St. Michael's Dormitory - Rycroft, AB

St. Michael's Dormitory - Rycroft, AB This page was created in response to the demolition of the historic St. Michael’s Dormitory—a landmark that stood as a testament to Rycroft’s rich heritage.

While the building is gone, our history doesn’t have to be.

I came across a letter from January 1948 written by the Sisters of the St. Michael’s Dormitory here in Rycroft, sent to ...
12/07/2025

I came across a letter from January 1948 written by the Sisters of the St. Michael’s Dormitory here in Rycroft, sent to the Sisters of Service of Canada.

Someone had asked them, “What is Christmas like in Rycroft? What do you do?” Their reply is one of the most poetic things I’ve read about this place.

They wrote that it would take “a whole book” to describe everything they did, but they offered a small glimpse. Christmas 1947, they said, felt especially beautiful. Full of peace, of heart, and the deep spiritual meaning cherished by Catholics.

They described “The softly falling snow glittering with a million diamonds, the hush of expectancy over everything, the frosty glitter of the stars, your heart a-tiptoe with the wonder of this night."

And that, they said, “is Christmas at Rycroft.”

There’s something incredibly special about reading the way people here experienced the season nearly 80 years ago. The sense of community, wonder, and beauty. I hope the community still feels this magic today.

What a wonder it would have been to see the home restored and to witness the Christmas they experienced with our own eyes.

Pictured: Sister Mary MacDougall, Bishop Henri Routhier. Rycroft, 1948.Have you ever wondered how the St. Michael's Dorm...
09/07/2025

Pictured: Sister Mary MacDougall, Bishop Henri Routhier. Rycroft, 1948.

Have you ever wondered how the St. Michael's Dormitory was founded? Let me share the story with you!

Back in the early 1940s, families were coming from all over: Croatian, Ukrainian, French, English. While the community was growing, there was a big problem: kids from outlying farms had no place to stay if they wanted to attend high school in town.

In 1943, Father Joseph Paquin, the resident priest, happened to bump into Father James Fuller at the Rycroft railway station. In that quick meeting, Father Paquin shared an idea: bringing in the Sisters of Service to teach at the school and run a boarding house for students. That brief conversation set everything in motion.

The ecclesiastical authorities of the Grouard Vicariate and the parish priest of the district began sending urgent requests for assistance to the Sisters of Service of Canada for several months. One letter warned that "the Church stands to lose in any delay," while another promised "all the work and HARDSHIPS of a true missionary life."

After receiving this request, Assistant Sister General Mary Quinn visited Rycroft, the hub of Peace River, leaving with a favourable impression. The institute purchased a large vacant house and arranged renovations for a combined sisters’ residence and dormitory for 20 out-of-town Catholic and non-Catholic students.

When the sisters departed for Rycroft, the Sister General remarked, "I think the work will surely succeed, for humanly speaking, there is nothing to count on; it is with borrowed Sisters from already short-staffed missions and with borrowed funds to buy a house that the work will be started."

On 29 September 1944, the feast of St. Michael, Father Paquin met the train carrying Sisters Quinn, Waltrude Donnelly, and Agnes Brunning, superior at St. John’s Hospital in Edson, to begin missionary work in this northern outpost of the Home Mission Field.

They viewed the timing of their arrival—coinciding with the feast of the Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, St. Michael, as a sign of great success for their mission. It gave rural kids the chance to go to school, and the Sisters poured themselves into teaching, boarding, and serving the community. They served Rycroft often with very little, except their determination and faith.

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