DAVIGNON, MARIE LOUISE VIRGINIE (1823-1874)

DAVIGNON, MARIE LOUISE VIRGINIE, Sister Davignon of the Religious Hospitallers of St Joseph; first superior at Chatham, 1869-73; b. St Mathias, Lower Canada, 17 Nov 1823, d/o Joseph Davignon and Victoire Vandandaigue; entered religious life, 1842; d. St Basile, N.B., 2 Feb 1874.

Louise Davignon entered the novitiate of the Religious Hospitallers of St Joseph in Montreal in 1842 and took her vows in 1844. The following year she was one of the founders of the Hotel Dieu Hospital at Kingston, Ont. She soon had to return to Montreal due to an illness which would continue to trouble her, although she later occupied responsible positions within the order, mostly in Quebec, including a six-year term as a hospital superior. She was a skillful organizer and took a special interest in landscaping, gardening, and other outdoor work.

On 16 July 1869 Davignon and three companions (Sisters McGurty, St Louis, and Vitaline) arrived on the Miramichi from Montreal on board the passenger steamship Secret. The four had been sent from the mother house in response to a plea from Bishop James Rogers for a hospital in the Chatham diocese, and they opened the Hotel Dieu Hospital soon after their arrival. During its first year it was located in the bishop's former residence; that is, in the two-storey, wood frame building, 25' x 36', which currently houses St Michael's Museum. It was moved to a new building in 1870.

Nobody on the Miramichi was happier to see the Religious Hospitallers arrive than Dr Stafford Benson, who had tried unsuccessfully for a long time to have a public hospital established in Chatham. As noted elsewhere, he extended his services to the new institution free of charge. His credibility as a physician and surgeon, in combination with the expertise and commitment of Davignon and her colleagues, ensured that the hospital got off to a successful start.

After she had been superior for four years Davignon's health broke, and she was recalled to Montreal. She had recovered sufficiently within a few months to be sent back to New Brunswick to found the Hotel Dieu Hospital at St Basile, but she proved to be terminally ill and died four months later, at age fifty. It was stated in her official obituary that she was a woman "prudent and discreet, possessing those admirable traits of character that form holy souls."