“We have reached this point,” think the three women, who close the books and take stock without bitterness or regret. Le Nouvelliste met sisters Yvette Gervais, Denise Laquerre and Liette Diamond a few days before the transaction, which represents the last sale of a house owned by the Sisters of the Assumption in Trois-Rivières.
Yvette Gervais and Denise Laquerre were among the first cohort to live in this brand new “provincial house,” inaugurated in 1969. After a few missionary detours, the two sisters returned there in 2009. The first for accounting and as a sacristan of the local community, the second who intervenes with women in difficulty in the Trois-Rivières area.
For the past 20 years, Sister Liette Diamond has led the liturgy there. A contribution that benefited from her in-depth knowledge of music gained as director of the Chanteclair Choir for almost as many years… These were all the scores she had to send for recycling!
“We have been emptying for a year,” explains Sister Denise Laquerre, who was commissioned to close this dormitory following a decision by the General Council in April 2022. “It’s a house that I love, that I knew a lot about and that I learned to tour and show to potential buyers,” she says. It was also important to find buyers for the furniture and any items sold or donated.
“The cupboards, the cupboards, the cupboards… filled with pieces of rope, pieces of tape and pieces of paper,” describes the person who took on this “important and necessary task” to complete this chapter. “I did it as community service that needed to be done. And I got a lot of help.” Not only had to support the sisters of the community in this new beginning, but also the employees of the house who had lost their jobs in the adventure.
To symbolize the scale of the mission, her colleague Liette Diamond gave her an image that she keeps when she loses motivation: that of a person lifting a huge stone with her only strength: “She said to me, look, it looks like this You,” Sister Laquerre said, laughing.
On April 19, the chapel was deconsecrated during a ceremony presided over by the Bishop of Trois-Rivières, Msgr. Martin Laliberté. In February, all but two sisters made their way to Nicolet. Denise Laquerre and her colleague Yvette Gervais stayed until August to unravel everything.
When the new buyer takes possession of the building, the sisters hope the student body can benefit from the conversion. The transaction is expected any day.
Profession: teacher
The Sisters of the Assumption were called to Trois-Rivières in 1929 to teach English-speaking children in the Catholic school system. “In the community we had sisters from the United States and Ontario who spoke English,” explains Yvette Gervais. About 50 years earlier, they were entrusted with educational institutions in Saint-Paulin and Louiseville.
The house, which has just been closed, was never used as a school or monastery. Rather, it was intended from the beginning to become the main living space for all these sisters who taught at various schools in Trois-Rivières and for those who continued their studies there. For many of them it was the Maurice-Duplessis Normal School, the mainstay of what later became the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières.
But her educational appeal didn’t stop at school. After the educational reform, some of them worked as pastors in the parishes of Trois-Rivières and in diocesan service. It is difficult to make an exhaustive list of the social and community organizations in which they worked: COMSEP, Maison Re-Né, Maison Coup de Pouce, Les Artisans de Paix, Carpe Diem, etc. They were always discreet, but in uniform there.
“For the Sisters of the Assumption, music is very important.” This justified the conversion of one wing of the building into a music teaching studio. Two sisters gave private lessons in this area, which also had a separate entrance for young musicians.
Overall, the X-shaped house with its four diagonal wings appeared a little avant-garde. Led by the Provincial Superior, Sister Fabiola Robert, it was a vision of modernity that inspired the design of the building accessible to young students, a few steps from the Cégep de Trois-Rivières. “It’s not a butter dish,” said Sister Liette Diamond, who appreciated the natural light there.
An environment to live and celebrate
On May 5, 1969, Le Nouvelliste reported on the inauguration of this house in two pages, mentioning the contribution of Sister Luce Scalabrini, renowned artist and member of the Congregation, as designer of the “plans for a chapel inviting contemplation”.
In this living environment dedicated to the community of sisters in Trois-Rivières, a spirit of welcome, sharing and commitment prevailed. In addition to serving as the main house for around fifty nuns, it was also important to provide a meeting place for the other sisters who were scattered from La Tuque to Saint-Paulin to Trois-Rivières. The Sisters of the Assumption in the former convent on Rue Laviolette, at the corner of Sainte-Geneviève, were far too cramped for that.
“We celebrated a lot in this house,” remembers Denise Laquerre. The Assumption, Christmas and Easter were celebrated there solemnly and festively, thanks to the talents of those who knew about them.
If readers recognize the stone walls of this beautiful disused chapel, it is because it was used for the celebration of daily mass, which was televised on the community channel Nous.TV. A service that was given to the diocese of Trois-Rivières for eleven years, but which was associated with many challenges for the sacristan of the place: day after day, Sister Yvette Gervais had to ensure the presence of a priest, in addition to her role as liaison officer with the Cogeco team and its volunteers.
The majority of the nuns who have left the house on Rue Marguerite-Bourgeois since the beginning of the year have returned to Nicolet, where the Sisters of the Assumption in Canada have their primary residence. The Sainte-Thérèse house accommodates the most active among them, while those in need of care can retreat to the Sainte-Marie pavilion.