Today, in honor of our
American nuns under pressure from the Vatican, I am posting the story of a nun
who was often scolded by her bishop for her radical feminist ideas about
women’s health and literacy. This is the preface to my 2009 PhD dissertation
titled Promoting Health
Literacy: Concept, Measurement and Intervention. In
the spring of 1830 in Quebec, my Great* Aunt Esther turned 21 and packed a
meager bag. There was no celebration. Esther was leaving home because abject
poverty left her too weak to bear children or work the farm. She was
unmarriageable, illiterate, and her family could not afford her keep. Life
expectancy was 22. Esther went to live and work
as a servant in the convent of the Sisters of Providence who taught her to read
and teach and tend the sick. She was 25 when they sent her home because she
could not maintain her health. Undeterred, she started a school in her village.
She trained other teachers and started more schools. She scandalized the French
Canadian Catholic Church by teaching girls to read and by teaching boys and
girls together in “mixed schools”. When she was 40, the Church officially
recognized Esther and her teachers as the Order of the Sisters of Saint Anne.
She became known as Mother Marie Anne. Aunt Esther lived to be 81; she
dedicated her life to promoting literacy and health, especially for women and
girls. Now, 123 years after her death, the Sisters of St. Anne still operate
schools and hospitals across Canada and the northeastern United States. Despite
her unconventional ways, in 2001 the Catholic Church beatified Aunt Esther as
Saint Mother Marie Anne Blondin. Aunt Esther was born two
hundred years ahead of her time. Today her vision of literacy as the foundation
for health, an escape route from poverty and the key to the advancement of
women and society is an idea whose time has come. She inspires my work at the
intersection of health and literacy. *five times removed References Mailloux, C. (1997). A Woman in turmoil. Quebec: Les
Editions Saint-Anne. Smith, S. A.
(2009). Promoting health literacy: Concept, measurement & intervention.
Cincinnati, OH: Union Institute and University. Publication No. AAT
3375168. |
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CategoriesHealth LiteracyMaternal Child Health |
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