ÕÅ°ÙÇÇÅ®ÓÑÂãÕÕ

The visit at the  will help history students assess the reality of women’s lives in nineteenth- century Quebec. As we reflect on the reasons why so many Quebec women decided to remain single and join a religious congregation, we tackle the delicate questions regarding women’s socioeconomic opportunities in the nineteenth century. This visit will address why nineteenth-century women who wanted to pursue a life-long career in the medical field had no other choices than to enter the Congregation des Hospitalières. The visit will first present what it meant to be a cloistered nun in the nineteenth century, the daily life inside the congregation from the moment the young women entered as novitiates to the moment they were accepted by the rest of the community as nuns. Another significant aspect will focus on their work inside the Hotel-Dieu de Montréal which was at the time, the largest hospital in Montreal as well as the various career opportunities opened to these women. Many of these hospitalières fulfilled crucial roles in the medical and scientific organisation of the hospital. As lay women, these positions would have been impossible. One the most important positions that implied some of the most delicate and was that of the apothecary traditionally held by a nun. (Hospital pharmacist).