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Sisters of Saint Anne Historic Centre
The Sisters of Saint Anne Historic Centre opens a door to the unique world of a 19th-century convent. Visitors walk down its great hall in the footsteps of Blessed Marie-Anne Blondin, who devoted her life to education. The permanent exhibits will help visitors discover various aspects of the daily life and history of the Sisters of Saint Anne, while the temporary exhibits highlight lesser-known aspects of the Sisters’ lives.
During the summer, a guide-interpreter recounts the exterior history of the former convent and the present-day Collège Sainte-Anne, places of significant heritage value. Located on the edge of the Lachine Canal, the convent complex is a major point of interest in the borough of Lachine. It attests to the important legacy of the Congregation of Sisters of Saint Anne in terms of religion, education and culture.
*For visuals, contact Caroline Émond at chssa@bellnet.ca
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Temporary exhibit
Vocation: Teaching
Sisters of Saint Anne, 150 Years of Education in Lachine
From May 29, 2011 to March 30, 2012
Vocation: Teaching gives a picture of the dedicated Sisters who, over the course of 150 years, taught in no fewer than 14 schools in Lachine. This exhibition provides a look at Lachine’s educational heritage from different perspectives: that of the teachers, but also that of the students. It features personal accounts, photos, books, documents, artifacts and teaching materials once used by the Sisters and their pupils. Vocation: Teaching is an invitation to meet a group of women who devoted their lives to education.
* For visuals, contact Marjorie Deschamps at chssa@bellnet.ca
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Permanent exhibits
Mother Marie-Anne, the Story of a Fire
This part of the exhibition relates the life of Blessed Marie-Anne Blondin through historical paintings done by artists from the Sisters of Saint Anne. Located in the main hall of the convent, visitors have an opportunity to immerse themselves in the unique atmosphere of a 19th-century convent.
The deeper a tree sinks its roots…
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Visitors discover how the Congregation of Sisters of Saint Anne has evolved, from its early beginnings to today, through an abundance of photos, mementos from missions and reference objects from the Sisters’ daily lives. Treasurer, pharmacist, cook, infirmarian, cellarer, seamstress: in community life, the Sisters had to be ready to turn their hand to whatever needed to be done. The steps from secular to religious life are also explained.
*For visuals, contact Marjorie Deschamps at chssa@bellnet.ca