As the parish flourished, the people soon found they needed a school run by the sisters, whereby the younger female members of the parish would receive an education and be taught those skills deemed necessary for a lady. In 1876 John Whelan of Souris River started the building of a convent. Consisting of red and white brick, its dimensions measured eighty feet by 40 feet by 34 feet. On August 27,1881, four sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame from Montreal boarded the train in Charlottetown and set out for Souris. These four included: Mother St. Cornelius, the Mother Superior, Mother St. Thomas, Mother St. Margaret, and Mother St. Eugene. The school first opened on September 7,1881. On October 28,1881, the first boarders arrived — Annie and Stella Chapman — to be joined soon after by Josephine McGinnis and Agnes MacDonald. The

convent school’s first closing exercises were held on June 21, 1882. At this time the Souris parish numbered about one hundred Catholic families. The Sisters assumed

charge of the church organ and choir; they likewise began staging concerts as a means of supplementing their income. By 1886, the day pupils numbered eighty and there were thirteen boarders.

. ‘f' H . timid? ‘ * - St. Mary’s Convert

Souris, PEI

St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church 1901-2001

By the late 1890s, the second church had become too small for the size of the rapidly growing congregation. On May 21,1900 work began to remove the second church from its site to make way for a more spacious facility. The move was completed on June 6,1900. William Critchlow Harris, a well-known architect

of many churches and other structures, designed the third church. Mr. Harris’ original design plans for St.

Mary’s Roman Catholic Church have been since lost. Tenders for the construction of the new Roman Catholic Church were published in January 1900. The

tender read as follows: “ For the construction of a new ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH at SOURIS, P.E. ISLAND, DESIGNED

BY MR. W.C. Harris, architect, to be build of stone or brick, about one hundred and eighty feet over all in length, and to seat almost nine hundred and fifty people.”