On Sister Helen Morrissey, RHSJ

Sister Helen Morrissey, undated; photograph from Allan Hustak's 
At the Heart of St. Mary's, A History of Montreal's
St. Mary's Hospital Centre, Vehicule Press, 2014

One reason that Reverend Sister Helen Morrissey is important is that she originated the idea of a hospital for the English-speaking population of Montreal. From the beginning St. Mary's Hospital served people of all religious faiths although its intended clientele was Roman Catholic. Sister Helen Morrissey is not related to me but I hope the descendants of Sr. Helen find and read this information on their ancestor so that they might be proud of her and remember her. When I began writing this it was mainly to expand on the history of St. Mary's Hospital and all I knew of Sr. Helen was her obstreperous behaviour regarding the formation of the new hospital, but the more I learn of Sr. Helen the more I am impressed by her.

Pharmacy, Hotel Dieu, Montreal, QC, 1911

The Notman archives at Montreal's McCord Museum are an excellent source of historical photographs of Montreal, not only of the wealthy who could afford to have their portraits taken, but also of average citizens. In this photograph, at Hotel Dieu Hospital, we see the pharmacy department in 1911 where Sr. Helen worked.  

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Sister Helen Morrissey was like the archetypal Mother Superior who tolerated no lack of discipline or immoral behaviour; there aren’t many people like her anymore. Many people were influenced by Sister Helen and knew of her; when she died in 1953 her obituary was published in the New York Times. Her influence extended well beyond the Irish community in Montreal. 

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Elsewhere I have written my own appreciation of St. Mary's Hospital, now I must include Sr. Helen Morrissey in this tribute. Sister Helen Morrissey’s greatest achievement is that she originated the idea of a hospital for Montreal‘s English speaking community; she and Dr. Donald Hingston founded St. Mary's Hospital. 

St-Mary’s Hospital opens

St. Mary's Hospital was founded in 1924 by Sister Helen Morrissey and Dr. Donald A. Hingston. First a 45-bed institution located at Shaughnessy House (now the Canadian Centre for Architecture) in the Shaughnessy Village neighbourhood of Downtown Montreal, it has since moved to its current location in 1934 where it has 271 beds.

St. Mary's Hospital, Montreal

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The following is from the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph website:

St. Mary’s Hospital, Montreal, Quebec (1924-1930)

Sister Helen Morrissey, R.H.S.J,from an Irish family, a pharmacist at Hotel-Dieu, Montreal, dreamed of founding a hospital to care for the English speaking patients as early as 1908. In 1924, with permission from Bishop Georges Gauthier, Archbishop of Montreal, Mother LeRoyer, her Superior and the support of generous benefactors, she left the Hotel-Dieu to establish St. Mary’s Hospital (50 beds) in the Sir Thomas Shaughnessy residence. She called on the Sisters of Hotel-Dieu,Cornwall, Kingston and Chicago to support her in this hospital apostolate. The community received novices. A school of nursing was opened. In 1930, following administrative difficulties, Sister Morrissey returned to Hotel-Dieu. St. Mary’s Hospital was then entrusted to another religious community. This was the first Catholic English speaking hospital in Quebec. 

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Sister Helen Morrissey was also an author; her biography, Ethan Allen's Daughter, recounts the deeply religious life of the daughter of one of Vermont’s famous heroes, Ethan Allen. While still young, Frances Margaret Allen, converted to Catholicism and moved to Montreal where she served in the apothecary (pharmacy) department at Hotel Dieu Hospital; she became a nun in the RHSJ order. We can see why Sr. Helen would be interested in Sr. Frances! Only 100 copies were printed of Sr. Helen's Ethan Allen's Daughter so it is unlikely that you will find an original first edition, but the book has been reprinted and is available from different online stores. I believe an original copy of Sr. Helen's book is located at the library of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC.

AuthorsHelen Morrissey 1862-1953

Print BookGardenvale, Que., Printed by Garden City Press, 1940

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Here is information on Sister Helen Morrissey’s genealogy; this includes her birth family and her final resting place, from www.findagrave.com.

Sister Helen Morrissey was born 1862 in Pickering, Ontario, Canada. She died in Montreal on 09 April 1953; she was age 90 or 91 years old when she died.

Sr. Helen Morrissey’s father is James Morrissey; he was born in 1828 in  County Kilkenny, Ireland; he died on  06 August 1899, he was 70 or 71 years old, and he is buried in Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Cemetery.

Sr. Helen’s mother is Harriet Wiloughby Hardgrove Morrissey who was born on 31 May 1836 in County Kilkenny, Ireland. She died on 31 March 1915 (aged 78) and is buried at Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Cemetery.

Sister Helen Morrissey had at least five siblings who survived to adulthood, they are:

Ann Morrissey Murphy was born on 12 January 1859 in Pickering; she died on 16 November 1919 (aged 60) in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA. She is buried in Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Cemetery.

Mary Elizabeth Morrissey was born on 9 January 1863 in Pickering, Ontario, Canada. She died on 13 January 1942 (aged 79) in Ontario, Canada and is buried at Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Cemetery.

Nicholas John Morrissey was born on 12 September 1869 in Pickering, Ontario. He died on 4 July 1926 (aged 56) in Orillia, Ontario, Canada, and is buried at Mount Hope Catholic Cemetery, Toronto, Ontario.

Edward James Morrissey was born on 5 February 1873 in Pickering, Ontario. He died on 25 July 1961 (aged 88) in Ramsey County, Minnesota, USA and is buried at Resurrection Cemetery, Mendota Heights, Minnesota, USA.

Harriet Louise "Hattie" Morrissey Cowan was born on 20 June 1867 in Pickering, Ontario; she died on 14 May 1908; she married George Cowan (1865 - 1936) and is buried in the Cowan family plot at Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Cemetery. Sr. Helen Morrissey helped have Harriet and George's children privately educated in Montreal; one of their daughters was educated at the Villa Maria; after studying at the Villa Maria, one of Sr. Helen's nieces was awarded a full scholarship for science studies at McGill University but declined, subsequently Sr. Helen was furious over this. 

Below, three family photographs of Sr. Helen Morrissey:

Sr. Helen Morrissey

Sr. Helen Morrissey and her sister Hattie 

I am told that the above photograph of Sr. Helen with her sister, Hattie, and Hattie's son Jim, was taken at Hattie's residence in the Notre Dame de Grace neighbourhood (where I live) in Montreal. In the 1921 issue of Lovell's Montreal Directory there are two "George Cowans" (Hattie's husband) and neither lived in NDG; however, one of the two is a George Cowan living at 2593 rue St. Urbain. This is, I believe, the residence of the brother-in-law and sister of Sr. Helen Morrissey. Note that Hotel Dieu Hospital, where Sr. Helen worked, was at that time located at 3840 St. Urbain Street, only a short walk  from George and Hattie Cowan's residence. 

My thanks to Dr. Morgan Holmes, PhD, a great grand niece of Sr. Helen Morrissey, for additional information on Sr. Helen and for the photographs above.

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Here are Photographs of Sr. Helen Morrissey’s family's plot which includes a memorial for Sr. Helen. These are from the find a grave website.

The James Morrissey family monument at Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Cemetery

Grave of Sister Helen Morrissey

                                                       Grave of James Morrissey and Harriet Willboughby Hardgrove, 
                                                        parents of Sister Helen Morrissey; these photographs (above) are
                                                                                    taken from the Find-a-grave website

Photograph taken in the crypt at the Museum dedicated to the Religious Hospitallers; 
this is the probable location, on Pine Avenue West in Montreal, of the final
resting place of Sr. Helen Morrissey

Sr. Helen Morrissey was a member of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph (RSHJ or RHSJ) and is buried in the crypt under the former chapel of the Hospitalières; located at 201, avenue des Pins Ouest, a museum at this location gives the history of the Hospitallers; from their website: 

Le Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal a pour mission de transmettre l’histoire des origines de Montréal et de sa fondation, de faire connaître l’histoire de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, d’exposer le patrimoine matériel et immatériel des Hospitalières de Saint-Joseph, et d’explorer l’histoire des soins et des sciences de la santé.
 
Le Musée retrace quatre siècles d’histoire à travers sa fascinante collection reliée au développement de Montréal, à la pratique des soins hospitaliers, de la médecine et de la pharmacie, ainsi qu’aux arts sacrés.

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An obituary for Fr. Martin Callaghan, appearing in The Montreal Star, published on 11 June 1915, notes that "His (Fr. Martin Callaghan's)  brother, the Rev. Luke Callaghan, parish priest of St. Michael’s, was with him at the time of his death, as were his sister Mrs. Farrel, of Lachine, and Rev. Sister Morrissy, and assistants of the parish of Notre Dame." The family had a long association with Sr. Helen Morrissey, going back at least to 1915. It is Fr. Luke Callaghan who ended Sr. Helen Morrissey's control over the construction of St. Mary's Hospital. 

Note: I have located from my files the attached image of the original newspaper article from 1915; included in this newspaper article is mention of Sr. Helen Morrissey, she was well known in ecclesiastical circles. This is legible if enlarged and a printed version is included in a blog post on Fr. Martin's obituary. 

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Sr. Helen Morrissey is mentioned in both of the following books on St. Mary's Hospital. 

         

                                      


Excerpt from St. Mary's Hospital, The Early Years (1987)  by Dr. J.J. Dinan:

Canon Luke Callahan (sic) was named by Dr. Hingston as the man who, through his intervention with the Archbishop during the 1929 closure, saved the hospital. Father Callahan (sic)  had persuaded the Bishop to sanction the removal of Rev. Mother Morrissey and bring in the Grey Nuns. Many of the Irish clergy had been strongly in favour of turning over the hospital to Rev. Mother Morrissey or another religious nursing order. The community in general was dissatisfied with the doctor-dominated board and it was during this state of general discontent, that a new board of prominent businessmen and politicians was established prior to the first major successful drive in July 1931.

Sr, Helen Morrissey is also mentioned in Allan Hustak's excellent At the Heart of St. Mary's, A History of Montreal's St. Mary's Hospital Centre, Vehicule Press, 2014. 


                                       



Updated on 16, 18 October 2025.

St. Mary’s Hospital, Paying it Forward

St. Mary's Hospital, 20 August 2014 

Walking down the hall at St. Mary’s Hospital, I said a silent thank you to Fr. Luke Callaghan for saving the hospital. Back in the 1930s Dr. William Hingston, who founded the hospital, asked Fr. Luke for help dealing with Sr. Helen Morrissey (no relation to me), the nun who had initiated the idea of a hospital for Montreal’s Roman Catholic population; however, Sr. Helen had her own rigid ideas of how the new hospital should be run, and she proved an obstreperous and formidable opponent as she alienated the all-male board organizing the new hospital. She almost derailed the hospital before it had even opened. As a last resort, and exasperated with Sr. Helen, Dr. Hingston called in Fr. Luke, who was the pastor at St. Michael’s Church in Mile End, to see what he could do about the situation. It was because of Fr. Luke’s intervention that fund raising and building the new hospital could proceed. Soon, the new St. Mary’s Hospital opened and it has been serving Montrealers of all faiths ever since.     

It occurs to me that at this time of the year, a time for giving and thanks, we might remember those people from the past who made our present lives possible. Fr. Luke Callaghan, who is also my great great uncle, helped pay forward the gift of St. Mary’s Hospital. This hospital saved my wife’s life ten years ago; my two grandsons were born here; and the doctors, nurses, and technicians at St, Mary's gave me truly exceptional care just three years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer, they saved my life. 

I would be a terrible ingrate if I did not contribute to St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation. I think of Fr. Luke Callaghan and the words of Dr. William Hingston, “In my opinion, Luke Callaghan saved St. Mary's.” Of course, Fr. Luke probably never heard of the phrase “paying it forward” and he had no idea that his intervention to save the hospital would also help his family’s descendants ninety years later, but that’s exactly what he did; we, too, can pay forward something of what we have received. Be generous, be giving, and pay forward what we have been given for future generations.

Notes: Quotation from Dr. Hingston is from Allan Hustak's At the Heart of St. Mary's, A history of Montreal's St. Mary's Hospital Center, Vehicule Press, 2014.

I also recommend Dr. J.J. Dinan's St. Mary's Hospital, The Early Years, Optimum Publishing International, Montreal and Toronto, 1987.

The man who saved St. Mary's Hospital

When I was growing up I often heard about the three Callaghan priests, Frs. Martin, James, and Luke. The oldest priest was known familiarly as Fr. Martin, he was the first Montreal-born pastor at St. Patrick's Basilica; when he died he was buried in a plain wooden casket and, as his funeral cortege moved through the streets, people bowed their heads and acknowledged that he was an exceptional and humble man of God; they all loved Fr. Martin. Fr. James, the second born, was less known; the youngest, Fr. Luke Callaghan, was prominent but not as beloved as Fr. Martin. 

The Callaghans were proud of all of their children. John Callaghan, their father, was involved in religious organizations in Montreal and, coincidentally, he was a longtime friend of my great great grandfather, Laurence Morrissey, a relationship that predates the marriage of his daughter to Laurence's son, Thomas. The Sulpician order educated these three young men and they each became prominent figures in the Montreal community. Born into the working class their intelligence was recognized by the Church and they were given every opportunity to make something of themselves; they were given the greatest gift, an education. 

There is a saying, that one pays something forward (defined as "when someone does something for you, instead of paying that person back directly, you pass it on to another person instead.") Back in the 1920s and 1930s, and before, some members of the Irish Catholic community in Montreal wanted to build a hospital, and they did, it is St. Mary's Hospital which is also a McGill University teaching hospital. It was Fr. Luke Callaghan who saved the hospital when it was in jeopardy of being cancelled; he paid forward the good fortune that he had received from others.

Father Luke Callaghan

A Notman photograph of St. Michael's Church, 1934; Fr. Luke Callaghan
was the pastor here and he helped build the church.

The mission of founding a hospital originated with Sister Helen Morrissey (no relation) in 1908; she was born in Pickering, Ontario, and she was joined in this work of founding a hospital by Dr. Donald Hingston, an eminent Montreal surgeon and a member of an eminent Montreal family, his father had been a surgeon and mayor of Montreal. The first location of St. Mary's Hospital, chosen by Mother Morrissey, was Shaugnessy House, on then Dorchester Blvd West, and it opened on 21 October 1924; it is now the location of an architectural centre and museum. 

Shaugnessy House was soon recognized as being too small to serve its purpose and work began raising funds for a new much larger building. But the main hurdle was Mother Morrissey, she had her own vision of the new hospital, and that vision was that it would be under her control. She was also convinced of her own correctness, she was domineering, intelligent, articulate, and formidable. She was a literate person, she had written a book on Ethan Allen, and she knew what kind of hospital she wanted; soon, the business men fled saying Mother Morrissey was unworkable with. The men could do nothing with Mother Morrissey, she would not budge from her belief in what she wanted and her moral authority in getting it.

The original St. Mary's Hospital located at Shaugnessy House

St. Mary's Hospital in 2014

It seems that the men, prominent business men and politicians, cowered in the presence of Mother Morrissey, or they threw up their hands and were prepared to let the whole project become history. Thomas Morrissey was married to Mary Callaghan, a sister of the three Callaghan priests, and when Thomas died in 1916 Mother Morrissey visited the family in their working class home. Also present were Mary Callaghan's brothers, the priests. So, when the hospital project went off the rails due to Mother Morrissey, who did they call? They called the only man who had the authority and connections to do an end-around Mother Morrissey, they called Father Luke Callaghan, pastor of, at the time, the largest Irish congregation in Montreal, St. Michael's Church on St. Viateur Street in Mile End. Perhaps Fr. Luke had a chat with Mother Morrissey, he had the diplomacy to deal with all sorts of people and to get them onboard; he had seen through the building of St. Michael's church, a church that is architecturally unique in the city. Having lost her position of authority in the hospital project, Mother Morrissey seems to have disappeared from her involvement with the hospital. Soon, a million dollars was raised for the construction of a new hospital. The new hospital, located on Lacombe Avenue near Cote des Neiges Road, opened in 1934, where it is still located.

Here is an excerpt from Dr. J.J. Dineen's St Mary's Hospital, The Early Years: 

Canon Luke Callahan was named by Dr. Hingston as the man who, through his intervention with the Archbishop during the 1929 closure, saved the hospital. Father Callahan had persuaded the Bishop to sanction the removal of Rev. Mother Morrissey and bring in the Grey Nuns. Many of the Irish clergy had been strongly in favour of turning over the hospital to Rev. Mother Morrissey or another religious nursing order. The community in general was dissatisfied with the doctor-dominated board and it was during this state of general discontent, that a new board of prominent businessmen and politicians was established prior to the first major successful drive in July 1931.

I tell this story because some years ago someone very close to me was very ill, at one point she almost died while in hospital, but doctors and nurses rushed to her bedside and by the next morning she was still alive, but barely. Every year I expected it to be her last but it is now eight years later and each year is a blessing, it is a gift and to whom do I owe this gift? To the doctors, nurses, administrators, and staff at St. Mary's Hospital. God bless them all! And to whom do I owe this hospital? To Mother Helen Morrissey, Dr. Donald Hingston, and Fr. Luke Callaghan who helped keep the hospital project alive; he paid it forward and I, his great, great nephew, am one of the many recipients of his gift. Then, in June 2021, I had cancer, it required surgery; I was referred to the chief surgeon at St. Mary's and, within a few weeks, I was operated on and here I am, writing this and once again thankful to the doctors and nurses at St. Mary's Hospital and Fr. Luke for saving it from the misguided control of Mother Morrissey. By the way, I have no special privilege at the hospital; everyone is treated equally with dignity and care.

And this is what "paying it forward" looks like from someone who has received the generous gift of those who paid it forward. I hope everyone can be generous and give something to a reputable charity like the St. Mary's Hospital Foundation. Fr. Luke, when he helped save St. Mary's Hospital, had no idea that it was descendants of his own family that would be saved by his intervention with Mother Morrissey. 

Merry Christmas to you all!

Note: Sister Helen Morrissey's book, Ethan Allan's Daughter, was published in Montreal in 1940.