Girls at Belmont Orphanage

Description

Front: Eleven children ("orphans") hold livestock and weave baskets in pose for the camera, while two white men in matching blue dresses stare on. "Fr. Mariano Forestier O.P founded the St. Dominic's Children's Home - known, back then, as the Belmont Orphanage - to provide a home for the many poor, homeless children wandering the streets of the city of Port of Spain. Mr. L.A. Le Roy, a benefactor, bought the property on which the Home stands and gave it to the goodly priest to carry out his mission. On 11th September, 1871 Archbishop Gonin officially blessed the Home. In 1876, the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena accepted Fr. Forestier's invitation to take responsibility for managing and operating the Home - a mission which they still carry on today in collboration with a number of lay-persons: staff and voluntary; individuals and corporate bodies, from governmental agencies and private sector; men and women of goodwill who understand that it does 'take a village to raise a child (African Proverb)'." Source: http://sdchnewsline.webs.com/home.htm See also: http://www.bordeglobal.org/dominic/index.php Back: