served in the London

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Diocese and part of the world far beyond, it is evident that the overriding thrust of their

ministry has been, and continues to be, to engage in any work of mercy in service ofthe

dear neighbour.