On October 7, 1851, four Sisters of St. Joseph arrived in Toronto to care for orphans and teach in schools. In 2026, we began celebrating our 175th anniversary.
We began on May 31 with a special Mass and a performance of Bluemantle, a 1938 stageplay written by our own Sister Geraldine Thompson that explored our earliest days in Toronto: a typhus epidemic, urgent needs for food and funds, an uncertain future, and the faith that God’s compassion would not waver. This play offered vital perspective as we now reflect on everything since our arrival.
Looking back, we are grateful for every chance we have had over 175 years to touch the lives of the ‘dear neighbour.’
To celebrate in thanksgiving, we have made donations to charities that resonate with our mission, values and beliefs: that each person is an expression of God’s love; that each stage of life is precious; and that we are connected to creation and must protect Our Common Home. We are also a sponsor for Catholic Charities’ November 2026 Synergy conference on Health Care and Social Service.
We are thankful for how the gifts we shared have grown beyond our beginnings.
In our early years, we established hospitals: House of Providence (1857), St. Michael’s Hospital (1892), St. Joseph’s Hospital (1921) and Our Lady of Mercy Hospital (1925), which continue today as Unity Health Toronto.
We would provide post-secondary education for women through St. Joseph’s College (1911), part of St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. We opened secondary schools: St. Joseph’s College School (1854), St. Joseph High School (1949), and St. Joseph’s Morrow Park High School (1960).
Outside the city, we taught in schools across Ontario and in British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. We opened St. Joseph’s General Hospital in Comox, British Columbia (1913) and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba (1923). Beginning in 1968, we had an overseas mission in Guatemala and later Nicaragua, Haiti, and Honduras.
Other ministries that followed in Toronto include St. Michael’s Halfway Homes (1974), New Beginnings (1976), Matt Talbot House (1978), Daily Bread Food Bank (1982), Furniture Bank (1998), Fontbonne Ministries (2000), and Becoming Neighbours (2003).
It has been wonderful to see so many of our ministries continue today whether as independent organizations, high schools administrated by the Toronto Catholic District School Board, or organizations under the Catholic Health Sponsors of Ontario.
Our greatest joy has been to know that our ministries have inspired new efforts to support and nourish people in need.
As Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto, our hope will always be to see people gathered in love of Christ and neighbour, and moved to serve unmet needs in simplicity and compassion.
