Back to List

60th year of the Providence Family in Argentina (Caleta Olivia)

However just as they set foot in Comodoro Rivadavia, on April 16, without further explanation, Sister Germaine-Thérèse (Germaine Bourgouin) and Sister Laura-de-Jésus (Bernadette Deschênes) were taken to Caleta Olivia, a town located eighty kilometers south of Comodoro Rivadavia, to show them the local regional hospital that was about to be inaugurated and offer them to mission there. The sisters returned pleased with the offer and received the approval of the General Council.

Top: Sisters Laura [de Jésus] and Marguerite [Patricia-Marie] leave Comodoro Rivadavia to work at Caleta Olivia [1963]. Bellow: Reconnaissance visit to Chile and Argentina, 1962

This week we want to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the first arrival of the Sisters of Providence in Argentina.

Following a decision by the General Council that sought to take the Congregation in a new apostolic territory, six sisters from Canada and the United States got ready to move to Argentina with the mission to work in the Regional Hospital of Comodoro Rivadavia. On March 16, 1963, they were welcomed by Bishop Carlos Pérez and other local authorities.

On July 12, local dignitaries and bishops attended the inauguration of the new Caleta Olivia Hospital, with both sisters ready to begin their new assignment. For some time, they had to share their week between Caleta Olivia and Comodoro Rivadavia, where they used to spend their weekends. In 1964 a new team of four sisters were assigned to this new mission, which was named Nuestra Señora de la Compasión (Our Lady of Compassion).

The presence of the sisters has dwindled in both cities, and now the Sisters of Providence Mission and Charism is endorsed by the Providence Associates, who remain faithful to the legacy of Mother Gamelin.*

PIC Communication Office

* Source: Adventurers in the Shadow, Denise Robillard, 2001.