It is no coincidence that, against all odds, nuns began to teach science in French Canada from the 1830s and 1840s. In those turbulent times when Queen Victoria’s troops crushed the revolutionaries in blood silence them, female religious communities teach their proteges astronomy, botany, chemistry and physics. At least they do it for the benefit of young girls of privileged status over whom they watch.
Nevertheless, the majority of women who were subject to this theocracy will experience an adult life placed entirely in the shadow of religion and domestic life alone. Do we know to what extent science first made its nest in the skirts of the Church to find there later to deploy its wings?
The interest of religious communities in science may, in several respects, seem paradoxical. At the time of inaugurating a new exhibition entitled Nuns, teachers and… scientists!, Jean-François Royal, General Manager of the Marguerite-Bourgeoys Historic Site, explains how science made its way, often with significant resources, into schools run by nuns. Around 1840, he summarizes, “the Protestant school curriculum was of better quality”. This school system allowed those who attended it better access to the spheres of scientific knowledge. So the Catholic hierarchy finds itself having no choice but to adapt. It must follow, whether it likes it or not, a movement initiated in favor of the sciences. Without giving up on faith.
As the teaching network grows, however timidly, congregations need to train female science teachers. This allows some young women to develop expertise and become pioneers. Everyone knows the botanist Marcelle Gauvreau, who first studied at the Mont-Sainte-Marie convent in Montreal. Some nuns are recognized scientists themselves, such as Sister Estelle Lacoursière, who will establish the foundations of the Department of Biology and Ecology at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières.
From the 19thand century, to oppose Protestant school competition, relates Jean-François Royal, the nuns brought in scientific equipment from abroad. They will also see to training in new scientific disciplines. “Some nuns even go to study in Europe. Their congregations often acquire high-quality scientific equipment. The conservation of these objects has been particularly well ensured by these communities, which allows us today to observe period scientific objects in perfect condition. And Jean-François Royal to show, as proof, a remarkable model of the solar system animated by a clever movement carried by bronze gears or even a German microscope whose black lacquer has retained its dazzling luster.
A new exhibition
Scientific material of this type is also found in quantity in the archives of the Sulpicians of Montreal, which are still inaccessible to the public since their closure in 2020 and despite a notice promulgated since by the Quebec State to ensure its preservation. integrity. The exhibition at the Marguerite-Bourgeoys Historic Site, which adjoins the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours chapel in Old Montreal, draws instead from the rich archives of two other religious communities, these women: the Ursulines of Trois-Rivières and the sisters of the Congregation of Notre-Dame in Montreal. Beginning Thursday, Nuns, teachers and scientists! complements the new permanent exhibition at the Marguerite-Bourgeoys Historic Site. This was deployed during the pandemic and was hardly seen, due to the sanitary confinement.
“Contrary to what one might think, science was taught to girls, at least to those from privileged backgrounds. They were nevertheless destined, at the end of their studies, to become housewives or nuns. Three rich arborescences presented in the form of a table to visitors to this exhibition make it possible to reconstruct the life choices available to young girls in 1856, 1885 and 1970. The window of horizons takes a long time to open onto the science…
However, emulation in favor of the sciences existed from the 19and century, says Jean-François Royal. But its results cannot be concretized by the occupation of new places and new roles in society. For that, we have to wait until the 1970s. “And again! Even today, as we can see, it is not always easy. This is why this exhibition seemed important to us. »
It was Anglo-Saxon women who were the first to go to university in the land of maple trees. The exhibition presents the fate of some of these women, including Harriet Brooks, who will conduct research at McGill University with Ernest Rutherford, the father of nuclear physics. The exhibition also briefly presents, among other pioneers, Irma LeVasseur, who became the first French-Canadian doctor after obtaining her doctorate at Saint Paul University in Minnesota.
Science today and yesterday
In addition to many archival items relating to zoology as well as geology, physics, chemistry and botany, the exhibition offers a perspective on the involvement of women in science today.
For example, it presents the colorful testimony of Julie Roberge, originally from Nicolet and professor at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional in Mexico City. As a child, she says in a video recording, she was marked by the eruption of the Mount Saint Helens volcano. On the day of an eruption, his father had explained at home that the ash produced by the eruption would quickly circle the Earth. To demonstrate this, they had all washed the car together the same evening so as to better discover, the next morning, a thin layer of white soot. This experience marked her. She has become an internationally renowned volcano specialist. Julie Roberge monitors in particular the eruptions of Popocatepetl, a volcano located south of Mexico City which woke up a few years ago.
In 1892, the young Marie Desjardins, who is supposed to be about 15 years old, must answer her science exam. In perfect handwriting, with a very steady hand, she explains. “Organisms decaying and disappearing”, their forms are molded, “molecule by molecule so to speak, by the mineral elements” to become fossils. The past of the world is thus before our eyes. Advances in evolution were not denied out of hand, as some might be too quick to think.
The visitor can also see, right next to it, another exam paper, this one signed by Alixina Dion, also a teenager. Alixina is asked about astronomy. Here too, everything is clear. The world does not revolve around the Earth. No, in this often narrow religious world, scientific minds were not flatter than the Earth is.