In March 2013, after a year of fighting for Marriage for All and against a disgusting wave of violent, unabashed homophobia in France, Sister Mystrah decided to set off for Québec. But first, she took a well-deserved break in the United States. In May 2013, she went to visit her godmother and spiritual mother, Sister Missionary Position, at the Radical Faeries Sanctuary of Short Mountain, Tennessee. She made the trip with her partner at the time, poet, radical faerie, and activist Griffin Payne. Mystrah packed her wimple in her suitcase, wondering whether—and how—she might contribute to the creation of a Convent in Montréal. A few months earlier, Sister Missionary and Sister Constellation, invited by Joe Balass for the release of his documentary Joy, had visited Québec and initiated Novice Tapette…
Deeply shaken by the recent struggles of the Sisters in France and unsure whether she would be able to stay in Montréal, Mystrah wondered what to do. It was on the porch of a beautiful little wooden cabin—with no running water or electricity—in the heart of the Appalachian forest that Sister Missionary listened, reassured her, and gave her blessing with these words: “Go for it! Be of service to our communities there, just be the Sister you are and see what happens. You have my blessing—trust in the magic of the Sisters!”
And so, empowered by that blessing, Sister Mystrah arrived in Montréal in June 2013, where she met Novice Tapette and also received the unexpected but immediate support of Montréal’s Drag Queen Royalty, the legendary Mado Lamotte!
A feminist anarchist commune lent her a sewing machine, and she immediately got to work creating a robe and a new wimple, inspired by the headwear of the Daughters of St. Paul—known as the Paulines—founded in Québec in 1915!
Photo: Société d’histoire de la Haute-Gaspésie Collection.
In August 2013, Sister Mystrah, Novice Tapette, and her partner Eric took part in Community Day during Montréal Pride Week and joined the Parade. These were the first official public appearances of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in Montréal!
Mystrah quickly decided to stay in Montréal, but Novice Tapette, due to personal and professional reasons, could not continue the journey.
In a gesture of unity and equality between fully professed Sisters around the world and future Sisters to come, Mystrah chose to remove her black veil (a symbol of elevation) and would only reclaim it after her official integration into the Montréal Convent in 2016. This would happen following the elevation of the Convent’s founding members.
But a convent in Montréal could only be created for and by Québécois·e·s! These people needed to be found.
Whenever Mystrah felt discouraged, she found joy in the love of her fellow Sisters and in the enthusiastic welcome of Montréalers. Sisters Merry Peter from San Francisco, Samyaza and Salem from the Langue Ardente, and Rose from the Paname Convent all supported, advised, and encouraged her. The people of Montréal remained wonderfully welcoming, inspiring her to take action on causes dear to her heart—alone or with friends.
In fall 2013, inspired by their friendship and the desire to give the Montréal Convent a real chance, Emile from Scissor Hood Nelson answered the call. She became the first Novice and co-founder of the Convent. She was elevated by Sister Mystrah and Sister Samyaza (France) in Outremont Park, in front of a bewildered but charmed group of onlookers…
The Montréal House of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence thus became the first—and still only—Convent to be founded by two Black Sisters: one man and one woman.
The Holy Queer Spirit was on a roll! Thanks to Xavier Simon’s friendship, the Montréal Convent was given its first aesthetic spark, blending the traditional, historical style of the Sisters with great freedom born from the needs of their work. In ceremonial robes or overalls, with or without makeup, the Montréal Sisters asserted themselves from the beginning as a laboratory for social, political, and cultural experimentation.
Soon after came Sister Cherry de la Cerise Perdue, met during Montréal Pride’s Community Day—well known in the city’s Bear, Leather, and Fetish scenes. She had encountered the Sisters in Chicago and had dreamed of joining them ever since.
Then, in the heart of winter 2013, Sister Sissy Fifi Ouin Ouin Han Han joined, opening the doors of the Francophone and Anglophone drag and burlesque scenes with her iconic persona, Uma Gahd, and the house she would later found.
Finally, in July 2014, Sister Marie Félicité du Mont-Royal, Executive Director of Montréal’s LGBTQ Centre, joined the budding group. His expertise and tireless work gave the Convent the structure it needed to become legally established.
The founding group was complete, and the Convent’s DNA had come together. The Magic of the Sisters had worked a miracle, for with these four Novices, beautiful facets of the Rainbow within our communities were represented: a radical racialized lesbian, a member of the fetish community, a voice from the activist drag scene, and an LGBTQ institutional specialist.
The group then made some collective decisions:
- To take three years to get to know one another, receive training, listen to the needs of the community, and collectively define what the Montréal Convent would be.
- To limit the postulant intake to seven people during this foundation period, in order to fully dedicate time and energy to building the Convent.
- To establish an autonomous and mixed tradition, drawing from both the French and American Sisterly heritages, while rooting everything in Québec culture.
It was Sister Apocrypha of the Missionary Order of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (MOPI) who came to support and march with us during Pride 2014.
One of our first official actions, in fall 2014, was dedicated to survivors and victims of sexual abuse.
Then came a visit from Sister Rose of the Paname Convent in July 2015.
Novice Ozy and postulant Aymeric—soon to be Sister Kyss A Ring—joined us, and we continued our work quietly and diligently until the World Social Forum in Montréal in August 2016, when we officially announced the founding of the Montréal Convent of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
At last, we were ready!
During a beautiful ceremony at the Cléo—a Montréal bar full of history—Sister Mystrah, in the name of all the French and American Sisters who had supported the journey, and with Sister Missionary Position’s blessing, received the oath, credo, and vows of the four founding members:
- Sister Emile
- Sister Cherry
- Sister Sissy
- Sister Marie Félicité
After receiving their black veils—and amid the heartfelt applause of gathered friends and allies—these four first Sisters repeated the oath, credo, and vows back to Sister Mystrah, who then officially joined the Montréal Convent and reclaimed her black veil.
Sister Theresa Glass from the Boston Convent joined us at Montréal Pride in August 2018.
And finally, our presence at the 40th anniversary of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in San Francisco, Easter 2019, marked the final recognition of the Montréal Convent by the global Order.
