A Jubilee Facing Both Memory and the Future

In Antigonish, Nova Scotia, the 125th anniversary of the Sisters of St. Martha has unfolded not simply as a commemoration of the past, but as an act of Christian hope.

The Congregation’s anniversary year began on July 29, 2025, and will conclude on July 29, 2026. Its theme, “Standing Together in Hope: Shaping the Emerging Future,” expresses the tension at the heart of the celebration. The Marthas are looking back with gratitude at generations of dedicated service, but they are also discerning how their mission can continue amid changing demographics, fewer active Sisters, and the gradual transfer or completion of ministries they once founded and administered.

This is therefore more than a birthday celebration. It is a jubilee in the biblical sense: a time to remember God’s faithfulness, to recognize what must be released in order to make room for new expressions of mission.

For 125 years, the Sisters have been known throughout eastern Canada simply as “the Marthas.” Their name evokes Martha of Bethany, the Gospel woman who welcomed Jesus into her home and served him with practical generosity. Over time, that spirit became what the Congregation now calls Gospel Hospitality—a welcome that recognizes the dignity of every person, opens space for encounter, and does not turn away from difficult realities.

The Quiet Arrival of a New Congregation

The story began before the formal foundation of the Congregation. In 1894, Bishop John Cameron of Antigonish appealed to women of the diocese to enter a new community associated with the Sisters of Charity of Halifax. They received religious formation and practical preparation for a ministry that was urgently needed: managing the household at St. Francis Xavier College.

At the turn of the century, domestic work was often overlooked and rarely described as a public ministry. Yet the future Marthas understood cooking, cleaning, sewing, nursing the sick, and creating a home for students and clergy as genuine service to Christ.

In July 1900, the women were invited to form an independent diocesan congregation. The first Sisters arrived in Antigonish by train on July 16. There was no ceremonial reception. Carrying their modest luggage, they walked from the railway station through the town to St. Francis Xavier College. On July 29, the Feast of St. Martha, the new Congregation formally began its life and elected its first leader.

What began in the kitchens, laundry rooms, residences, and infirmary of a struggling college soon extended far beyond the campus. The Sisters’ competence, warmth, and willingness to respond wherever they were needed earned the trust of surrounding communities.

In 1906, they opened St. Martha’s Hospital in Antigonish, bringing organized medical care to an area where it was badly needed. The hospital became both a center of compassionate care and a place for the professional education of nurses. The Congregation later entered teaching, social work, pastoral ministry, retreat work, care for children and families, and service in rural and economically marginalized communities. Its missions eventually reached other parts of Nova Scotia, as well as Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Quebec, Newfoundland, Massachusetts, and St. Kitts.

Women Who Helped Communities Discover Their Strength

The Marthas also became closely connected with the Antigonish Movement, the Catholic-inspired cooperative and adult education movement associated with Father Jimmy Tompkins, Father Moses Coady, and St. Francis Xavier University (StFX).

Their contribution was often less visible than that of the priests whose names became internationally known, but it was essential. The Sisters taught in rural communities, worked with women, supported study clubs and cooperative initiatives, and brought education, social care, and health services to places affected by poverty and economic insecurity.

When they opened a school at Margaree Forks in Cape Breton in 1925, the school became a center not only for children’s education but also for community organization and adult learning. In Canso, beginning in the 1930s, Marthas combined education, pastoral care, health work, and social services among fishing families and nearby communities. Others served the StFX Extension Department and later the Coady International Institute, welcoming students from around the world.

Their history reveals a distinctly Christian understanding of hospitality. It was never limited to receiving guests politely. Martha hospitality meant helping people discover their own abilities, organize their communities, secure education and medical care, and take part in decisions affecting their lives.

“I JUST FELT I HAD TO GET UP.”
In July 1900, responding to Bishop John Cameron’s request, fifteen women courageously agreed to establish a new congregation in Antigonish. During a silent retreat, they were asked to stand if they chose to leave the familiar Halifax Motherhouse, risking an uncertain future. The brave pioneers who rose that day became the Founding Women of the Sisters of St. Martha of Antigonish.

A Place Within the Vincentian Family

The Marthas’ beginnings are closely linked to the Sisters of Charity of Halifax, who formed the early members of the community. Through that relationship, the Congregation belongs to the broad spiritual tradition shaped by St. Vincent de Paul, St. Louise de Marillac, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

In 2003, the Sisters of St. Martha of Antigonish joined the Sisters of Charity Federation of North America. The Federation brings together Congregations whose histories and ministries reflect the Vincentian-Setonian tradition of practical charity, collaboration, and attention to people living in poverty or on the margins.

The Marthas have expressed that tradition in their own language and cultural setting. Their term Gospel Hospitality resonates deeply with Vincentian spirituality: recognizing Christ in the person before us, responding concretely to human need, and addressing the social conditions that deprive people of dignity.

Gospel Hospitality in a New Era

Today, the Congregation is living through a profound transition. Its current direction emphasizes integral ecology, collaboration with laypeople, contemplative dialogue, synodality, diversity, and the creation of spaces where personal and social transformation can occur.

The Martha Justice Ministry brings together Sisters and lay collaborators to work on Indigenous justice and reconciliation, poverty, ecological and climate justice, food sustainability, migrant rights, protection of water and ecosystems, and the involvement of young people in social change. Its work connects local action with international advocacy through the Sisters of Charity Federation’s presence at the United Nations.

At St. Francis Xavier University, the Wellspring Centre continues the Marthas’ original ministry of creating a home for the university community. Students, faculty, and staff of different backgrounds and religious traditions find there room for conversation, study, prayer, rest, and mutual support.

A newer Martha Charism Ministry is exploring how Gospel Hospitality can be shared beyond the vowed membership of the Congregation. Laypeople have participated in studying the charism and developing contemporary expressions of it through conversations, children’s activities, artistic projects, community events, and educational resources. Martha Associates likewise continue to embody the spirit of the Congregation in their families, parishes, workplaces, and local communities.

This collaboration is not presented merely as a practical response to declining numbers. It reflects a deeper conviction: a charism is a gift of the Holy Spirit entrusted to the Church, not private property belonging exclusively to one institution.

Letting Go Without Abandoning the Mission

One of the most difficult developments of the anniversary year concerns the hospital the Sisters founded 120 years ago.

The Marthas transferred ownership and administration of St. Martha’s Hospital to the government of Nova Scotia in 1996, while continuing to safeguard its Catholic identity through a Mission Assurance Agreement. In 2026, the Sisters announced that they could no longer continue as sponsors after September 30.

Because the provincial government chose not to continue the agreement with another Catholic sponsor, the institution will cease to be a Catholic hospital and will be renamed. Spiritual and religious care, however, is expected to remain available to people of all faith traditions. The Sisters and Nova Scotia Health are also working to preserve and honor the history and values that the Marthas embedded in the hospital’s culture.

The decision carries real grief. The hospital’s story occupies almost the entire history of the Congregation. Yet the Sisters have insisted that this transition does not mean withdrawing from the world. Rather, it is part of the difficult work of directing their present energy toward the future of Martha Justice Ministry, the sharing of their charism, and the connection between contemplation, spirituality, and justice.

Christian hope does not deny loss. It trusts that the good planted through decades of faithful service can survive changes in ownership, structures, and names.

A Celebration Shared with the Community

The anniversary events have reflected the Marthas’ preference for participation rather than ceremony alone.

The year opened with the exhibition “Gospel Hospitality in Action: The Marthas in the Antigonish Area” at the Antigonish Heritage Museum—the former railway station where the first Sisters arrived in 1900. After the exhibit opened, present-day Marthas retraced the journey of the founders from the station to the StFX campus.

A related lecture series explored the Congregation’s history, social and ecological justice work, presence at the United Nations, engagement with the Universe Story, and understanding of Gospel Hospitality. Two red oak trees were planted—one at Bethany and another at StFX—to symbolize the shared roots of the Congregation and university.

Other events have been deliberately simple and local. The Marthas donated 125 books to libraries in Antigonish and Sydney. They distributed 125 packets of kidney bean seeds, called “Pockets of Hope,” inviting recipients to grow and share what they harvested. Memory teas allowed Sisters to revisit the novitiate, missions in western Canada, and life at the former Bethany Motherhouse. A ceremonial puck drop at a StFX women’s hockey game honored the Sisters’ long relationship with university students and athletics.

The “Made by a Martha” exhibition, displayed during June and July at the People’s Place Library in Antigonish, highlights paintings, linocuts, embroidery, and other works created by Sisters. The exhibit reveals another dimension of Martha life: creativity rooted in faith, attentiveness to beauty, and love for the natural world.

The largest public event of the final weeks is “Sister Garden: Eight Tiny Plays About Gospel Hospitality,” written and directed by Laura Teasdale. Presented in the Bethany Centennial Garden on selected dates from July 16 through July 24, the outdoor production leads the audience from scene to scene through humor, music, storytelling, and reflection. Eight different “Marthas” embody the Congregation’s core values and invite spectators to consider what Gospel Hospitality might mean in their own lives.

The anniversary will conclude on July 29 with a special Mass at St. Ninian’s Cathedral in Antigonish.

The Seed Is Still Growing

Among all the anniversary symbols, the packets of beans may be the most fitting.

A seed is small, easily overlooked, and dependent upon others to carry it forward. Yet when it is entrusted to good soil, it can multiply far beyond its original form.

The institutions built by the Sisters of St. Martha have changed. Some ministries have been transferred, and others have reached their natural conclusion. But the deeper gift of the Congregation cannot be measured only by the number of Sisters or the institutions bearing their name. It lives wherever someone offers genuine welcome, protects human dignity, listens to the cry of the Earth and the poor, or creates a space in which another person can flourish.

After 125 years, the Marthas are not merely preserving a story. They are placing its seed into new hands—standing together in hope and trusting the Spirit to shape what emerges next.