Oblate presence: 1967-2006
In 1967, the canonical erection inside the Deschâtelets Building of the Deschâtelets House was requested. This house would be responsible for providing certain services to the Scholasticate community that existed in the same building. It would be the residence for Oblate professors, for Fathers assigned to ministry, administration, or as chaplains. It was already Oblate property, but there would be a transfer of the canonical ownership of the property of the St. Joseph Scholasticate to the new house. The community would include current Scholasticate Fathers who are not part of the Scholasticate. It would also include Oblate students, as well as Oblate Brothers. It would be headed by a superior, two assistants and a bursar. The decree erecting this new house was issued on June 7, 1967 by the Superior General. On that date, the Deschâtelets Building therefore included two houses: Saint Joseph Scholasticate and the Deschâtelets House, the latter becoming the owner of all the buildings and land formerly owned by the Saint Joseph Scholasticate, which became a tenant of the Deschâtelets House.
On March 27, 1969, due to the relocation of the Sedes Sapientiae House, for which Saint-Paul University had the administrative responsibility, the Provincial Council studied the moving of Sedes to Deschâtelets. This involved determining the relationships between the various occupants of the Deschâtelets Building, both among themselves and with the provincial administration. It was expected that the users would be: the Deschâtelets Residence, Sedes Sapientiae, the Scholasticate and the students in residence. Some of the common spaces would be used by all occupants. The occupants are the usufructuaries of the property and share the fruits of it in a cooperative form. The bare ownership remains with the St. Joseph Province. Deschâtelets House is no longer the administrator of the Deschâtelets Building. It is a house like any other inside the Building, which is governed by an administrator whose board is composed of the superior of each residence.
The relocation of Sedes Sapientiae to Deschâtelets was ratified by the Superior General on May 2, 1969 and will now be called the Roy Residence.
On July 17, 1969, the Deschâtelets Residence asked to be renamed the Villeneuve Residence, since relations with suppliers would now be through the building and no longer through the residence. That same year, the Saint Joseph Scholasticate disappeared from the Deschâtelets Personnel directory, while the Duvic community (formerly the University of Ottawa High School) was added to the Roy and Villeneuve residences. The Scholasticate was renamed Résidence Saint-Jean and is located at 135 Stewart Street. It returned to the Deschâtelets Building in 1977 under the name of Emmaus. In 2007, all these residences were combined into one, under the single name of Deschâtelets Residence.
Eugène Lapointe OMI
