Sisters of Saint Ann

The Sisters of St. Anne are a Roman Catholic religious institute, founded in 1850 in Vaudreuil, Quebec, Canada, by the Blessed Marie Anne Blondin, S.S.A., to promote the education of the rural children of the Province of Canada. Their vision is rooted and guided by Ignatian spirituality.

Esther Blondin (1809-1890) grew up the daughter of simple farmers in the village of Terrebonne. Through her work as a domestic servant to the teaching Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal who had opened a parochial school in the town, she came to learn how to read and write. She was accepted to the novitiate of the Sisters in 1833, but soon had to leave for reasons of health. Later that same year, having recovered her health, Blondin accepted the invitation from another former novice of the Congregation, who was running a parochial school in Vaudreuil, to join her in teaching there. Within a few years, she had become the principal of the school, then known as the Académie Blondin, where she trained teachers for the rural schools of the province.

Over the years, Blondin found out that one of the causes of the widespread illiteracy in the French-speaking community was a certain Church ruling that forbade that children be taught by members of the opposite sex. Unable to finance two schools, many parish priests chose to have none. In 1848 Esther presented to the Bishop of Montreal, Ignace Bourget, a plan to found a religious congregation "for the education of poor country children, both girls and boys in the same schools". Despite the novelty of the suggestion, and possible violation of Church rules, since the Canadian government was in favour of such schools, he authorized the experiment. She obtained the commitment of several young women for this endeavor and a novitiate was opened to form members for the proposed new congregation on 13 September 1848.

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