"I felt all the while that I was teaching I had nothing to hand out to my students in English to tell them about a history of our community - the Daughters of Providence in Canada," she said. "So after I finished teaching I decided to sit me down and write the story."
Through the eyes of Sister Jeanne, this colorful, informative book tells the story of "the arrival of our first six Sisters [of Providence] from France in 1897," said the author. "I used two diaries from our archives - Sister Jeanne's and a priest's called Monsignor Bourdel. I feel this is a book that students can pick up and learn something about us from. The Sisters arrive in Prince Albert, which was in the NWT at that time, May 15 of 1897. . . The community is still in PA today - over a hundred years later."
As the book opens, the Sisters alight from a train which "belched and hissed to a stop in the sleepy town of Prince Albert" only to find their host even more inhospitable than the land. Concerned only with finances and regulations, he delivers to the exhausted travellers a chilling directive: "you will have to return to France."
Throughout the sleepless night while "the bright stars watched the Sisters' tears trickle on their pillows," Jeanne hardens her resolve, stoically declaring, "we are here to stay!" She gets her way.
Soon three of the frightened women find themselves on another journey, this time to the little settlement of St. Louis. After baptism by slough, they arrive at their new home - greeted warmly by bell ringing and cheers. While each struggles to learn survival tools - breadmaking, the English language (even "English-proof" Jeanne), they learn that St. Louis is "a little bit of heaven."
Winter's isolation brings supply shortages, illness and "small convent fever" but the Sisters weather each challenge until spring's renewal when dandelion greens, crocuses, fresh berries and the first crow receive a royal welcome.
Recognizing her remarkable abilities, Jeanne's superiors commission her to build a new convent at Howell (Prud'homme). Despite much adversity - World War I, the stock market crash, drought, and the Anderson law which forces the women literally to alter their habits, the little convent thrives. And through it all, Jeanne's faith endures, "Lord, I know you will be there to meet me, when I leave this earth."
From the writing process, the author says she "learned to love these ladies she didn't know much about. And to have an awful lot of respect for the history of my congregation." Now living in Cologna, BC, Sister Mary Ryan is writing a second book about a Sister who arrived in 1899.
To order a copy of How Far Do We Have to Go? for $10 plus shipping charges, contact:
Sister Marie Jeanneau
1140 - 12th Street East
Saskatoon, SK S7H 0E2
Telephone: (306) 343 - 8816 or (306) 343 - 0017
Facsimile: (306) 343 - 0488
Or
Sister Nellie Pozdzik
441 - 12th Street West
Prince Albert, SK