La confrérie des Dames de la Sainte-Famille de la paroisse Notre-Dame de Montréal (1724-1760) : un lieu élitaire au féminin ?
When it was about of New France's elitism, historians have tended to erase the women from their writings; this concept has long been associated with the male world. The decision to exclude the feminine gent is not surprising when we know that the definitions attached to the elitism, primarily come from the profession as well as the places of people in the institutions or in the structures of power. At that time, most of women haven't held a decisional function; they were maintained, ''thanks'' to patriarchy in the domestic sphere. Despite these findings, the memory is still interested in the relevance of a feminine elite definition. So, we try to show that women in New France also had elite gathering places. To achieve this, we study the journey of the main Officers of the Holy Family Ladies’s brotherhood (Montreal) between 1724 and 1760. In order to know their socio-economic status, this memory is used to know some characteristic elements: the socio-professional status of their fathers and husbands, the amounts of dowries and préciputs in their marriage contracts, the age at first marriage, the births and the infant mortality. These varied indicators show that actually the majority of these ladies came from an elitist environment. To consolidate this conclusion, the memory analyzes the behavior of these women in connection with the distinct characteristic of elites : the networking. Networking is particularly interested in the practice of godmothering ; who are the Officers' sponsors, who are the godmother of their children and from whom are they the godmothers. This last part of memory come to confirm the elitist dimension of Officers of the Holy Family.
Religion History Women New France Elite Brotherhood Montreal Godmothering Networking Nobility