Dedicated to the education of youth, this religious community was founded by Claudine Thévenet, in 1816, Lyon, France. The first Canadian foundation was made in 1855, in St.Joseph de Lévis, Québec. In 1870, the provincial house along with the noviciate were transferred to Sillery, Québec.

Since 1912, Father Gravel had dreamed of having the Sisters of Jesus and Mary as teachers. It was not until the summer of 1915, during Father Gravel’s second visit to the Provincial House of the Sisters of Jesus and Mary, in Sillery, Québec, that the Sisters agreed to replace the layteachers of the public school in Gravelbourg. “Maison Blanche (built in 1908)”, the former chapel of Father Magnan, was used as a public school house from 1913-1918. On August 26^th, 1915, five sisters of this distinguished order arrived in Gravelbourg; Superior Mother Sainte Emilienne, Mother Marie de Nazareth, Mother Saint-Léonide, Mother Sainte Gertrude and Sister Saint-Valère are considered the founders of the Jesus and Mary Convent.

The generous Father Arthur Magnan offered his rectory (Presently, the house of Ovide and Alfreda L’Heureux) to the Sisters of Jesus and Mary as a residence for their first year in Gravelbourg. He built the rectory, in 1914, at his own expense on the corner of 1^st Avenue and the street that now carries his name “Rue Magnan”. The Sisters continued their classes in the little chapel-house “Maison Blanche” from 1914 until the autumn of 1918. On September 1^st, the Sisters of Jesus and Mary welcomed seventy-five students. The following year, the Sisters moved on August 26^th, 1916 to the house of Mr. Jacob Mailhot “The house of Jacob” (a yellow house formerly situated on the property of Lucien and Thérèse LaRochelle). This home was much more spacious for the accomodations of the twenty-five boarders.

While the construction of the new church and the planification of the Collège were still in progress, the distinguished and devoted Sisters of Jesus and Mary moved into their splendid new Convent on August 3^rd, 1918. In the meantime, another contingent of five Sisters arrived to join the teaching staff; Mother Marie des Anges, Mother Marie de la Charité, Sister Sainte Suzanne, Mother Saint Stephen and Sister Sainte Cassilda. And on September 2^nd, 1918, the Convent opened its doors to eighty-one boarders along with one hundred and seventy-five students from Gravelbourg. In the following month, on October 6^th, 1918 the Sisters of Jesus and Mary celebrated the centenary of the founding of their order in Lyon, France. They also had a ceremony of the blessing of the Pacard Bell (gift from Father Gravel) at the Convent. This bell religiously sang the Angelus three times a day. On January 20^th, 1919 Archbishop Olivier-Elzéar Mathieu blessed the Convent that stands proud on the ground in which one part was donated by Father Gravel and the remainder was bought by the community of Gravelbourg.

May 11^th, 1926 was the inauguration of the two wings which were added to the main building. The imposing institution was now known as the Thévenet College. In the month of September, 1929, the Collège Thévenet was affiliated with the University of Ottawa (in collaboration with the Collège Mathieu). The first students of this new Collège were; Juliette Laville, Andrée Pouchard, Cécile Simoneau and Laura Gratton.

Like all other religious communities in Saskatchewan, the Sisters of Jesus and Mary were at the hands of persecution from the Anderson Government. On May 11^th, 1930, the Saskatchewan Legislature adopted a law which prohibited all religious emblems as well as all religious teachings in every public school. The Sisters were also forced to remove their religious robes. At the beginning of another school semester in 1930, the students were greeted by their teachers in “Anderson robes”. During the years of drought and desperation, the School Board found it impossible to be able to afford the salaries of teachers. The Sisters of Jesus and Mary would not abandon the young students. They continued to teach and accepted promissory notes instead of pay.

Many girls from surrounding communities were curiously interested in attending the Convent. Superior Mother Sainte Elizabeth, noviciate teacher, along with five novices (former students) founded a Noviciate in 1931, to assure the recrutement of many more Sisters.

In 1932, the Sisters of Jesus and Mary took control of the separate school in Meyronne and two years later, they ambitiously took charge of the school in St.Victor. In 1939 and 1942, the schools of Lisieux and of Coderre were also confided to the Sisters.

August 26^th, 1937, convocation of the first six Sisters who accomplished a Bachelor of Arts; Mother Saint-Marcel (Marie Huel), Mother Saint-Jean de Kenty (Emma Pelletier), Mother Sainte Hélène de la Croix (Iva Smith), Mother Marie de Magdala (Germaine Schnitzler) and Mother Saint-Rodrigue (Laura Gratton).

In 1964, the school attendance had nearly doubled since Mother Saint-Rodrigue (Laura Gratton) was the principal, making it necessary to build a brand new modern high school to accomodate some of the six hundred and ninety-seven students.

Among the students, sixty vocations excelled out of the Convent. Twenty-eight of them entered the order of the Sisters of Jesus and Mary, while others became members of the Dominicans, Grey Nuns and the Sisters of Precious Blood.

After dedicating fifty-five years towards teaching young girls and boys, the Sisters decided it was time to sell the Convent to the Gravelbourg School Board. Not yet ready to leave Gravelbourg, the Sisters of Jesus and Mary purchased the former home of Judge Alphonse Gravel and continued teaching Catechism.

Due to ageing, sickness and the decrease of vocations in the younger generation, the Sisters of Jesus and Mary had no option but to leave Gravelbourg on December 13^th, 2000. A special mass was held at the Our Lady of the Assumption Co-Cathedral followed by a program in honor of the Sisters held at the Gravelbourg Elementary School Library (former chapel of the Jesus and Mary Convent) on November 26^th, 2000.