News Letter Excerpts

by: Doreen Breland-Fines

Forty years ago I got me to a nunnery, not as a nun, but a student and only from Monday to Friday for three years during the coldest months of winter.

The nunnery, or convent, was at St. Francois Xavier, MB, where the Sisters of Charity taught at each of two schools: One, (Grades One to Eight) was located in a building just west of the church and doubled as the community hall. The other is still standing just north of the convent but now it just looks like a house. At one time the front entrance separated two classrooms, one for Grade 9 & 10; the other for Grade 11 & 12. There were about 40 students in the high schools. Besides the sisters, in the mid-fifties, the convent housed eight teen-age residents.

"Now there'll be enough of us to square dance," Tootsie had exclaimed when she learned l'd be moving in. But as it was the mid-fifties, my very first evening there I learned to jive in the small basement common room where we spent what little free time we had; for we had a very busy schedule that began at 6:30 A.M and ended with lights out at 9:30 P.M.

"Wakey, wakey, rise and shine!" Tootsie would shout at 6:30 every morning when the sister came to wake us in our attic dorm that had one row of five beds and a second row of three along the windows.

There was a small bathroom off the dorm and a large walk-in closet. There was much dashing about by the eight of us as we got ready and darted downstairs to the main floor chapel for Mass at 7 A.M. Breakfast was in our basement eating space at 7:30 and we had to be at school by eight o'clock for "studies".

It was "studies" that filled our day so much for, in addition to school, we had "studies" from 8 - 9 A.M.; 4:30 - 5:30 P.M. and again from 7 - 8:30 P.M. Grades 9 & 10 students would study in one room and Grade 11 and 12 students would study in the other room and a sister would supervise, going back and forth between the two rooms. This arrangement allowed for plenty of hijinks, but we did manage to get some work done and it's a good thing, because the school day itself was often very unconventional, involving such activities as: chasing cows from the graveyard; burning stubble in the school yard; painting the interior of the girls skating shack (Ah - "Les Girls" we wrote large on the wall surrounded by all our names); making raffle tickets; taking the bus to Winnipeg to present a letter from the sister at various stores and then carting back the donated raffle prizes that the letter requested. And then sometimes, when students were given permission to study outside, they would take off and watch the world series or go swimming at the gravel pit. And we played hockey in the winter and baseball in the summer and soccer in the mud. Those of us who went home on weekends broke loose from the rigid routine and drove about in groups to dances, mainly at Meadows, but also at Headingly, Lido Plage, Marquette and Assiniboine Haven and these dances lasted to 2, sometimes 3 in the morning and, looking back, I think my parents were very patient.

To a passerby St. Francois was very small, but hold an event, a fowl supper, whist drive, christmas concert or dance and people came from all around. For Graduation, even though there were only three of us graduating, the whole community came out. There was Mass in the Church, a ceremony in the Hall and a dance with fiddle, etc. at Meadows Dance Hall. There were people of all ages and everyone brought presents: compacts, hankies, yes and a number of lighters and my parents didn't say anything and neither did I about all the lighters I received.

Now, looking back, I realize that even though I only lived there a short time, I still consider St. Francois Xavier my home.

Note: St. Francois was once home to approximately 900 Metis. Originally called Grantown, it was founded by Metis leader, Cuthbert Grant (Warden of the Plains). The convent is now an art gallery/craft shop/bakery with a two storey addition that houses the restaurant: "The Nun's Kitchen". St. Francois Xavier is located eighteen miles west of Winnipeg, MB. on Highway 26.