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By God’s grace, Queenship of Mary find land, build motherhouse
Sisters of the Queenship of Mary gather with guests for the opening of the order’s new motherhouse in Plantagenet County in eastern Ontario in late August, 2024.
CR Photo/Anna Farrow
September 6, 2024
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OSV Newsillustration/Dado Ruvic, Reuters
The Queenship of Mary community says it lives on divine providence, which members coincidently believe led to locating the property for its newly opened motherhouse located between Montreal and Ottawa.
The story of the motherhouse — the grand opening drew three bishops, 25 priests and over 400 laity and religious to an Ontario field Aug. 22 — is one that could have been taken from the chronicles of the religious orders established in earlier centuries.
Mother Mary Bernadette “received in her heart that God wanted land for the community.” Specifically, she received in prayer that the property was to be situated halfway between Notre Dame Cathedral in Ottawa and St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal.
Mother Mary Bernadette would “get the sisters together and be like, ‘Okay, everyone, get in the van. We're going to go look for the land.’ So, they would go on these adventures and look for the land,” said Sr. Elizabeth Marie.
It was on a drive around Plantagenet County in eastern Ontario that Mother Mary Bernadette called out to her friend to “stop the car.” Land had been found.
“It was quite miraculous how we were even able to get it,” said Sr. Elizabeth Marie.
“We live completely on divine providence, so we don't have any collateral. Somehow the bank gave us the money for the mortgage. Later they contacted us and they're like, ‘How did you get this?’ We said, ‘We don't know, you gave it to us.’
“Praise God,” she said with a laugh.
And praise the sisters themselves who put in the hard work to make their new home a reality. The sisters placed denim work aprons over their habits and put their hands to the till, screwdriver and skill saw. With training and remote guidance from an electrician brother, they wired the house themselves.
Mother Mary Bernadette said that “the inspectors were really impressed with their work.”
Reminiscent of an Amish barn-raising, many families and individuals lent their hands and equipment to the project.
A carpenter and contractor before being ordained a priest, co-founder Fr. Ben St. Croix, CC, gave over his sabbatical year to oversee the construction.
In addition to St. Croix and the sisters, the work crew was made up of an assortment of young men who came from across Canada to help.
In 2022, Paul Bruneau from Coquitlam, B.C., decided to devote his summer to helping the sisters. The 25-year-old extended his stay through to Christmas, and then to the following summer, and then said, “You know what, Lord, I’m just going to stay until you tell me to move on.”
Bruneau spoke of the sister’s “total trust and abandonment to divine providence.” He pointed back to the numerous times when insufficient funds, inclement weather or a shortage of workers threatened to stall the project, but then “the graces flowed, the donations came in, more workers arrived and we just kept going.”
Bruneau is grateful for his time with the community, remembering the “joy and laughter going through that building; the singing, the dancing and the fellowship.”
“Not that many people get to work alongside sisters for two years,” said Bruneau.
The construction of the motherhouse is just the beginning of a multi-phase plan for the property.
After Mass, the blessing of the house and land by Ottawa-Cornwall Archbishop Marcel Damphousse and lunch for the hundreds of guests, Mother Mary Bernadette outlined her vision for the farmland. She spoke of honeybees, a sugar shack, a few animals and, crucially, the creation of a Rosary trail.
“I just envision this place as a place where people will come and truly experience our Lord through our Blessed Mother,” she said.
Sr. Elizabeth Marie, who joined the community in 2016, told The Catholic Register that “people often ask us what we do, and it's a very important question, but we're really focused on loving with the heart of Mary and imitating and praying for her virtues.”
“It's always towards Jesus. But the world needs Mary so badly right now to bring everyone to Jesus. Whatever it is that we do in terms of an apostolate, whether it's running retreats or taking care of the elderly in nursing homes or going into schools or doing catechesis, whatever it is, it's presenting Mary.”
The community will retain its house in Ottawa for ministry and formation and seven sisters will live at the Plantagenet location.
A version of this story appeared in the September 08, 2024, issue of The Catholic Registerwith the headline "Where there's providence, there's a way".
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