Marie-Rosalie Cadron-Jetté (January 27, 1794 – April 5, 1864), religious name Marie of the Nativity, was a Canadian widow and midwife who undertook the charitable care of unwed and struggling mothers between 1840 and 1864. Out of this work, she became the foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of Misericorde. The cause for her canonization is now being studied in the Vatican. Pope Francis declared her as venerable in 2013.
Cadron-Jetté was born and raised in Lavaltrie, Quebec, and in 1811 married Jean-Marie Jetté. They had 11 children, several of whom died young. In 1827, she moved to Montreal and in 1832 her husband died of cholera. From 1840, in collaboration with Ignace Bourget (then Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Montreal), she engaged in the charitable care of unwed mothers. At this time in Montreal, unwed mothers and those associating with them attracted a significant social stigma. Cadron-Jetté operated initially out of her own home and the homes of her children, and later, with the aid of other women, worked from a series of buildings known as the Hospice de Sainte-Pélagie. In 1848, she took religious vows, along with several other women, and founded a Roman Catholic religious institute known as the Sisters of Misericorde, dedicated to the care of unwed mothers and their children. In 1849 she obtained formal midwifery qualifications. In 1853, the Misericorde Sisters built a convent on the corner of Dorchester Boulevard and Saint-André Street, and she lived there the remainder of her life.
Cadron-Jetté died in 1864. After her death, Ignace Bourget, with whom she had worked closely throughout her life, proposed that Cadron-Jetté be considered for canonization by the Roman Catholic Church. Over a century later, in 1989, the proposal was put into effect and her canonization cause was opened.
Early life Rosalie Cadron was born in Lavaltrie, Quebec, on January 27, 1794, the older of two daughters. Her father was Antoine Cadron, a farmer, and her mother Rosalie Roy, a midwife.Bates et al (2005), p.68. Her sister was Sophie Cadron (born March 21, 1806). Her family was Roman Catholic and shortly after birth she was baptized by the Abbé Louis Lamotte.Grégoire (2007), p.13. She lived at a family home on the Rue Notre-Dame in Lavaltrie until 1822.
Cadron undertook brief education while boarding at a convent located in Pointe-aux-Trembles in east Montreal, but returned home due to loneliness after only a few weeks. She did not learn to read until later in life, and appears to have never learned to write.Grégoire (2007), p.14. After returning from the convent, she was educated at home in housekeeping, sewing and crafts.Grégoire (2007), p.15. In 1806 Cadron took First Communion.
At the age of 16 or 17, Cadron met voyageur Jean-Marie Jetté, a brother of her uncle by marriage, Paul Jetté, whose father was a blacksmith,Picard, Michelle Maison Rosalie-Cadron à Lavaltrie; 2014.Genealogy of Canada "Genealogy Joseph Jette". possibly while at a family gathering; they married October 7, 1811, at the Church of Lavaltrie. Rosalie Cadron took her husband's name and was known as Rosalie Cadron-Jetté. Jean-Marie moved into Cadron-Jetté's parents' house with her, as was the custom, and undertook a new career as a farmer. In 1811, that house, along with the surrounding land and outbuildings, was given to Cadron-Jetté and Jean-Marie by Cadron-Jetté's parents, on the condition that the parents be allowed to live there until their death, and that Cadron-Jetté and Jean-Marie assume the care of Cadron-Jetté's sister Sophie until her age of majority.Grégoire (2007), p.16.
Between 1812 and 1832 Cadron-Jetté and Jean-Marie had 11 children, five of whom died young (four prior to Jean-Marie's death, and one afterwards, in 1836).O'Malley (2004), p.142. The children were Jean-Marie Junior (born 1812), Marie-Rose (1813), Pierre (1815), Francois (1817), Léocadie (1819), Joseph-Léonard (born 1819), an anonymous stillbirth (1823), Marie Edwige (1825), Antoine (1827), Hedwige (1830), and Marie Hedwige (1832).Grégoire (2007), pp.17–27.
In 1822, seeking more land in order to provide for their children's inheritance, the Jetté family sold their farm under a staggered payment arrangement whereby they would not have the full payment for three years. While waiting for the payments to come through, the Jettés lived in Vercheres, either in rented property or residing with relatives. Cadron-Jetté, Jean-Marie and their children were accompanied in the move by Rosalie's parents and Rosalie's sister Sophie.Grégoire (2007), p.20. In 1823 they moved again to Saint Hyacinthe and in 1824 they bought land there from a Charles Jarret. However, they later discovered the seller did not own the relevant land, leading in late 1826 or early 1827 to the repossession of the majority of the Jetté family's property.Grégoire (2007), pp.21–22.Pinto (2003), p.67. Following this setback the family moved to Montreal, took residence in the borough of Saint-Laurent, and joined the congregation of Saint-Jacques Cathedral.Grégoire (2007), p.23.
Widowhood On June 14, 1832, Cadron-Jetté's husband Jean-Marie died of cholera, one of many victims of that year's cholera epidemic, leaving Cadron-Jetté widowed. Cadron-Jetté responded to her husband's death by vowing to be in mourning, or wear black, for the remainder of her life.Grégoire (2007), p.28. At that time, Cadron-Jetté's eldest two sons, Jean-Marie and Pierre (20 and 17 years old, respectively), were employed as shoemakers, and the eldest daughter, Rose (19) was engaged (and was married in July 1833), while Cadron-Jetté's other four surviving children still required Cadron-Jetté's care, as did Cadron-Jetté's elderly mother.Grégoire (2007), p.27. It was not until 1838, following the death of Cadron-Jetté's mother and the maturity or death of her remaining children, that she found herself with time free to devote to charitable activities.
Hospice de Sainte-Pélagie
Several sources describe an incident which purportedly had an influence on Cadron-Jetté's future career. Between 1830 and 1832, while living in Montreal, Cadron-Jetté was visited at her house in the middle of the night by a prostitute who was seeking asylum from two sailors with intentions of violence. Cadron-Jetté hid the woman for the night in her cellar, fed her, and counselled her to change her way of life. Subsequently Cadron-Jetté received a letter from the woman informing her the woman had emigrated to the United States and made positive changes to her life, including marriage.Grégoire (2007), p.26.
In any case, during her time in Montreal, Cadron-Jetté made the acquaintance of Ignace Bourget, Bishop of the Diocese of Montreal. She met Bourget through her attendance at Saint Jacques Cathedral, where he became her spiritual director. Cadron-Jetté joined his Archiconfrérie du Très Saint et Immaculé Coeur de Marie, a group formed by Bourget to pray for the conversion of sinners.Grégoire (2007), p.32. Beginning in 1840, Bourget began to call upon Cadron-Jetté to find crisis accommodation for unwed mothers who had approached him for confession and help. This accommodation was to be secret, as unwed mothers carried a significant social stigma at the time and were often the targets of hostility, and it was to be "with a kind and prayerful woman".Grégoire (2007), p.35. Cadron-Jetté undertook this work, and between 1840 and 1845 helped around 25 women during their pregnancy, childbirth, and recovery. She would often place the women with her (now-independent) children,Grégoire (2007), p.36. and sometimes offered the women accommodation in her own home. After the birth of each child, Cadron-Jetté would take the newborn to be baptised at Montreal's Notre Dame church, and stand as godmother for the child.
In 1845, in response to growing demand brought about by Montreal's burgeoning population, Bourget began an organised project to assist unwed mothers in need of crisis accommodation and medical care. Although the Grey Nuns had been doing work in this area since 1754, their efforts were limited to the care of illegitimate newborns, and no services existed to aid the unwed mothers themselves.Grégoire (2007), p.34. In addition, the work of the Grey Nuns did not address the rate of abortions and infanticides among unwed mothers, which was of concern to Bourget due to Roman Catholic Church prohibitions on these activities. Therefore, rather than partnering with an existing religious community for this project, Bourget hoped to create a new one "free of traditions or previous hampering ties", and asked Rosalie Cadron-Jetté to take a leading role. Cadron-Jetté agreed, and on May 1, 1845, she founded the Hospice Sainte-Pélagie (also known as the Maternité de Sainte-Pélagie), operating out of the attic of a house on Saint-Simon Street, Montreal, which her son Pierre had leased from a widow named Aurelie Vinét.Grégoire (2007), p.38.Pinto (2003), p.68. The hospice derived its name from Saint Pelagia, a 5th-century reformed courtesan who chose to martyr herself rather than be raped by soldiers, to whom the Hospice was blessed and dedicated by Bishop Bourget shortly after its inception.Grégoire (2007), p.39.
Early on, conditions in the hospice were rudimentary, consisting only of a table, some chairs, a stove, and a few beds for the mothers (called "penitents"), with Cadron-Jetté herself sleeping on the floor. The attic could only be reached by a ladder on the exterior of the house and was not insulated.Grégoire (2007), pp.39–40. For this reason, Cadron-Jetté's new occupation was unpopular with her (now mature) children, who objected to the conditions of dire poverty in the Hospice and attempted to dissuade her from her new calling, on one occasion going so far as to begin moving her belongings out of the Hospice. Despite this, Cadron-Jetté persevered, expanding the Hospice's operations to provide accommodation for up to seven or eight women at a time,O'Malley (2004), p.143. and, from July 1845, taking on an additional caregiver. This caregiver was Sophie Raymond née Desmarets, herself a widow, who in addition to helping with the mothers, undertook fundraising activities on behalf of the hospice.Grégoire (2007), p.40. Through the combined efforts of Raymond and Bourget, the Hospice attracted the attentions of Antoine-Olivier Berthelet, a wealthy philanthropist, who provided money, food and firewood, and later contributed to the building of facilities for the Misericordia Sisters on Dorchester Boulevard.
On May 4, 1846, the hospice moved to an address on Wolfe Street in Faubourg Quebec owned by Jean-Baptiste Bourgault.Grégoire (2007), p.43. The new premises consisted of two storeys plus an attic, with the Hospice occupying one side of the house and the owner occupying the other.Grégoire (2007), p.43. "[They] settle into a bigger and more practical house – a two-storey wooden structure, including an attic – situated on Wolfe Street in Faubourg Quebec. The other side of the house is occupied by the owner, Jean-Baptiste Bourgault." The expanded space provided room for a small chapel featuring Stations of the Cross, where Mass was held twice weekly. It also allowed for the addition of three extra staff at the Hospice, including a Mrs Montrait, a midwife. During the Hospice's second year of operation it was host to 33 pregnant women and saw the birth of 25 infants.