the early 19th century, in the years 1836-1837, years of disorder in French Canada, while men are weapons, some of them were captured, of other publicly hanged or banished or deported, women are fighting social, humanitarian and generous charitable . Among them, a figure emerges, that of Emilie Tavernier Gamelin.
Married in 1823, mother of three sons she lost in a few years, a widow after only 4 years of marriage! That's a lot of dead in no time!
Emily turned to Lady of Sorrows experienced the death of his Son at the foot of the Cross. Now more and more clearly is to relieve the suffering of others that Emily will be studying. She takes care of the idiot Dodais that her husband has bequeathed a token of their love, she visited the poor and gives assistance to the needs it meets.
Poverty is rampant, problems of abandoned mothers, old lonely, bring Emily to open a shelter on St-Laurent, Montreal, for women sick, elderly and others, beggars, vagrants. She is personally involved but also solicits donations from her friends of bourgeois society. The solidarity of women exceeds affiliations, political opinion, language or religion. Emily is also the habit of visiting political prisoners in the prison Au Pied du Courant. Known guards prison, she can bring food, clothing, family news, letters.
With Emily, we need learn to love and serve the suffering humanity starting with the poorest, they are prisoners, abandoned children, mothers left alone or forgotten old. Emily has made her life a living available to love and serve others . She built her life in a troubled time. It was drained in its wake other families and it is thanks to them that our ancestors taste for life again and looked up. May their memory renews our hope!
(André Beauchamp, extracts)
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