For those with a Montreal stay in their plans, the Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal offers a fascinating end to its exhibit of eight centuries of medical care at Catholic hospitals in Quebec and France. The exhibit closes Sept. 13.

Take advantage of this final month to visit the exhibit Medicine and Charity: The Hotels-Dieu from the Middle Ages to New France, which runs until Sept. 13. The first international exhibit by the Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, presented exclusively and organized in collaboration with the French Hôtels-Dieu of Tonnerre, Beaune, Chalon-sur-Saône, and Baugé — founded between the 13th and 17th centuries — Medicine and Charity offers a journey through eight centuries of care and dedication.

The exhibit, which bridges the gap between France and Quebec in terms of heritage and hospital traditions, features nearly 100 exceptional French artifacts, many of which are classified heritage. Some of these include: A portal block from the Hôtel-Dieu of Tonnerre depicting the Last Judgment, dated 1295; rings belonging to Margaret of Burgundy and her husband, Charles of Anjou, brother of King St. Louis; a wrought-iron waffle mold bearing the coat of arms of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy; stained-glass windows, monumental tapestries, sculptures and rare archival documents from the 13th to the 18th centuries. 

These are juxtaposed with some 50 artifacts from Quebec, on loan notably from the Hospitallers of Saint Joseph and the Augustinian nuns of Quebec. Among Quebec’s iconic archival documents are the will and postmortem inventory of Jeanne Mance, and the inventory of liturgical objects loaned in 1657 by the Notre-Dame Society to the Hôtel-Dieu of Montreal, signed by Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve (all documents from the National Archives of Quebec and the priests of Saint-Sulpice).

The exhibit stands out for its narrative centred on powerful women and members of religious communities of caregivers, such as the Sisters of Saint Martha, the Augustinians, and the Hospitallers of Saint Joseph. 

From medieval Burgundy to the foundation of Montreal, the exhibit traces a common thread connecting exceptional pioneers: Margaret of Burgundy, founder of the Hôtel-Dieu de Tonnerre in 1293, Guigone de Salins, one of the driving forces behind the Hôtel-Dieu of Beaune in the 15th century; and Jeanne Mance, a leading figure in Montreal, whose legacy is directly rooted in this lineage of trailblazing women.

To complement the Medicine and Charity exhibition, the Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal is offering a program of lectures, roundtable discussions, and guided tours of the exhibit and the monastery garden led by seasoned historians and art historians, highlighting the central role of the Hôtel-Dieu in the history of Western hospitals since the Middle Ages.

Fannie Caron-Roy’s lecture will focus on the similarities between 17th-century Italian and French hospitals and the beliefs attributed to miraculous images; the combined tour of the exhibit and the monastery garden with Juliette Veilleux will explore the role of medicinal gardens in the architectural design of the Hôtels-Dieu.

On Sept. 13, a roundtable discussion with the curators of the Hôtels-Dieu in Tonnerre and Beaune, Magali Villetard and Bruno François, and historian Édouard Baraton will examine the Hôtels-Dieu at the end of the Ancien Régime (18th century) and the impact of the French Revolution on these institutions and their staff. The roundtable discussion will be followed by a guided tour of the exhibition with the curators from Tonnerre and Beaune.

We invite you to visit our website for the detailed schedule.