Off Beat: Mother Joseph followed her marching orders

Esther Pariseau was a determined young woman who chafed against British colonial rule and even outfitted her own uniformed brigade of junior activists.

Mother Joseph faithfully followed her vow of obedience (among others) as she devoted her life to the service of others.

They are the same woman, and reconciling the different facets of that life has been quite a challenge for Pat Jollota.

The Vancouver author was among five panelists who discussed the legacy of the pioneering nun Thursday at the Clark County Historical Museum.

During her presentation, Jollota mentioned that she is writing a book about Mother Joseph, adding that it has not been easy.

“I’ve been struggling, since she was such an intricate, complicated person,” Jollota said in a follow-up conversation.

After her initial effort, “I ripped it up and started again,” Jollota said.

The book’s title? There isn’t one yet.

The challenge comes in humanizing a woman who has been frozen in time through a few iconic images: some black-and-white portrait and a statue (one of two allotted to Washington) in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall.

Jollota’s research went back long before Esther became a nun, a couple of decades before Mother Joseph and her four fellow Sisters of Providence arrived in Vancouver in 1856

It included Esther’s short-lived career as an advocate for Quebec independence.

“She was probably 15 or 16.”

The so-called Quebec patriots wanted independence from the British crown.

“The United States had done it,” Jollota noted. “Why shouldn’t they?”

Carving, sewing skills

Esther organized a group of 10- to 12-year-old boys into a marching unit. She directed the drills, Jollota said.

“It’s a different view of Mother Joseph,” Jollota said.

Displaying skills that would be showcased later in religious settings, Esther and another girl carved wooden muskets; she sewed rudimentary uniforms, including caps with red, white and blue pompons.

“They were going to march in parades.”

Eventually, religious officials — sensing an anti-church tone — declared their opposition to the independence movement.

“The bishop said that if you participate in this, it will be a grievous mortal sin,” Jollota said.

Which, in Esther’s case, meant pulling the reins on her parade.

As she would do through the rest of her life, she obeyed.

Off Beat lets members of The Columbian news team step back from our newspaper beats to write the story behind the story, fill in the story or just tell a story.