Legends & Legacies - St. Patrick's

Highlights of St. Patrick's Orphanage:

It was opened in 1851, Cote de St. Catherine, Outremont. Founded by the Grey Nuns of Montreal until 1944 when they turned it over to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto.
Located at 5808 Deom Street, Outremont, Montreal QC. No longer standing and now the site of Tour Royal.
Disposition of records are undetermined. It was initially learned that they were turned over to the Province of Quebec in the 1990s during the legal proceedings of the Duplessis Orphans, and then later returned to the provincial archives. This does not appear to be the case. Because St. Patrick's doubled as a school for the orphans, it is now believed that the English Montreal School Board held the records. However, in the late 1990s the Montreal school boards amalgamated and now officials are not certain where the records are. There is also the possibility that the Montreal St. Patrick's Foundation, the St. Patrick's orphanage charity that remained following the closure of the orphanage, may have the records somewhere.
Some of the names of nuns that were looking after the orphans: Sr. St. Prosper, Sr. Michael-Joseph, Sr. Cabrini/Caprini, Sr. St. Hyacinthe, Sister Marietta, Sister Victorine, Sister Mary Donald, Sister Mary Harold, Sister Florette, Sister Philip Binitti, Sister Theresita, Sister Noel, sister Amard, Sister Mary Anselm.
In later years, mostly the nuns ran the orphanage. The priest came around to visit and it was considered a special, honour day when he did. Previous to 1944 there were some priests and brothers about the orphanage. Fr. Sean Govenloch was in charge of the orphanage for the longest period of time in the 20th century. As of February, 2005, Fr. Govenloch is still alive at age 89.
Articles in the Montreal Gazette refer to Christmas dinners held at the orphanage put on by the local Kiwanis Club, trips to the CN Train Station where the train was decorated for Christmas in anticipation of Santa's arrival, Christmas plays and concerts. The orphanage subsisted on an annual grant from the Federation of Catholic charities but also received donations from other sources.
There was an average of 175-200 kids living at the orphanage at any given time during the twentieth century. One article refers to 240 children in their care in one year.
There was a handyman, a cook, various coaches for baseball, hockey, etc including Mr. Griffin, Gerry Harrison. Mr. Jelineau came by a couple of times a year and played the piano. Miss Ollie was Olive Pierre, a teacher. Mrs. Gregory was a teacher there, and one past resident remembers Mme Boulanger(Belanger) helping in the kitchen and Mme Henri who worked in the sewing room located behind the girls dorm for a few days per week.
Facilities were better than most orphanages: Swimming pool, tennis court, swings (for girls), senior swings, junior swings, baseball backstop, a few sets of seesaws, an orchard, ice rink in the winter. The school had a hockey team, a baseball team and one little league baseball team.
There was a parlour on the second floor of the main building. When the children reached grade 7, they mostly attended St. Raphael's School across the street from the orphanage; however, two past residents have told me they were sent to D'Arcy McGee School instead.
Children received free dental care at the faculty of dentistry, University of Montreal.
St. Patrick's was incorporated in 1855 and is now called the Montreal St. Patrick's Foundation and abides by the same by-laws and constitution. It's name was changed in 1993 and consists of 11 trustees and one director.

Mass was every Sunday and feast days for the residents, but the nuns attended a service every day in addition. Although the mass was in English, some of the responses were done in Latin.

Most of the orphans lived there all year round. Visiting by parents was arranged as follows: Two alternating Sundays every month were set aside for visiting by parents. At that time orphans could go out of the grounds with parents to a restaurant or for a walk. One weekend per month children could go home, and one weekend per month was a 'nothing' weekend. This varied occasionally to accommodate special situations.