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| 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 |
Sister Helen Morrissey was 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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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 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.
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| St. Mary's Hospital, Montreal |
St. Mary’s Hospital, Montreal, Quebec (1924-1930); the following has been amended and edited:
Sister Helen Morrissey, R.H.S.J, was born into an Irish family, later she worked as a pharmacist at Hopital Hotel-Dieu, Montreal, and 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 and conflict with the board working to raise funds and organize the new much larger hospital, 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. This woman, Ethan Allen’s daughter, moved to Montreal and served at the Hotel Dieu Hospital.
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 and is buried in her family’s plot at Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Cemetery, Pickering, Ontario.
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 Jan 1863 in Pickering, Ontario, Canada. She died on 13 Jan 1942 (aged 79) in Ontario, Canada and is buried at Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Cemetery.
Edward James Morrissey was born on 5 February 1873 in Pickering, Ontario. He died on 25 Jul 1961 (aged 88) in Ramsey County, Minnesota, USA and is buried at Resurrection Cemetery, Mendota Heights, Minnesota, USA.
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| The James Morrissey family monument at Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Cemetery |
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| Grave of Sister Helen Morrissey |
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| Grave of James Morrissey and Harriet Willboughby Hardgrove, parents of Sister Helen Morrissey; these photographs are taken from the Find-a-grave website -O- 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. -O-
 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.-o- I recommend, as well, Allan Hustak's excellent At the Heart of St. Mary's, A History of Montreal's St. Mary's Hospital Centre, Vehicule Press, 2014.  |
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