Elisabeth Bruyère one step closer
Elisabeth Bruyère, the Grey Nun who founded Ottawa’s first hospital, moved one step closer to sainthood Saturday when she was among eight people declared a Venerable Servant of God by Pope Francis.
Bruyère was the only Canadian named a Servant of God, which means the Vatican has begun investigations to determine whether she is worthy of sainthood.
The case for Bruyère, who died in Ottawa in 1876, is the oldest being examined. She arrived in Ottawa from Montreal in 1845 and set about establishing Hotel Dieu, the forerunner of the Ottawa General Hospital and Bruyère Continuing Care.
The others Francis named Servant of God are Father Varghese Payapilly (1876-1929) of India; Father Emanuele Nunes Formigão (1883-1958) of Portugal; Father Ludovico Longari (1889-1963) of Italy; Mother Margherita Ricci Curbastro (1856-1923) of Italy; Mother Florenza Giovanna Profilio (1873-1967) of Italy; Mother Maria Dolores of Christ the King (1888-1967) of Italy; and Sister Justa Domínguez de Vidaurreta and Idoy (1875-1958) of Spain.
Once named venerable, candidates are investigated by the church, which must be convinced that the person is responsible for one or more “miracles” before formally canonizing him or her a saint.
Bruyère was born in Montreal on March 19, 1818, and was said to have had a vision as a young girl that she was to make serving the poor a way of life.
She entered Montreal’s Grey Nuns in 1839 and six years later was sent with two other nuns to Bytown. In a short order, she established a school, an orphanage, a home for the aged and a hospital.
Two years after she arrived, Ottawa was devastated by a typhus epidemic, and Bruyère and the other sisters treated 578 patients during the two years the epidemic raged.
“Mother Bruyère’s compassion extended to all forms of poverty and misery through various pastoral initiatives in Bytown and beyond. She and her Sisters offered loving service to all those who knocked on their door; no one was ever turned away,” the hospital says in a biography of Bruyère on its website.
Bruyère died on April 5, 1879, at age 58.
Relics of her body are still held in a museum at the Mother House on Sussex Drive.