A Mother’s Day Tea and Fashion Show will be presented by the Friends of the Gravelbourg Convent on Saturday, May 12. They invite you, your mother, and all her friends to sip into spring with a cup of tea, while enjoying a runway of casual and formal wear from local businesses.
Their goal is to raise funds and awareness for the former Convent of Jesus and Mary in hopes to preserve this historic building and its beauty for many years to come. Local and regional businesses such as This and That Nicknacks, Styles, Park & buzz Jewelry and WOODriver Jewelry will be on site from 2 to 4 p.m.
Tickets are available for purchase from Café Paris on Main Street in Gravelbourg or through coordinator Toos Giesen-Stefiuk. Limited seating is available so purchase your tickets before they sell out.
The former Convent of Jesus and Mary is a municipal and national heritage property, formerly the Gravelbourg Elementary School located at 7 Athabasca Street in the Town of Gravelbourg.
The building features a large four-storey brick-and-Tyndall Stone structure, built between 1917 and 1918. It is linked by rotundas to two three-storey wings, built between 1926 and 1927. The building features 90,000 square feet of space on four floors and a basement.
History of the Convent of Jesus and Mary- Dedicated to the education of youth, the religious community of the Sisters of Jesus and Mary were founded in 1816 in Lyon, France. The first Canadian foundation was made in 1855 in St. Joseph de Levis, Quebec. Father Gravel’s long time aspiration had been to bring this order to Gravelbourg as teachers, and finally in 1915, they arrived to replace the lay teachers who had been teaching at the public school since 1908.
The sisters taught at the little chapel house until they moved into the newly built convent on August 3rd, 1918. After dedicating 55 years to teaching young girls and boys, the Sisters decided it was time to sell the Convent to the Gravelbourg School Board in 1970. Due to aging, sickness and the decrease of vocations in the younger generations, the Sisters of Jesus and Mary left Gravelbourg on December 13th, 2000 after 85 years of pure devotion. The chapel currently holds a collection of paintings (reproductions) of masters of the renaissance period and a statue of the Holy Mother made in Italy.
