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The Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood
Source: History of the Diocese of Gravelbourg 1930-1980 by Rev. Adrien Chabot, Willow Bunch, Saskatchewan, 1981

It is in 1926, on January 14, that this religious community settled in Gravelbourg in the former residence of Dr. Maurice Gravel on the outskirts town. A few days later Archbishop Mathieu visited the community and blessed their modest oratory. The community consisted of eight sisters.

Archbishop Mathieu 8 Founding Sisters

Gradually the residence was transformed by the building of annexes that became the novitiate, a print shop, a work room where altar breads were baked. In 1928, there was another extension added to the existing building especially a chapel that was blessed by Bishop Arsene Turquetil O.M.I., Vicar Apostolic of Hudson Bay. On the same occasion Msgr. Marois, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Regina received the temporary vows of the first professed sister. Less than ten years after the foundation, the community had 17 sisters, two of them from Saskatchewan...

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Sisters of the Precious Blood
By Paul Bonneau - Source: Heritage Gravelbourg District 1906 to 1985

On the express demand of Archbishop Mathieu and of Father Charles Maillard, who was very desirous of having in his parish contemplative nuns who would pray particularly for all of Gravelbourg, the Sisters of the Precious Blood from Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, opened a monastery on January 14, 1926.

Doctor Maurice Gravel sold them his house to which they added a chapel and bedrooms a few years later.

Precious Blood Monastery

The Sisters of the Precious Blood lived a contemplative life and consecrated themselves to the solitude of a cloister, to a life of silence, recollection, prayer, penance and good works.

Because of a lack of personnel, the Sisters of the Precious Blood left Gravelbourg in 1975; some of the sisters went to Saint-Hyacinthe and others to Saint-Boniface.

The Madonna House
By JoAnne DeGidio, Patricia Birdsong and Toni Austin - Source: Heritage Gravelbourg District from 1906 to 1985

Madonna House, a Catholic community of laymen, women and priests, had its beginning in 1930 when Catherine de Hueck Doherty followed a call from God to live the radically simple life of Nazareth in Toronto, Ontario. This evolved into a family who now live together in poverty, chastity and obedience, striving to preach the Gospel with their lives by being people of the water and the towel, praying for and serving the needs of people and the Church in our everyday world. Field houses are established in response to specific requests by bishops throughout the world.

In 1975, Bishop Noël Delaquis invited Madonna House to open a poustinia in the former Precious Blood Monastery of Gravelbourg. A poustinia is a type of prayer house that takes its name and essence from the Russian word desert. For those who live there, there, the poustinia is a way of life. For everyone, the poustinia is that place of silence and presence of God within our deep hearts. For all who desire to pray in this way, the poustinia is also a physical space: simple rooms in Madonna House open to all who wish to come and spend twenty-four hours in quiet, solitude, fasting and prayer. The poustinia - the desert - is the contemporary as well as the ancient meeting place of God and man, a place to bring personal needs and the needs of all the world to the Lord.

Take a look at the beauty that was hidden within the courtyard of the Madonna House.

* Click on the thumbnail to view a full sized photo. *

For more information about the history of the Madonna House as well as about Saskatchewan, please visit the Société historique de la Saskatchewan website.