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magazine / so06
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September/October 2006 issue |
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Art and artifacts
Under a gleaming silver cupola, an imposing limestone facade
hides rolling apple orchards that hearken back to the rural
days of Lachine, a suburb west of downtown Montréal. This is the
Mother House of the Sisters of Saint Anne, a different order from
the Grey Nuns. Sister Lucille Côté is the president of Mission patrimoine
religieux, an organization founded in 1995 to help conserve
the heritage of Quebec’s Roman Catholic communities in an era
when religious orders are closing convents and shedding property.
"It’s the same story in every congregation," she says. "We are
getting old. There has been such a reduction in our numbers. Our
houses are becoming too big — houses that have so much history."
Sister Côté guides a visitor along a hallway hung with vivid artworks
in enamel on copper, a technique pioneered by a nun in
this teaching order. The Sisters of Saint Anne established schools
and wrote textbooks. They taught music to generations of youngsters,
composed original pieces and made classical recordings.
"Here we have a whole hallway full of sheet music," says Sister
Côté. "This is a source of pride for our congregation. One day, we,
too, will have to leave our Mother House. It demands a great effort
to leave these places, where our sisters have lived for most of their
lives. They say, ’We’re going to end up in a seniors home like everyone
else.’ And what will happen to our heritage? What will happen
to our objects, our religious life, what will we do with it all?"
— Marian Scott
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