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THE SEVENTH
COMMANDMENT:
DO NOT STEAL—
ACT JUSTLY
YOU SHALL NOT STEAL
—CCC, NOS. 2401-2463
MOTHER JOSEPH: A FRONTIER NUN
Mother Joseph was born Esther Pariseau on April 16, 1823, in a farmhouse
near the village of St. Elzear, Quebec. In her youth, she learned carpentry
from her father, who was a carriage maker. When Esther was twenty, her
father presented her to the newly formed Sisters of Providence in Montreal
and told the mother superior,“Madam, I bring you my daughter Esther, who
wishes to dedicate herself to religious life. She can read, write, figure accu-
rately, sew, cook, spin and do all manner of housework. She can even do
carpentry, handling a hammer and saw as well as her father. She can also
plan for others and she succeeds in anything she undertakes. I assure you,
Madam, she will make a good superior someday.”
This was an accurate prophecy. In 1856, Mother Joseph, as she was
now called, and a small band of four sisters set out from Montreal for Fort
Vancouver, Washington—a trip of six thousand miles by land and water. It
was not an easy journey. Once in Vancouver, the sisters inherited an old,
abandoned Hudson’s Bay company building and converted it into a con-
vent. Mother Joseph built the chapel and the altar with her own hands.
The sisters began their works of mercy and evangelization. They
visited the sick, cared for the Native Americans displaced by war,
attended to orphans, and taught young people. Mother Joseph