In the beginning...
A long preparation
The congregation of the Dominicans Missionaries Adorers was born on 15 April 1945, in Canada, in the neighbourhood of Beauport in Quebec City. This new foundation appeared after a long time of preparation in the life of its foundress, Julienne Dallaire. From early childhood, Julienne received very special Eucharistic graces. These successive touches of the action of God in her life, together with some disconcerting events, led her to discover her own particular vocation.
The turning point : 1941-1945
The decisive turning point took place during a great trial in 1941, when Julienne was 29 years old. The congregation of the Dominicans of the Child Jesus, where she had entered the previous year, was obliged to send her home for health reasons. It was her third unsuccessful attempt at the religious life. And yet, she had sincerely thought that she had truly found her community there, for she really felt herself to be a daughter of Saint Dominic.
At her age, she no longer had any chance of being admitted in a religious Congregation. She was experiencing the most complete night. Julienne thought she had been wrong about her vocation and asked herself if her life had until then been nothing but a web of illusions. And so she wrenched herself away from the desire to become a nun.
However, during this interior torment, God was watching and soon not only confirmed his call for her to follow him in the religious life, but revealed her charism as a foundress.
Providential encounters
This time of trial led Julienne to meet, on 26 January 1941, Canon Cyrille Labrecque, who helped her, in time, not only to understand the mysterious designs of God, but also to put them into effect. He recognised in her the authenticity of her life of union with God and of her mystical experiences.
On 16 November 1942, Julienne met a young woman, Colette Brousseau, who, like her, had been forced to renounce her desire for religious life because of a grave illness. An immediate understanding was established between those two souls. In time, Julienne and Canon Labrecque understood that God expected from them the formation of a new religious Congregation. Its members’ mission would be to live by the act of love of Jesus as he gave himself in the Eucharist, in order to make this Eucharistic Heart known and to help other souls live by it.
God’s decisive sign
In order to verify if this came truly from a divine inspiration, Canon Labrecque asked for a sign. Knowing the desires of Colette and her state of health, he asked her to pray for her healing, without telling her the true reasons for this request.
The sign was received: Colette was cured. Canon Labrecque then told her the plans for the religious foundation, adding that Julienne would be the foundress.
Birth of the institute and its canonical establishment
The new Institute was born, as expected, on 30 April 1945. The small community settled first on the second floor of a house in Beauport, before eventually occupying it entirely.
On 7 October 1948, the Congregation was recognised canonically and took the official name of “Dominicans Missionaries Adorers”. At the same time the first religious professions took place. Julienne Dallaire pronounced her perpetual vows and took the name of Julienne of the Rosary (Julienne du Rosaire).
Expansion of the Congregation
The number of its members grew constantly, so that a new residence became necessary. Providence manifested itself through the generosity of donors and in 1950, a large convent was built and became the mother house of the Institute.
Then, in 1952, the Congregation became officially incorporated to the Order of Preachers.
Later, Mother Julienne of the Rosary, burning with the desire to see the spread of the devotion to the Eucharistic Heart, sent some of her daughters to Alberta (1955), to Peru (1962) and to Haiti (1967). Today, the Congregation continues to work in Quebec City and in Peru, in Chaclacayo. Since 1978, groups of lay people and of priests also share in the spirituality and mission of the Dominicans Missionaries Adorers.
