The Society of Saint Margaret was founded as a nursing order in 1855 by the Rev. John Mason Neale to care for the poor and ill in the countryside in Sussex, England. They also taught and evangelized as there was opportunity. This work was so original and exciting that many were drawn to support and join the Sisterhood. As the demand for the help of the Sisters grew, daughter houses were established in England, as well as locations in the USA, Canada and Haiti.  The Sisters live a Religious life of prayer and contemplation as well as practical service to others.

In 1873, the Sisters of St. Margaret came to Boston to act as superintendents at Children’s Hospital. Not limiting themselves to the work of nursing, the Sisters established a School of Embroidery, an Altar Bread Department and a Parochial School.

In 1881, the first long term work outside of Boston was established in Montreal where the Sisters had been nursing in an epidemic of smallpox.  In 1885, St. Margaret’s Home officially opened as a home for incurably sick women without regard to nationality or religion.  Like their Boston counterparts, the Sisters of St. Margaret have reached out to meet various needs in the society, but eventually the home became a home for aged women and then a home for seniors.  In the mid-1970s the Sisters of St. Margaret withdrew from the Home that they had run for over a century.

Fonds consists of two historical booklets and one article.

Title based on contents of fonds.

Printed.

GSA also holds copies of God’s Rock Garden : The Little Paper of the Sisters of St. Margaret in Canada. Bracebridge, Ont. : Bracebridge, Ont.: 1933-1944