Sister Monique Longpré

During the day, the Lord sends his love to me.”  (Psalm 42, 8)

October 31, 2017, Sister Monique Longpré,
in religion Marie-Agnès-d’Assise, 
went home to God. 

She was 86 years old and had been professed for 61 years.

Born in Montreal, Quebec, she was the 4th of the 10 children
of Honoré Longpré and Agnès Pesant.

“Monique grew up in the Maisonneuve area of Montreal, in Très-Saint-Nom-de-Jésus Parish. The first four children arrived in quick succession with only a year between each of them. Her father, a dairy farmer and her mother, a musician, were both unfaltering. They valued family prayer and the rosary. Monique attended the parish school directed by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. During her 5th and 6th grades at the primary level, her religious vocation was awakening through the influence of her teacher, Sister Adolphe-Marie. 

Upon completing primary school Monique, who was attracted to family and social studies, followed an entire course offered by the Sisters of Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Conseil (Our Lady of Good Counsel) and graduated when she was 18 years old. Well prepared, she taught culinary arts and sewing in two schools belonging to the Commission scolaire de Montréal (Montreal Catholic School Commission), Boucher-de-la-Bruère and Baril. She was 22 years old when she entered the SNJM Novitiate, in Outremont. 

For 3 years after her religious profession, Sister Marie-Agnès-d’Assise taught culinary arts and sewing at Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours School. Subsequent to her Juniorate year, she taught at the Institut de pédagogie familial for 6 years, followed by 5 years at the l’Institut familial de Ste-Martine. Her attention to people and to the needs of the community motivated her to study nursing. For more than 30 years she would take care of her Sisters, first in the infirmaries at the Motherhouse, then in Valleyfield and at Residence Ste-Émélie.

“Discreet, sensitive and welcoming, she ensured a caring and generous presence to each one, despite her own fragile health.” “Sister Monique attached great importance to being welcoming, to sharing and to community living.”
“In her spare time, she was becoming more skilled at painting and accomplished works that expressed her love of nature and her attention to detail.”

At Résidence Albani, Sister Monique, who was now 70 years old, was experiencing health problems and could no longer work full time; she provided services as a nurses’ aid and as a sacristan, contributing as a volunteer as much as she could. In 2013, she joined the small group Mélodie at Ste-Émélie. Her illness came as a shock and she was admitted to the Infirmary in Longueuil. When she recovered, she again helped her Sisters. For two years, her health would fluctuate between life-threatening issues and re-bound improvement in her health when once again, with so much compassion, she devoted herself to others. Sister Monique was fighting for her life, but the illness had taken over.  
 
Then the Lord came to seek the one who had radiated so much of His love to those around her.