Sisters of Charity of

Ottawa Sundials

Roger Bailey & Sister Louise Seguin SCO

NASS 2008

St Louis, MO

Jean-François Allard

Ottawa Parliament

http://www.campbell-tx.net/campbellphotos/photo-gallery-6.html

Ottawa Rivers

Ottawa

OttawaRiver

Rideau River

Gatineau River

Hull, Quebec

Ottawa River

Parliament

Sisters of Charity of Ottawa

Bytown (Ottawa) Chronicles

• 1800 Lumberjacks’ bush camp on Ottawa River

• 1826 Col John By & Rideau Canal (St Lawrence River Bypass)

• 1828 Bytown founded: Construction, lumber and military camp

• Government Sundial erected on this site

Bytown (Ottawa) Chronicles

• 1845 Élisabeth Bruyère, SGM (Soeurs Grises de Montréal) arrived with 3 novices

• Built convent, school and hospital within a year

• 1847 Potato famine: Irish immigration and Typhus

• 1850 Motherhouse and sundials built

• 1857 Bytown became Ottawa and Capital of Canada

• 1867 Canadian Confederation

Jean-François Allard, OMI

• 1850 Fr. Allard from Briançon, France as spiritual advisor and teacher

• Taught religion, science, geography& mathematics, (geometry & gnomonics)

• Designed and built the sundials 1850-1851

• Bishop in 1851, Palestine and NatalSource: 'Deschatelets Archives Ottawa‘,

the Oblate Fathers, Ottawa.

Fr. Allard’s Sundials

• Constructed 1850-1851

• Traditional French corner dials, simple and elegant

• Sundials are original, accurate and unique

• Oldest remaining corner dials in Canada

• Only historic corner dials outside Quebec

Séminaire St-Joseph Trois Rivieres, Quebec

• Only other historical corner dial surviving

• Built in 1883, by l'abbé Raymond Caisse, préfêt des études

• Restored in 1930• Source: CCSQ Catalogue

http://cadrans_solaires.scg.ulaval.ca/cadransolaire/cdstr2.html

Technical AnalysisFr. Allard’s SCO Sundials

• Are the dials correct for the location & wall declination?

• Are the hour lines and gnomon correct?

• Do they tell the right time?

• Check the dial with modern techniques: Data, pictures, computers

• Overlay lines on pictures

58º

32º

N

Latitude 45º 25’ 51”Longitude 75º 41’ 53’

Wall DeclinationS31.9ºW S58.1ºE

S 59º W

Morning Dial: S 31º E

• Narrow dial on east side street

• Constrained by corner & window

• Ovoid vs circle• Hour lines are correct• Gnomon set in

meridian plan (latitude is true)

• Best fit S 31º E not S 31.9º E

• Excellent pictures by Stephen Blakeney Jan 2008

Time Checks: Date/Time Stamps

• Pictures taken 3 Jan 08 at 2:44 to 2:46 pm EST

• Equation of Time –4’25”• Longitude 75.6978º -2’47”• Corrected clock 2:38 solar• West PM dial ~2:38 solar• East AM dial ~2:38 solar• Dial is correct as closely as it can be read

Gnomon Angles

• Gnomons seem not quite parallel. Perspective?

• Easily bent from meridian plane

Fr. Allard’s SCO Sundials• The dial lines and gnomons

are correct for the location & wall declination

• They tell true solar time• Modern techniques are no

better for designing a dial• Fr Allard had an excellent

artistic sense.– The subdued colours and lack

of ornamentation is right for the convent

– The narrow dial on the side street is appropriate to balance the perspective

An excellent pair of sundials!