The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-07
SEVEN SISTERS DEAD.
Their Lives Lost in a Canadian
Convent FIRE.

Their Lives Lost in a Canadian
Convent FIRE.
OTTAWA, Ont, jan 6-The convent
or the Ursuline nuns, at RobervaJ ON
Lake 81. John, about 120 miles north of
Sueoec, was destroyed by fire, which
pfoKe out at o'clock this morning. and
seven sisters are known to have perish
ed IN the fames, while about fifty in
mates had very narrow ESCAPES from
a similar fate. Were it not that mosr
or the students, of the convent had gone
nome for the holidays the loss of life
might nave been greater. The students
were to have returned tomorrow.
The convent is situated on the shores
OF the lake about one mile and a half
east OF the summer and fishing resort
called Hotel Roberval and of the VIII
Iage proper. Shortly before 6 O'Clock tho
vlliagers were alarmed by seeing a re-
nectlon from the neighborhood of the
convent. At first it was supposed that
the hre was IN the church about a
half mile from the convent. Naturally
the greatest excitement prevailed
Whlch was augmented when the alarm
ed villagers hurried to the scene and
found the flames bursting from the
convent building Ordinarily there are
apout thirty nuns in the institution and
ABOUT nifty pupils. The village has no
"OA hS eIIlO Tie WOrK OF saving
the contents was therefore made diff
cult, while the flames had such head
way that their eXtinguishment was an
impossibility
Many of the nuns and pupils slept
In dormitory on the fourth floor AT
the north end. There is a fire proof
tower near this but the rapidity with
winch the flames spread prevented the
nuns from reaching it. They were
smothered by the smoke. The re-
Hg1ous titles and names of the dead
respectively are as follows:
Mother st. Francois de Paul Eliza Gosse-
I'm, OF St. Jean Chrysostome; Mother Prov
ldence, Emma Letourneau, of Quebec; Mother
st. Ursule Corinthe of St. Faye; Mother Ste
Anna, Laura Hudon, of Herbertville; Mother
St. Antoine de Padua, Catherine Boulte, of
Deschambault; Mother ST. Dominique. Marie
Louise Girard, of Roberval; Mother ST.
Louise Rose Gosselin, of st. Jean Chrysos-
tones.
Another nun was badly burned in
trying to eXtinguish the fire The con-
vent and the school are nothing but
a mass of ruins. Just how the fir
started Is not known certainly, but
this being the feast of Epiphany. it
is supposed that a lighted candle near
the cradle Of the infant Jesus igpited
the draperies and floral ornamental
tiOns, and in an instant the whole
place was a mass of flames. The fact
that parts of the convent were un-
completed caused the fire to spread
more rapidly. The convent was
stone building five stories high and 120
feet frontage, and was built eight
years ago. The Ursulne nuns Of Que
bee, by whom it was controlled, are
the oldest cloistered order in Canada,
and it was in a cavity made by the
bursting of shell withing their convent
at Quebec that Gen. Montcalm was
buried after his death upon the plains
of Abraham.
James Balm, chief dispatcher Of the
Quebec & Lake st. John railway, who
reached Quebec from Roberval tonight.
gave the following account of the fire:
THE sisters of the convent came out
of the dormitory at the regular hour of
5 a. m. When the vestryman had fin
ished lighting the chapel one of the
colored lamps exploded, throwing the
burning oil on the decorations, and the
fire spread rapidly. BY the order OF
the superioress, all the children were
carried out of the convent and then the
tWenty-SiX nuns were marched out In
an orderly manner.
"Three of the nuns entered the
church to save some of the costly orna-
ments, but as they did not reappear
four more went to their rescue They
had scarcely entered when the roof Of
the chapel crushed in and the terror
stricken sisters outside realized that
several of their companions had met
with a terrible death. The bodies of
three of the nuns have been removed
from the chapel but the work of rescue
had to be given up on account of the
terrible heat"