‘Act justly, walk humbly, love tenderly’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/06/2019 (2637 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sister Yvette Bouchard looked out at the crowd of people gathered in the St. Boniface Cathedral courtyard Friday afternoon to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Grey Nuns arriving in Manitoba.

Some were in street street clothes, some in traditional nun habits, and others, including Bouchard, wore a simple beige blazer with a matching long skirt or pants.

The outfit might be a surprise to some, but the 83-year-old nun superior said the Grey Nuns of St. Boniface have been dressing in a more modern style for years.

It’s much different than when Bouchard took her first vows as a 20 year old. Back then, the Grey Nuns were required to remain silent, save for a recreation period at night, she said in a raised voice, necessary over the sounds of people talking and children laughing as they played nearby.

Bouchard said she’s encouraged by the number of people interested in the nuns’ history, and hopes people come away with a new understanding of what it means to be a nun today.

“We’re no saints,” she said. “We’re ordinary people, and our characteristic is to be simple, humble, with what we know we have from our religion. Act justly, walk humbly, love tenderly.”

Recognizing the milestone was important to 20-year-old Samuelle Lemoine, who was one of four interpreters from Le Musée de Saint-Boniface Museum to portray the original Grey Nuns who arrived in the Red River Settlement nearly two centuries ago.

“They started the first hospital in Western Canada, they started schools, old-folks homes, they started orphanages,” she said. “They basically took care of the whole community, and it’s because of them, you could say, that St. Boniface is as it is (today).”

Lemoine said it means a lot to her to don the distinctive habit of the original Grey Nuns of St. Boniface, and to take on the role of one of the founding four who arrived by canoe from Montreal in June 1844 — Sisters Marie-Louise Valade, Eulalie Lagrave, Gertrude Coutlée and Hedwidge Lafrance.

“These women did a lot for the community,” she said. “It’s an honour to represent them.”

For 86-year-old Grey Nun Florence Caners, it’s emotional to think that people generations younger than her are so invested in the order’s history.

“I’m really happy that they share our joy,” said Caners, who became a Grey Nun in 1951. “That’s what our life is all about, to share what we have been blessed with.”

As the Grey Nuns of St. Boniface begin to get older and wind down — the group is now comprised of 29 women, the youngest of whom is 62 — they are no longer accepting new people, Bouchard said. But the community’s interest helps keep their mission, and their history, alive.

“It’s beautiful,” she said with a laugh. “We’re not dead yet.”

caitlyn.gowriluk@freepress.mb.ca

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