Canadian Cottage Garden, 30 June 2016

Compare these nine year old photographs with some recent photographs of my Canadian Cottage Garden found on this blog. Nine years later, a lot of changes...

                                   

Free book libraries

I like a destination when I go for a walk—I walk with purpose—a free book library is always an ideal destination. Once arrived, I can look at the books, usually take nothing, and continue on my way. I doubt people are reading as much as they used to, it seems most people walk slightly stooped over engrossed by whatever is on the screen of their smartphone; I have no idea what they find so fascinating—porn perhaps ? A text message? The latest news on some singer? World events? What? But it sure isn’t a novel or poetry they’re reading. It isn’t Dickens, it isn’t Shakespeare, it isn’t Allen Ginsberg, maybe it’s something spawned by AI, some creature crawled out of a swamp and created by a computer. Photos taken on 15 June 2025.

At Alexis Nihon Plaza on 26 June 2013

 

"Closed Path" by Rabindranath Tagore

 

I thought that my voyage had come to its end
at the last limit of my power,---that the path before me was closed,
that provisions were exhausted
and the time come to take shelter in a silent obscurity.

But I find that thy will knows no end in me.
And when old words die out on the tongue,
new melodies break forth from the heart;
and where the old tracks are lost,
new country is revealed with its wonders.

The garden at St. Philip’s Anglican Church

Photos taken morning of 19 June 2025. A humid day with rain later in the afternoon.

     

Sonnet 144 by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

Two loves I have of comfort and despair, Which like two spirits do suggest me still: The better angel is a man right fair, The worser spirit a woman coloured ill. To win me soon to hell, my female evil, Tempteth my better angel from my side, And would corrupt my saint to be a devil, Wooing his purity with her foul pride. And whether that my angel be turned fiend, Suspect I may, yet not directly tell; But being both from me, both to each friend, I guess one angel in another's hell:    Yet this shall I ne'er know, but live in doubt,    Till my bad angel fire my good one out.

On Sister Helen Morrissey

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

This is more than you will ever need to know or want to know about Reverend Sister Helen Morrissey, but she is important because 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. 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. Please note: Sister Helen Morrissey is not related to me.

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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 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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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. 

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 and is buried in her family’s plot at Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Cemetery, Pickering, Ontario.

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) in at Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Cemetery.

Sister Helen Morrissey had four sibling, 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 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.

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 Jul 1961 (aged 88) in Ramsey County, Minnesota, USA and is buried at Resurrection Cemetery, Mendota Heights, Minnesota, USA.

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Here are Photographs of St. Helen Morrissey’s family plot which includes her burial site. 

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 are taken 
                                                                                      from the Find-a-grave website

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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. 

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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.

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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. 


                                       

Garden behind St. Thomas Anglican Church, morning 15 June 2025

                                         

                                    

                                    

"On What Is Best" by Sappho

 

Bust of Sappho, Istanbul Archaeological Museum

Some celebrate the beauty
of knights, or infantry,
or billowing flotillas
at battle on the sea.
Warfare has its glory,
but I place far above
these military splendors
the one thing that you love.

For proof of this contention
examine history:
we all remember Helen,
who left her family,
her child, and royal husband,
to take a stranger's hand:
her beauty had no equal,
but bowed to love's command.

As love then is the power
that none can disobey,
so too my thoughts must follow
my darling far away:
the sparkle of her laughter
would give me greater joy
than all the bronze-clad heroes

The Canadian Cottage Garden, 10 June 2025

An article on the BBC, "Is it better to Neglect Your Garden?”, suggests allowing "nature to take its own course". The whole article is of interest as it suggests the importance of biodiversity, which includes a variety of insects, weeds, and even urban wildlife, and the article goes in some depth on this subject. It even asks, "What if you just do nothing?", and just let one's manicured garden return to nature. This interests me but it would defeat the purpose of my garden; I need to cut the grass, using my push lawn mower, and cut grass allows easy access to the whole garden, especially for seniors, keeps the neighbours and one's family happy, and keeps the gardener busy and getting some exercise. I also need to do some weeding if I want to have as many perennial flowers as I have. To do nothing might reduce the diversity of flowers that I've planted over the years, which is part of a cottage garden; these plants have been cultivated for gardens that are maintained in a traditional way. A return to nature may end up being not having a garden at all; but raking and disposing of leaves in fall can also be limited and even eliminated. The author of the article writes, 

While experts recommend doing a little less mowing and pruning in the spring and summer, it's also recommended to let some things pile up in the autumn, specifically leaves. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a non-profit organisation focused on the conservation of invertebrates, promotes an initiative called Leave the Leaves that advocates for this to protect insects that overwinter on your property.

I didn't discard the leaves last fall, I raked them onto flower beds, and, for the most part, they are no longer visible except around the hostas at the rear of the garden. They are excellent mulch and allowed my lavender, and other plants, to survive our particularly cold winter. My own approach to gardening is more aesthetic than anything, as it might be for most gardeners. I would like my own small, shady, garden to be as much a part of nature as possible. I welcome weeds, I welcome as many insects as visit the garden, I rejoice seeing birds, and I celebrate any wildlife that passes through the garden; a garden is a simulated return to nature that allows access for people to enter, sit and visit, or just walk through. An enclosed or walled garden is a private space for nature, usually in an urban setting, the more abandoned looking the better but not, in fact, abandoned at all. Gardening is more artifice than authenticity, as poets might say, although in poetry authenticity is better than artifice; living in the city some of us want to return to nature but just to neglect the garden ends up having an unusable and perhaps uninviting garden, and defeats the purpose of the cottage garden. Here are photographs of my garden taken on 10 June 2025; this is early June in Montreal's West End, still waiting for most perennials to bloom.

The following photographs were taken on 11 June 2025. 

                 

Note the decomposing leaves, raked in place last fall, in this hosta bed