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Montreal Misericorde Hospital

Publisher: Unknown
Date: c1906
Montreal Misericorde Hospital Nursery.

This hospital, also known as Maternité Sainte-Pélagie and later Hospice de la maternité, opened on Dorchester Boulevard (currently René-Lévesque Boulevard) in the east of Montreal in 1853. It was managed by the Sisters of Miséricorde, a congregation established in 1848 by Bishop Ignace Bourget and led by Rosalie Cadron-Jetté. Its mission was to care for unwed mothers and their “illegitimate” children (many of whom were abandoned). Over the years, it cared for many thousands of mothers and babies. Each year between 1845 and 1882 the hospital admitted between 300 to 500 unwed mothers. The hospital was first located in a small building on Ste-Catherine Street. When the building became too crowded, the Sisters moved the Hospital to a specially constructed building on Dorchester Street. The management of the Hospital was transferred to the Quebec Government and it became a long-term care center (CHSLD Jacques-Viger) in 1973. The building has been unoccupied since 2012.

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