Têtu, Cléophée/ Thérèse de Jésus (Superior at Asile Longue-Pointe, Québec, Canada)

Têtu, Cléophée/ Thérèse de Jésus (Superior at Asile Longue-Pointe, Québec, Canada)

At the asylum Thérèse de Jésus was the supervisor, she was constantly looking for ways to improve the asylum with the little money they were given. She created an immense vegetable garden, installed acoustic horns for inter-building communication and even had the building running fully on electricity by 1889, it is safe to say that she worked on every aspect of this from the building to improvements to patient care. A report from Sister Thérèse indicated a cure rate of 43.81% for 1887 and also noted that hydrotherapeutic treatment was used at the asylum.

1873-1891

Person

Located in Longue-Pointe, Quebec, Canada. When it was created it was named Asile Longue-Pointe but it subsequently came to be known as Hôpital Saint-Jean-de-Dieu. In 1976 it became the Hôpital Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, then in 2013 it became a university institute of Mental Health of Montreal.

Huguette Lapointe-Roy, “TÊTU, CLÉOPHÉE, Thérèse de Jésus,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 12, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed May 31, 2021, https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/tetu_cleophee_12E.html.
Cousineau, André. “Calendrier Historique.” ATELIER D'HISTOIRE MERCIER-HOCHELAGA-MAISONNEUVE, February 25, 2019. https://ahmhm.com/histoires-de-mercier-hochelaga-maisonneuve/.
“Cléophée Têtu, Une Gestionnaire De Talent.” Mémoires des Montréalais, February 22, 2019. https://ville.montreal.qc.ca/memoiresdesmontrealais/cleophee-tetu-une-gestionnaire-de-talent.

1824

Saint-Hyacinthe, Lower Canada

1891

Longue-Pointe (Montreal)

Daughters of Charity of Providence; Officer in charge of the sick (Hospice Saint-Camille); Superior (Hospice Saint-Jerome-Emilien); Founder (Saint-Joseph's orphanage); Director (Saint-Joseph’s orphanage); Missionary (Chile); Bursar general; Construction supervisor (Asile de Longue-Pointe); Superior (Asile de Longue-Pointe)

English; French; Spanish

Cléophée Têtu was born in Quebec where she spent most of her early life, with the exception of a few months spent in the US due to her father being exiled. On July 21, 1846 she took her vows and assumed the name Sister Thérèse de Jésus. After working abroad for several years, she finally returned to Quebec where she became a bursar general, visiting many insane asylums across the US and Ontario. On October 4, 1873 she signed a notarial deed with the Prime Minister for the establishment of an insane asylum in Longue-Pointe. She spent a few months touring the best asylums in Ontario and the US to be able to create one herself. They adopted a plan similar to Mount Hope Retreat in Baltimore, construction began in April 1874 and was completed in 16 months. On July 20, 1875 the asylum saw its first patients. The sisters built the asylum with very little funding, yet it was still successful, and received many upgrades over the years, that is until May 6 1890 when a huge fire broke out in the building. In December 1889 she came down with a case of influenza, one she would never get rid of, so during the disastrous fire she was stuck in her bed. It is there where she also created the plans for 14 temporary pavilions that were set up in just 3 months and patients were reinstated. September 8, 1890 all patients were permitted to return, a little over a year later on November 22, 1891 she finally succumbed to her illness.

“Cléophée Têtu, Une Gestionnaire De Talent.” Mémoires des Montréalais, February 22, 2019. https://ville.montreal.qc.ca/memoiresdesmontrealais/cleophee-tetu-une-gestionnaire-de-talent.

Quebec Since 1800 (Carleton, HIST 3301A)

Emma Burtis