Sister Charlotte Leduc
“I was hungry and you gave me food.” (Mt 25: 35)
On August 14, 2024, Sister Charlotte Leduc,
in religion M.-Paul-de-la-Trinité,
went home to God.
She was 100 years old, with 80 years of religious profession.
Born in Valleyfield, Québec, she was the oldest of the ten children
of Charles-Yvon Leduc and Berthe Poirier.
Charlotte grew up in the cathedral parish of Sainte-Cécile in Valleyfield. Her father, a dynamic and resourceful man, was a foreman at Montreal Cotton. Her mother, a discreet and rather timid woman, was very close to her children. Charlotte recalled, “She taught us how to pray, gathering us around her in the evenings to pray.”
Charlotte attended a school named Application, where student teachers did their practicum. After a fire, she continued her studies at St. Cécile School where she benefitted from a seasoned educator named Berthe Monette, whose influence was so remarkable that she even taught her young students to meditate. “She was the one who invited me to visit the Sisters to talk about my desire to become a teaching religious, a desire I had since I was a young child. Later, when I was in high school, the SNJM Sisters encouraged me in my desire. The retreats with Cardinal Paul-Emile Léger also helped me to decide, even though it was hard to leave my mother with such a large family.”
Charlotte entered the novitiate of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary in Outremont at the age of eighteen. Accustomed to taking initiative in Catholic Action, she found the numerous restrictions and rules during her years of formation very confining. In 1951, after several years of teaching in elementary schools in Montreal, and after studies at the university level, Charlotte went as a missionary to Lesotho, Africa, where she devoted herself to ministry for ten years. On her return to Quebec, she taught, mostly English in several high schools, and completed her BA degree.
In 1970, she was missioned to Cameroon where she stayed for eight years. “I taught English as a second language. My best years were when I taught in the seminary.” Then, back in Quebec again, Charlotte took courses in pastoral studies and worked as a translator. In 1980, Haiti needed her and she became the principal of the school in Gros-Morne. She also saw to the building of a Home Economics school for women and young girls. In 1987-88, Charlotte returned to Lesotho for six months. The greatest desire of her life was to “go to the most disadvantaged.” From then on, it would be the missions of Quebec that would benefit from her zeal.
Sister Charlotte offered herself as a volunteer, working with school dropouts at Jonathan House. One of those who admired her gave the following testimony: “For ten years, Sister Charlotte, you committed yourself to educating the youth of Jonathan House with conviction. (…) I am impressed by your thirst for life. I am encouraged by your eagerness to learn and to discover, and by your interest in everything. I am challenged by your deep faith, and your confidence in others. Your sincere commitment to various causes and debates of the day, as well as your environmental choices, resonate in my heart and in my head. Thank you for your refreshing humour and your intelligent sharing.”
After working in pastoral care at St Mary’s Hospital, and as a catechist in two parishes, Charlotte moved to St. André Pavilion at Maison Jesus-Marie in 2011. Soon after that, she moved to the St. Charles Pavilion, “admirably autonomous until her 100th year. … Despite a strong character, she was always appreciative and grateful for what we did for her,” said one of her nurses. “She died quietly and peacefully, going to join her God who welcomed her with open arms.”