Isabel Ross was born in Collingwood, Ontario on June 2, 1906. Isabel was the daughter of Alexander Ross and Anne Carson. She entered the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Hamilton, Ontario on January 6, 1929, made her first profession July 15, 1929, and final vows on August 28, 1934.
She attained the following degrees:
Permanent Teacher's Certificate, Hamilton Teachers' College, 1931.
Bachelor of Arts, McMaster U. Graduate Fellowship, 1966, University of Toronto.
Catechetics Graduate Work, Gannon College, Erie, Pa. USA 1977.
Sister Alexander taught school for thirty-four years in Hamilton Diocese, both elementary and secondary schools. She was stationed in Brantford Ontario mission house while serving at St. John’s High School. Sister lived at Milton, Ontario where she was both local superior and principal of the school. In 1971 she retired from teaching but continued some graduate work in Catechetics from 1963-1977. Sister previously studied at University of Toronto Graduate School where she received the Province of Ontario Graduate Fellowship. Sister spent her last years in St. Joseph’s Villa, Dundas in the Sisters’ local community there. She died peacefully in the Villa in her seventy-first year as a Sister of St. Joseph on February 21, 2000. She is buried in St. Augustine’s Cemetery, Dundas, Ontario. Mass of Christian burial was celebrated in the Villa chapel, with Bishop Anthony Tonnos as chief celebrant.
Sister Chrysostom Murphy was born Mary Theresa Murphy in Balderson, Ontario on June 8, 1923, to Hugh Murphy and Teresa Hagan. She served as an organist at Sacred Heart Parish in Lanark and at the Parish of Annunciation in Enterprise, Ontario from 1936-1949. She attended Perth Collegiate, and then Ottawa Teachers' College from 1942-1943 and received her Permanent Elementary Teacher’s certificate. She then taught and served as a principal at Lanark, Drummond, Enterprise and Tillsonburg. She entered the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of London, Ontario, in July of 1950 and took the religious name Chrysostom. She received her habit January 3, 1951, and professed her first vows on January 3, 1952, and her final vows on January 3, 1956.
Sister Chrysostom taught at many schools in London from 1950-1953. She then served as both a principal and teacher in London schools from 1953-1962. In 1962, she received her B.A. from the University of Windsor, followed in 1965 by her Elementary Principal's certificate. She also obtained several teaching certificates in physical education, learning materials, guidance, and art. Sister Chrysostom moved to Windsor and again served as a principal and teacher until 1970. In June of 1970, she received her M.Ed. from the University of Toronto. She became the Director of Religious Education for the Kent County Roman Catholic Separate School Board in Chatham, serving in this position from 1970-1976. Following this, she returned to London in 1976 and worked as a teacher at Mount St. Joseph Academy until 1978.
Moving to Toronto, Sister Chrysostom took up the position of National Executive and Program Director of the Pontifical Association of the Holy Childhood from 1978-1989. After her long tenure in this position, she returned to London, and became the audio-visual assistant at Mount St. Joseph Motherhouse. Sister Chrysostom was a member of the Canadian College of Teachers and was a lifelong learner, also taking training in photography, the Christopher Leadership course, and driving.
Sister Chrysostom Murphy celebrated her Golden Jubilee in 2001 and her Diamond Jubilee in 2011. She died November 4, 2015, in London, Ontario.
In 1960, Mount St. Joseph Centre opened to treat emotionally disturbed boys. It was located at 354 King Street West, Hamilton, which was the former site of Mount St. Joseph Orphanage, which had been closed by the Sisters of St. Joseph due to the declining number of orphans in residence. A shift in views occurred in the 1950s, and the Welfare Protection Agency began placing more children into foster homes rather than keeping them in large orphanages.
Mount St. Joseph Centre was a private, charitable, and non-denominational organization, operated by a board of directors. The Sisters of St. Joseph sat on the board, along with professionals and laypersons. Sister Eugenia Callaghan was the Administrative Director of the Centre. Other Sisters worked there as teachers and child care workers. All of the Sisters who worked at the centre had living quarters on the third floor.
Due to its success, more space was eventually needed, and in 1975, boys aged 6 to 12 remained at 354 King Street West, while boys aged 13 to 17 moved to 66 Canada Street, otherwise known as “Canada House”.
Mount St. Joseph Centre’s board of directors defined “emotionally disturbed youth” as children who had difficulty adjusting to everyday life, and thus needed special attention. The boys were described as being in conflict with their families, communities, and themselves.
A child entered the centre after first trying community-based, out-patient counselling services. If this treatment did not prove helpful, then a team of representatives from the Children’s Aid Society, Board of Education, Probation and Court Services, treatment centres, counselling services, and the Regional Children’s Centre met to discuss the child’s case. If it was determined that the child’s needs could be better met by residential treatment, they were sent to Mount St. Joseph Centre. It is important to note that children were never taken away from their parents. Instead, the centre offered a place for boys to live and receive treatment. If the child did not have a family, then the Centre worked with the Children’s Aid Society to find an appropriate family for them.
The therapy was based on everyday positive relationships with staff members. If a boy acted out, he was provided with explanations and clarifications about his behaviour, and encouraged to try new responses. This type of therapy was used to instill self-esteem into the child, as well as re-adjust his thinking about how to better respond to social interactions. The children were encouraged to join community activities, like sport clubs.
In 1967, the Department of Health promulgated the White Paper, which outlined the necessity for residential treatment centres. As a result, Mount St. Joseph Centre was accredited as a Schedule IV institution under the Revised Mental Health Act of August, 1968. This Act provided financial support for children in residential treatment centres, but not for additional educational services. In 1971, it was decided that the Public School Board would assume the responsibility for the educational programme at the centre.
On September 5, 1980, Mount St. Joseph Centre moved from 354 King Street to 69 Flatt Street, Burlington. They subsequently changed their name to Woodview Children’s Centre. The Sisters were not involved with the Centre once it moved.
With a now vacant building at 354 King Street, the Sisters put together a committee to determine what to do with the property. There were discussions about creating a seniors’ day centre and also a pastoral care centre for aging priests. The seniors’ day centre was to be in partnership with Providence House, a facility for the care of the aged, which was an institution which had been founded by the Sisters. It does not appear that these projects came to fruition.
In 1982, the Cool School leased two floors of the former Mount St. Joseph Centre. The school offered alternative education to assist troubled youth and those with learning disabilities. Other tenants included a pastoral counselling centre, St. Joseph Hospital Foundation and a bereavement group sponsored by the Sisters.
Mount Saint Joseph Academy was a school for girls directed by the Sisters of St. Joseph from 1950 to 1985. It was initially located at Sacred Heart Convent with a mere six students. In 1953, it moved to the newly built Mount St. Joseph convent. At this time, there were 26 students but by 1957, this number had grown to 105 students (80 girls resided at the school and 25 were day students). In 1958, the Academy was moved to a newly completed wing in the Mount St. Joseph complex.
The mission of the Academy was to provide secondary education for girls in which the Catholic faith was integrated into the curriculum and school life. Students had the option of being day students if they lived in the area or boarders if they came from far away. Students came from across Canada and 10%-15% came from other countries including the West Indies, Mexico, and Hong Kong.
Music was always an important part of life at the Academy, perhaps due to the influence of the St. Joseph’s School of Music which was also staffed by the Sisters. Students who wished to learn to play musical instruments did so on their own time, usually through the School of Music. They could also volunteer to join the Glee Club, one of the choirs, or the choral group called the Academy Singers which was well-known in the area.
In addition to regular curriculum classes, students were required to sign up for an activity for their enrichment and cultural development. These activities included photography, driving school, typing, fencing, drama, ballet, horseback riding, charm class, scripture study, physical education, crafts, and home economics club.
The Academy closed in 1985, and the wing that it occupied became a guest wing for relatives of hospitalized patients. It is estimated that over the course of 32 years, between 2,000 and 3,000 students received at least part of their high school education at the Academy. In 2005, the building was sold by the Sisters.
Julia Cecilia Moore was born on November 30, 1911, to Francis (Frank) Joseph Moore (d. 1938) and Julia Camilla Coughlin (d. 1965) in St. Thomas, Ontario. Active in the St. Thomas community growing up, Cecilia was a summer lifeguard at Alma College Pool, and served as recreational director at her alma mater, St. Joseph’s High School, during her college years in the 1930’s. Having obtained an Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and French from the University of Western Ontario, Cecilia went on to obtain a high school assistant certificate in English and History from the Ontario College of Education in Toronto. Cecilia entered the congregation in London, Ontario in 1935 at Sacred Heart Convent and received the habit and religious name of Sister Julia on August 25th, 1936. She professed her first vows on August 25th, 1938, and her final vows on August 25th, 1941 in the Chapel of Sacred Heart Convent. Sister Julia began teaching at St. Michael’s School in London, with teaching assignments at Roman Catholic high schools in St. Thomas and Sarnia, during which time she completed a Master of Arts Degree in French at Laval University. She eventually became the principal at Catholic Central High School in London. After two years as a principal, Sister Julia was elected General Superior in 1959. She held the position until 1971, then served four years as a General Councilor.
Her leadership had an impact on many aspects of the Sisters of St. Joseph’s involvement in education, health care, social work, retreat work and missions in Peru and Northern Canada. Mother Julia was also named Health Care Coordinator of the community, serving five hospitals and two chronic care hospitals. She was the Superior of the community of Sisters at St. Joseph’s Hospital, and a member of the pastoral care team, during which time she studied theology and scripture during a sabbatical year at Regina Mundi College in Rome. In 1979, Mother Julia returned to Mount St. Joseph where she directed retreats, and served as a spiritual director as well as a historian for the Congregation, and a consultant for the archives department. Mother Julia’s work, Beginnings in London Diocese 1868-1879, was presented to the Canadian Catholic Historical Society in 1978 and published by the London Roman Catholic School Board. Mother Julia died on October 5th, 1995.