Obituary Notice
Sister Jeannine Montour
Sister Marie-de-Saint-Jean
entered Eternal Life on October 30, 2009
at age 79 years
in religious life 57 years
+ 2700
Born on January 13, 1930, Jeannine was baptized in the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Parish in Sherbrooke, Quebec, on the 15th day of the same month. It was in the same parish that she received her first Holy Communion on March 19, 1937 and was confirmed on April 27, 1937.
Sister Jeannine is one of these heroic women who consecrated their time, their strength, their life in the name of their faith, to respond to the needs of their society in conformity with the message of the Gospel. A great missionary at heart, she is open to any oppor-tunity that requires that she give of herself.
Quite young, even before she was called to religious life, she heard the call to be a missionary. As a young student, she already practices the “gift of self for others” in a pleasant and open-minded environment. Born into a deeply Christian and large family, one that already had several relatives that had become religious and priests, Jeannine also has models in her parents who are involved in the Church and society of their time… in fact, Blessed Mother Marie-Léonie Paradis, foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family, was a first cousin of Jeannine’s mother… and following their example, she becomes involved wherever she sees a human or spiritual need. To her, by doing so, she responds to a sentence that had impressed her at the age of 12 during a missionary exhibition, “Your Kingdom come”. For the love of Christ, she accepts to become involved in a variety of tasks. She is monitor in a youth movement at the age of 12, she is a reliable baby-sitter, she forms a prayer group for young girls. She became president of the JEC (group of young Catholic girls), a member of the “Messengers of Joy” and of the Sainte-Agnès choir. We found her secret in her personal diary : “My path had been traced and Jesus always held out His hand […]. All I had to do was to follow in all confidence.”
All of the above prepared her to say a definite YES to the Lord at the age of twenty as she decides to enter the community of the Grey Nuns of the Cross. Following one year of formation, she selects the name of Sr. Marie-de-Saint-Jean, and when came the day of her profession, she felt that she received a confirmation of that name as she gazed upon the stained-glass window in which Mary and John appear at the foot of the Cross, and said : “There’s my little Trinity.”
As a preparation to take care of the sick, Sister Jeannine follows the Nursing program at the nursing school of the Hôpital Sainte-Thérèse in Shawinigan. She then goes on to obtain her Baccalaureate in Nursing at the Institut Marguerite-d’Youville of the Université de Montréal. Now that she is prepared, the assignments follow in the hospitals that we administer in the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario. Shawinigan and Ottawa are the first to benefit from her kindness, her patience and her other qualities as a Registered Nurse. Without being a doctor, she could readily identify a patient’s illness. One of her patients wrote: “What a blessing it was to know Sr. Jeannine : her humility, her competence, her foresightedness, her understanding and, above all, the depth of her soul…”
In 1966, the Congregation requires her services in Central Africa to open a school of Nursing in Malawi, which she does with her usual fervour. Shortly after, an Oecumenical Council established a new program of prevention and treatment of diseases; Sr. Jeannine suscribes with openness to the changes recommended. In February of 1971, she is given permission to follow a one-year course in midwifery at the Queen Mother’s Hospital in Glasgow in Scotland, after which she returned to Malawi and continued to work relent-lessly. How many children survived and how many mothers were saved due to her competence? Besides, she didn’t limit her work to nursing, but would get involved in anything that could help the people, be it agriculture, nutrition, education, respect for women, etc.
In 1976, she returns to Canada. As the community was reorganizing its infirmaries, Sister was called upon to plan the transfer of our sick Sisters in the appropriate infirmaries, based on their needs. She also went back to work in our hospitals in Shawinigan, Cap-de-la-Madeleine and Ville-Marie. It is in this parish that, in 1979, despite her many occupations, she joined the Council of Parish Pastoral Ministries. Always wanting to keep abreast of what is happening in the Church, she participates in the foundation of Vie-Amour (Life-Love), a movement to which she consecrated countless hours and energy and to which she remained faithful to the end of her life. She also collaborated in the Teen Star movement.
In 1981, she is greeted with open arms by the Sisters of the Notre-Dame-de-la-Merci convent in Aylmer where she will be caring for the retired and sick Sisters in need of nursing care. She is a firm believer in living an active life, and promotes physical exercises for the Sisters. On the other hand, she also groups the Sisters together to pray and meditate with her.
In keeping with the educational mission of the Congregation, she feels compelled to respond to the invitation of Humanae Vitae, acquires the preparation required to teach young people and young couples how to live a life of quality. The testimonies given by people she accompanied on their journey show how her help renewed their lives and brought them happiness. For example : “You are a unique gift of the love of God.” […] “Your compassionate heart knows how to heal many sufferings”… “You look at the signs of the times in order to better serve your brothers and sisters.” A couple who had six children express their gratitude thus: “Sr. Jeannine was the only person who, with great competence and pedagogy, taught us the physical and psychological aspects of human fecundity. Without her, we would probably have let go by, unnoticed, what made us most happy in our life.”
In the midst of all her commitments, she continues to serve the community as a nurse for our retired Sisters as well as the priests retired at the Accueil Élisabeth Bruyère in Hull, and also writes the obituary notices, etc. She later helped in the Pastoral Care for Families in the Saint-Lazare parish at Cap-de-la-Madeleine.
Like many others who are involved in so many causes, Sister Jeannine had her share of contradiction. We have to admit that it wasn’t always easy to understand her options which, at times, could be disturbing. But if she expects a lot from others, she was very demanding of herself. Sustained by her prayer and deep faith, she admits that she never was afraid: “Jesus never failed me… Jesus, the light of my life, is there, even behind the darkest clouds.” Her perseverance paid off as she saw many branches of the movement Vie-Amour” set up in various areas.
It is now 2009. For over one year, the cancer which, in 1992, she had accepted as “a gift from God”, and which went into remission, resurfaced. Again she accepted it with great spiritual strength, but, this time, her physical strength could not succeed in winning the battle. Our beloved Sister died very peacefully on October 30, 2009.
Thank you, Sr. Jeannine for the example of service, of courage and faith you have left us!
I have done my best in the race,
I have run the full distance and I have kept the faith. (2Tm 4,7)
