In Élisabeth's footsteps
Even though her religious name was Bruyère, she was the daughter of Charles Bruguier and Sophie Mercier.
1839
She entered the Congregation of the Grey Nuns of Montreal.
1840
She took the habit of the Grey Nuns of Montreal.
1845
Sister Élisabeth, asked to establish a new religious Community in Bytown, Upper-Canada, left on February 19 with Sisters Éléonore Thibodeau, Rodriguez and Saint-Joseph as well as Élisabeth Devlin, a postulant and Mary Jones, an aspirant. Along with her companions, in addition to visiting the poor and the sick at home, she founded dispensaries, opened Catholic schools and orphanages, homes for the elderly, and established the first General Hospital in Bytown[1] [2].
1847
Sister Élisabeth and her companions fought the typhus epidemic that ravaged the region.
1854
The community of the Grey Nuns of Bytown became self-sustaining. In order to better serve the poor, the fledgling community agreed to break away from the community of Montreal. Mother Élisabeth Bruyère was then elected Superior General of the new Congregation, the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa, and would be re-elected until her death in 1876.
She died in Ottawa on April 5, 1876, after 31 years of dedication to the population of the region.
At the time of her death, the statistics eloquently listed her apostolic ministries: 23 active houses, 198 living professed Sisters, 22 parochial schools, 10 boarding schools, 2 general hospitals, 3 homes for children, 3 homes for the elderly and 2 apostolic missions.
[1] The Bytown General Hospital will become the current General Hospital of Ottawa. Following its relocation in 1980 and its name change to The Ottawa Hospital, the facility was converted into a chronic care institution and became the Élisabeth Bruyère Health Centre.
[2] Today, Bruyère Continuing Care is made up of three major pavilions: Élisabeth Bruyère Hospital, Saint-Vincent Hospital and Saint-Louis Residence/Bruyère Village; as well as two medical clinics and a research institute.