On June 4th, Lord Dundonald, on military service in Canada, made

his famous arraignment at the Windsor Hotel of his government,

for which he was recalled on June 14th. The harbour this year

showed the prevalent great commercial development when an

elevator capable of holding 1,000,000 bushels was erected. On the

22d of August the Manufacturers’ Association held a great banquet

at the Windsor Hotel. In November, Patti made her last appearance

in the city to be followed on January 5, 1905, by Rejanne, both

of these latter appearances chronicling the position of Montreal

as a musical and dramatic centre. Since then great singers, such

as Calvé, Albani, Caruso and others have each triumphed here, as

have the leading instrumental artists.

The Russo-Japanese war was the occasion of a subscription for

a Japanese loan being started on March 31st. On August 22d

Royalty again visited Montreal in the person of Prince Louis of

Battenberg.

In 1906 the Labour party in Montreal elected a labour

representative, M. Alphonse Verville, for Maisonneuve. This year

St. Helen’s Island was secured for the people of Montreal by a

purchase by the city from the Federal Government for $200,000.

In this year the advent of the automobile era is recorded at

Montreal by the first fatality occurring, on August 11th, in the

death of one named Toutant.

In 1907 the early months saw the burning of the Protestant school

at Hochelaga and the civil engineering and medical buildings of

McGill University. On April 1st the old Theatre Royal, which had

fallen from the high palmy days into flagrant spectacles of a low

class of vaudeville, was interdicted by the Archbishop Bruchesi

and its final doom occurred a few years later.

The Bremen, one of the first German cruisers to visit this port,

arrived on August 25, 1907. A significant sidelight of a phase

of the continued growth of Montreal is the signing, on November

7th, of the contract for the building of the new city prison at

Bordeaux. This year the temperance movement was greatly forwarded

by the foundation of the Anti-Alcoolique League on December 29th.

International trade expansion was demonstrated in Montreal on

February 5th, when the Marconi commercial telegraph service was

installed.

The eclipse of the sun of 1908 was visible at Montreal on July

22d.

In 1909 a great accident took place in the Windsor Station by

a train running off the tracks causing damage to the extent of

$200,000, but with the loss, however, of only four lives.

The shipping in the port this year was increased by the advent

of the White Star Liners, S.S. Laurentic on May 7th, and S.S.

Megantic on June 27th. On the 27th of August the steamship

Prescott was burnt in the harbour. The “Back to Montreal”

movement recalled citizens to their homes for the week beginning

September 13th, while the following day saw the closing of the

civic investigation into aldermanic scandals at the city hall to

be followed by the “Cannon Report.”

On September 23d the Witness Building was gutted by fire. In

October the Royal Edward Tuberculosis Institute, the first of

its kind in Canada, was opened by telegraph from England by His

Majesty, King Edward, who gave the name to the building. The last

day of the year ended with a gas explosion at Viger Station with

the loss of thirty-eight lives.

The year 1910 is memorable for the triumph of civic reform and

the establishment of the Board of Control, owing to a change in

the city charter, as the outcome of the referendum to the people

in 1909, to stop which an aldermanic delegation to the Provincial

Legislature had been fruitless.

In the year in question the electors were asked to vote on these

two vital questions:

Do you approve of the creation of a Board of Control?

Do you approve of one alderman a ward instead of two?

The answer given to both of the queries was overwhelmingly in the

affirmative. The following figures prove this beyond the question

of a doubt:

SUMMARY OF THE VOTE

Votes.

For reduction of aldermen 19,585

Against reduction 1,640

------

Majority in favor 17,945

For Board of Control 18,528

Against Board of Control 2,413

------

Majority in favor 16,115

There was not a single ward, throughout the city, which did not

favour the proposed changes and no less than 34 per cent of the

entire vote was polled on this memorable occasion.

On May 6th, His Majesty, King Edward, died and loyal Montreal

grieved as a city with majestic and magnificent emblems of

sorrow over all the public buildings. On the occasion of the

royal funeral in Westminster Abbey the city was represented

by His Worship the mayor, Dr. J.J. Guerin. In preparation for

this event the high commissioner of Canada, Lord Strathcona, in

London, protested against the inferior position given to the

representatives of autonomous colonies of the Empire and his

timely intervention was generously acted upon.

The Montreal trade fleet again was reinforced in 1910 by the

advent on May 11th of the Royal Edward from Bristol, the first

of the Canadian Northern Railway steamers. On the 28th, of the

same month, transportation was effected by the inauguration of

the electric tramway between Longueuil and McGill streets via the

Victoria Bridge.

In June the Herald Building, facing Victoria Square was destroyed

by fire with the loss of thirty-three lives. During this month

M. de Lesseps, of aviation fame, was received in the city hall,

while on November 27th the city was visited by the Marquis de

Montcalm, a name honoured in the city from the general who made

Montreal his headquarters under the French régime.

In October a flight, however, has to be recorded--that of the

plausible financial gambler, Sheldon, who had ruined many widows

among his dupes. He was, however, captured in the following year

and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

But the Eucharistic Congress of 1910, held in Montreal, at the

choice of the Catholic world, was an event before which all

others of a social character have paled during recent years.

It was prepared for long in advance as a great civic occasion,

irrespective of its denominational character. The railway and

steamship companies, the civic authorities and public bodies

fitly put forth all their strength to make Montreal realize its

now acknowledged position as a world city, which its choice

connoted.

All was in readiness when Cardinal Vincenzo Vannutelli, at

the end of August, came to Quebec on the Empress of Britain,

to represent His Holiness, Pius X. There in the old City of

Champlain the eminent visitor was honourably and worthily

entertained. After this the Government tugboat, the Lady Grey,

and the Government steamboat Montmagny, with prominent members

of the legislature and leading citizens, accompanied by other

vessels, eighty yachts, motor boats, etc., went down to meet the

delegate on the way up the river. Meanwhile great crowds were

gathered to receive the party on the wharf, but the flotilla

entered the port on Saturday afternoon, September 3d, in a

downpour of torrential rain. At the foot of McGill Street, on

the wharf, a splendid kiosk, topped with a handsome cupola,

was crowded with the civic functionaries, who shortly left on

receiving the Cardinal and the whole party were forced to adjourn

to the city hall, where the ceremony of further reception by the

mayor, Dr. James J. Guerin, was more worthily and comfortably

performed. The rain, however, had not prevented the ringing

of church bells and the shrill whistling of half a hundred

steamships and numerous factories and the crowds of the expectant

citizens from voicing a welcome. From the city hall, the Papal

representative proceeded to the residence of Archbishop Bruchesi,

who had organized the congress, to be held in Montreal, the first

place in the new world to be so honoured by this national event,

a sign of the growing recognition of the place of Montreal in the

cities of the world. The Archbishop’s house was to be the home of

the Minister for the week.

On Tuesday evening the formal opening of the congress took

place in St. James’ Church on Dominion Square, amid picturesque

religious ceremonies and brilliant ecclesiastical functions that

surpassed anything previous on this continent. The delegate

opened his remarks by a recognition of the enthusiastic reception

given him by the provincial and municipal authorities, as well as

by all classes. Archbishop Bruchesi, in his address of welcome,

recognized the kindly feelings which other creeds had manifested

towards the congress, how many prominent non-Catholic citizens,

such as Lord Strathcona, had given their help in various

practical ways in demonstrations of a high spiritual belief

in the Unseen which the congress portended for all. Various

telegrams were sent to Pius X at Rome and to George V in London

expressing gratitude for the recent modification made by him in

the form of the royal declaration which had continued till then

to contain obsolete and obnoxious discriminations against a loyal

part of his subjects.

It may also be noted here that at the luncheon given that day

at the Windsor Hotel by Sir Lomer Gouin, prime minister of the

Province of Quebec, the Cardinal, proposing the health of the

King, congratulated the Canadians on the liberty that had been

assured them under the British King who had shown how he could

respect the legitimate susceptibilities of his Roman Catholic

subjects throughout the Empire.

In the evening of this day, September 7th, the representative of

the Federal Government, the Hon. Charles Murphy, Secretary of

State of Canada, gave his official reception, which was attended

by the largest throng of citizens that ever had entered this

hotel. That night, midnight high mass was celebrated at the Notre

Dame Church, which commenced when the great bell in the west

tower, weighing 24,600 pounds, pealed out the hour of midnight,

and the files of thousands of the representatives of the secular

clergy and of the religious orders, and the laity, with prelates

of a dozen different nations, assisted at a memorable occasion.

The practical work of the congress began on Thursday, September

8th. There were thirteen sessions held in the various large halls

of the city, and in addition there were three general meetings

held, two at Notre Dame Church and one in the Arena, at which

three the Cardinal Legate presided. On two successive evenings,

September 8th and 9th, 15,000 people crowded into the great

entrance of Notre Dame to hear the most distinguished French and

English speakers of the congress. Among those who spoke were His

Eminence, Cardinal Logue, Primate of Armagh, Ireland; Archbishop

Bourne, of Westminster, England; Archbishop Ireland, of St.

Paul, Minnesota; Monsignor Heylen, of Namur; Monsignor Touchet,

of Orleans; Monsignor Rumeau, of Angers; Hon. Judge O’Sullivan,

of New York; Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Sir Lomer Gouin, the Hon.

Thomas Chapais, and the Hon. C.J. Doherty, Henri Bourassa and

J.M. Tellier, members of the federal and provincial governments

of Canada. The sacred edifice, capable of seating 15,000, was

crammed to the utmost, hundreds upon hundreds standing for two or

three hours.

The enthusiasm was intense and the sacred edifice rang with

unwonted applause. The sanctuary and the stalls were filled

with brilliant ecclesiastical costumes and gay uniforms and

the church was a mass of colour. Perhaps the most electrical

moment of the evening was after the plea of the Archbishop of

Westminster advocating, before this vast audience which was for

the most part composed of French-Canadians of the Province of

Quebec, a more general adoption of the English language to meet

the changing conditions of Greater Canada, when Henri Bourassa,

who had already been appointed to speak at this point, took the

psychological opportunity of the occasion so temptingly offered

him, to voice the aroused thoughts of his compatriots to whom

their language, religion and racial traditions seemed inseparably

bound. His words were punctuated with thundering applause and the

waving of hats and hands amid a scence of vibrant national and

religious feeling, the while the people hung upon the word of

the speaker, who for the nonce was but the mouth-piece of their

individual thoughts made a scene which the writer will never

forget as an instance of a clever orator speaking under the best

and most popular surroundings.

The third meeting, at the Arena, was composed of about eight

thousand young men who were addressed by the Cardinal,

Archbishhop Langevin, of Manitoba, and by Mr. Henri Bourassa on

“Noble Ideals and Inspirations.” Both speakers urged them to hold

to their traditions and national rights. There was plenty of room

for English and French in Canada. Both could work out a noble

destiny in this young and growing country.

Another, but one of the most appealing spectacles of the

congress, was the procession of 30,000 school children who,

wearing picturesque dresses and bearing emblems and banners,

passed constantly before the Legate who was seated on the steps

of St. James’ Cathedral and received their individual courtesy,

the while he bestowed his blessing amid the thousands of

spectators assembled around Dominion Square, the whole making a

magnificent and unusual sight lasting for three hours, during

which time all traffic in the neighbourhood was absolutely

blocked.

The historic Mount Royal has witnessed many picturesque scenes

but none more so than the great open air mass celebrated on

Saturday, September 10th, at the foot of the mountain on the

great open space below Mount Royal Avenue, where a superb and

ornate altar, open to the winds of heaven, had been placed.

Around it were 100 bishops, 2,000 priests in their picturesque

costumes, and 200,000 of the faithful. A choir of 1,000 voices

responded to the chaunts of the celebrant, Monsignor Farley,

Archbishop of New York. Monsignor O’Connell, of Boston, and a

Dominican priest, Father Hage, preached to all who could hear

their voices. During the solemn celebration the Cardinal Legate

arrived at St. Patrick’s Church, where another function was

being held, and on his way to the altar he had to walk over a

path carpeted with flowers, and there pausing, he bestowed his

blessing on the kneeling multitude.

The supreme moment of the congress was to come in the great

procession the following day. For weeks the long route from the

Church of Notre Dame to the foot of Mount Royal, where stood the

altar already described, had been given over to architects and

workmen; tall handsome arches, things of beauty, had been raised

here and there along the route, one of them being made of wheaten

sheaves sent from the Western Canadian prairies. Thousands of

Venetian columns, obelisks, pedestals and flag poles lined the

streets; flags of all nations and innumerable electrical signs

adorned the housefronts.

The forenoon of Sunday was spent in completing the details of

the procession and precisely at 1 o’clock files of men, six

abreast, began to move past the doors of Notre Dame and, like

the corps of an immense army, then swung into the route of the

procession. Long before the route had been densely thronged, and

the mountain slopes thickly covered with expectant onlookers, for

the various railways centering in Montreal had reduced their

passenger rates in every direction within a radius of hundreds

of miles and trains laden with humanity had followed each other

at close intervals and unloaded their thousands all day Saturday

and during the early hours of Sunday. It is estimated by the

railway authorities that 200,000 strangers entered Montreal in

twenty-four hours to witness the procession. For hours before it

began the whole route was lined with people patiently waiting,

while at the foot of the mountain near the altar of repose at

least 75,000 had gathered, 20,000 of whom had been there from

early morning. It was an extraordinary spectacle to look from the

top of the mountain and see the mass of human beings moving in

every direction over the immense sward, all eventually turning

towards the handsome repository with its overtopping dome, the

whole a design of great architectural beauty. Downtown at 1

o’clock began the greatest demonstration of any kind, civic or

religious, that Canada ever witnessed. During four hours and a

half, between fifty and sixty thousand men marched silently and

prayerfully between at least half a million spectators lining

the route. The demonstration was international in its widest

extent. Citizens of the United States and Canada, together

with Lithuanians, Chinese, Syrians, Iroquois Indians in their

tribal costumes and feathers, Italians, Poles and a dozen other

nationalities besides, carrying their distinctive banners and

religious emblems, marched in one solid phalanx and in perfect

order.

But the most imposing spectacle of all was that following the

lay sections at 4 o’clock, when 1,000 choir boys, clothed in red

cassocks and surplices, followed by the Christian Brotherhoods,

hundreds of seminarians and the various religious orders of

the city took their place in the great procession; then came

2,000 priests in sacerdotal vestments, followed in order of

precedence by 100 bishops and archbishops, in cope and mitre. In

the rear of the papal officers and chamberlains came the huge

golden baldachino under which walked the tall majestic figure of

Cardinal Vannutelli, carrying the Sacred Host and accompanied

on both sides by ecclesiastical guards of honour and soldiers,

with children busily swinging censers and strewing flowers in

his path, the while the dense multitude, irrespective of creed,

bowed in the reverential awe of the moment. Behind the baldachino

walked Cardinals Logue and Gibbons, the prime minister of Canada,

Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the speaker of the House of Commons, members

of the federal and provincial governments, members of the

legislative council, the mayor of Montreal, the chief justice

and judges of the Superior Court of Canada, all in their robes

of office, members of the city council and a long line of men

belonging to the liberal professions. When these last bands

accompanying the Legate arrived it was already growing dusk and

the electric lights on the waiting altar glowed in the gloom. A

thousand voices entoned the Tantum Ergo, the Cardinal ascended

the steps, took the remonstrance containing the Sacred Host

and, raising it aloft over the 200,000 men, women and children

kneeling on the grass, gave the benediction of the congress.

The congress was over. Lights went out and the bishops and their

attendant clergy retired to the neighbouring convent of the Hôtel

Dieu to doff their robes, marching down Pine Avenue chanting

the Gregorian “Te Deum,” which sounded like the war song of the

priests, and gradually the vast multitude dispersed to their

homes.

The events of the succeeding year of 1911 recall the general

federal elections on July 11th on the question of a renewal of

reciprocity with the United States when, as has been said, it was

rejected by an overwhelming majority of the electorate, notably

in Montreal.

Harbour development was signalized this year by the signing of

the contract with the Canadian Vickers Company for the new dry

docks at the east end, and on October 4th in fitting recognition

to a great harbour builder, the monument of the Hon. John

Young was unveiled on the water front by Earl Grey. Meanwhile

the general city development and expansion had been steadily

increasing since the annexations of 1883. Its population and

religions were becoming increasingly cosmopolitan and domestic

troubles among the Mohammedans of the city on July 10th

sufficiently indicate this.

The year 1912 is memorable at Montreal through the sorrow caused

in the city by the loss of the White liner S.S. Titanic, a

huge vessel with a displacement of 60,000 tons, which struck

a submerged iceberg off Cape Race on April 14th with the loss

of 1,600 souls on board. While the whole world thrilled with

horror at the new revelation of the dangers of the sea to modern

leviathans, Montreal had its particular grief in the loss of some

of its respected citizens, Charles M. Hays, president of the

Grand Trunk Railway system, Markland Molson, Thornton Davidson,

Vivian Payne, Q. Baxter, R.J. Levy, Mr. and Mrs. H. Allison and

daughter, and Albert Malette.

The churches of the city universally mourned this world-wide

disaster at the services of April 21st.

The month of October is memorable as the occasion of the great

educational Child Welfare Exhibition held for a fortnight under

the auspices of the humanitarian societies of the city in the

Craig Street Drill Hall, and drawing immense crowds.

The year 1913 was remarkable for the extraordinary activity in

building operations. As elsewhere related in the special chapter

on City Improvement, Montreal gave more evidences of being a

modern New York rather than the Ville Marie of old. It may be

called the year of the great real estate boom.

But the last weeks of this year will stand out in civic history

as a serious warning of the possibility of a city being deprived

of its water supply for a long period with the additional terror

of fire and disease. For 193 hours, beginning with Christmas

night, the greater part of Montreal was deprived of water by the

breaking of the concrete conduit at Lachine. Its story is told

elsewhere.

The year 1914 has been one of the greatest gloom. Shortly before

3 o’clock early in the morning of May 29th the disquieting news

was flashed from Quebec to Commander J.T. Walsh, superintendent

of the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company, that about 2:30

o’clock its greatest steamer, the Empress of Ireland, had been

struck about thirty miles east of Farther Point, but without

further information. Shortly another report told that it had

been struck by the Storstad, a Norwegian collier bound for

Montreal, and was sinking rapidly in sight of Rimouski. At first

the news was not credited as possible, but it was too true. The

ship sank almost immediately, being struck in the bowels and

filling straightway with water. Montrealers felt the disaster

most keenly, as its sister ships have their headquarters here and

its officers were men personally known on the St. Lawrence and

the Montreal route. Of the total 1,367 souls on board, 959 lives

were lost and less than four hundred saved. The disaster was

faced with courage and sympathetic humanitarianism by the many

officers of the company who journeyed down to Quebec and spared

no effort by night or day to make the tragedy less painful to the

relatives of the survivors. The sailor institutions of Montreal

on this occasion were glad to cooperate with those of Quebec and

supervised the sad task of identifying the drowned and burying

the bodies of the sailors as they were rescued from the waters

or the shores of Rimouski and taken to the mournful morgues at

Quebec.

Towards the end of July, 1914, war was declared between Austria

and Servia. This involved Germany on the side of Austria, and

Russia and France on the side of Servia, and on August 30th

Great Britain because of Germany breaking the neutrality of

Belgium, entered what was to be the most devastating war in

the history of nations. Canada at once declared her loyalty to

the Motherland in a very practical way. The Federal government

presented 3,000,000 bags of flour and raised a contingent of

33,000 of her best men. The Provinces vied with each other in

contributing huge quantities of wheat, flour, apples, and in

the case of the Province of Quebec, 2,000,000 pounds of cheese.

A National Patriotic Fund was started with branches in every

municipality throughout the Dominion--Montreal’s contribution

totalling $2,000,000, in addition to which a Montreal citizen, A.

Hamilton Gault, gave $500,000 to raise a regiment to be composed

of veterans. This regiment of 1,000 picked men was named after

the daughter of the Governor-General, the Duke of Connaught,

the “Princess Patricia Light Infantry” and joined the first

contingent, which left Canada on October 2nd, in thirty-one

transports, principally vessels trading to Montreal, and under

eleven convoys. This armada, which was the largest that ever

sailed the Atlantic seas, reached Plymouth, October 16th, and

the contingent was immediately entrained to Salisbury Plain to

complete its training. Montreal contributed 3,200 men towards

this first contingent. Their arrival in England was the occasion

of much popular satisfaction at this great spectacle of Imperial

union.

[Illustration: HOMES OF PROMINENT MONTREAL CITIZENS]

[Illustration: “Rokeby,” the residence of A. Hamilton Gault.]

[Illustration: Residence of the Hon. Sir George A. Drummond,

K.C.M.G.]

[Illustration: Summer residence of Hon. J.A. Ouimet, St. Anne de

Bellevue]

[Illustration: Country residence of Sir Rodolphe Forget, M.P., at

Ste Irénée on the St. Lawrence]

[Illustration: “Villa des Epinettes,” summer residence of Isaie

Prefontaine, Belle Isle]

Whatever doubts there might have been in the minds of some people

as to the responsibility of Canada in the Boer war there was

absolutely none in this crisis. The spontaneity of the Canadian

people in rising to their privileges as British citizens has

never been so pronounced. Every man and every woman in the

Dominion, irrespective of national origin, wanted to do something

to aid the Motherland. And Montreal was in the van.

Immediately the first contingent embarked the government decided

on raising a second and recruiting started afresh. While the

French-Canadians of the country had contributed 2,146 to the

first contingent, being the more notable contribution of Canadian

born subjects, the majority of the volunteers were those who were

British born. But now the French-Canadians of the city determined

to raise a regiment composed entirely of their compatriots to

be called “Le Régiment Royal Canadien” and over three thousand

men applied for admission. The Irish-Canadians, too, raised a

regiment for home defense named the “Fifty-fifth Irish Canadian

Rangers” with the Minister of Justice, the Hon. Charles J.

Doherty, as Honorary Lieutenant Colonel. The neighbouring city of

Westmount, under the direction of the mayor and council, raised

the “Westmount Rifles” and even the suburban town of Outremont

raised an artillery battery of 105 men. A number of prominent

citizens of Montreal, on the initiative of Mr. J.N. Greenshields,

K.C., equipped and are sustaining a “Home Guard” of 3,000 at

their own expense. Towards the Patriotic Fund the local councils

contributed as follows: Montreal, $150,000; Westmount, $5,000;

Outremont, $5,000; Maisonneuve, $2,000; Verdun, $3,000; and the

smaller municipalities lesser but proportionate amounts. These

funds are being augumented daily.

The war affected Montreal in another way, industrially and

financially. On the declaration of war the banks called in

their loans and though the government came to their aid in the

negotiation of their collateral the fact of the stoppage of

capital from Great Britain disorganized the industrial machinery

of the country and thousands were thrown out of employment.

In addition to this the forcible internment of the Germans

and Austrians, of which 3,400 were in Montreal alone, caused

much anxiety to the authorities, for none would employ them.

A delegation from Montreal waited upon the acting premier,

Sir George Foster, November 2d, asking for the cooperation of

the Government in alleviating the general distress. This Sir

George promised as far as the interned enemies were concerned,

but thought each municipality should take the responsibility of

looking after its own unemployed.

Montreal at this period was like a huge garrison town. Recruits,

with and without uniforms, university professors and students,

rich and poor alike, were being drilled in every open space

and many public and private halls. For barracks the dismantled

Protestant High School on Peel Street and other buildings were

used for the young men of the second contingent.

Not only were the canals, bridges, wharves and public buildings

patrolled by soldiers in uniform, since the first news of the

outbreak of the war, but the streets of Montreal and the suburbs

have been the constant scenes of much militarism. A lasting

memory will survive in numerous streets and avenues, either

being opened or bearing names already employed elsewhere, being

appointed henceforth to bear the names of generals and towns

connected with the war, such as Joffre, Pau, Liège, Namur and

Aisne.

About the city committees of devoted women of all national

origins and of all the numerous charitable associations, were

patriotically visiting the wives and dependents of volunteers

for the front and administering the allowances granted by the

Patriotic Fund, the headquarters of which were in the new

Drummond Building at the corner of St. Catherine and Peel

streets. And in this central room a busy committee was engaged

all day on the careful systematic organization of the relief

fund. Over the city in church, school, club and private rooms,

groups were busily knitting and sewing and fashioning all sorts

of comforts and necessities for those who had heard the call to

fight for the maintenance of the Empire. The city has become a

busy loom of patriotic charity.

All honour to the loyal women of Montreal in this moment of the

world’s greatest war.

[Illustration: CANADIAN AID FOR BELGIAN SUFFERERS]

UNDER ENGLISH RULE

PART II

SPECIAL PROGRESS

CHAPTER

XXIV THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

XXV OTHER RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.

XXVI SCHOOL SYSTEM OF MONTREAL BEFORE THE CESSION.

XXVII SCHOOL SYSTEM OF MONTREAL AFTER THE UNION.

XXVIII UNIVERSITY DEVELOPMENT.

XXIX LITERATURE--DRAMA--MUSIC--ART.

XXX NATIONAL SOCIETIES AND POPULATION.

XXXI FIRE, LIGHTING, WATER.

XXXII LAW AND ORDER.

XXXIII HOSPITALS.

XXXIV SOCIOLOGICAL MOVEMENTS.

XXXV BEFORE THE UNION.

XXXVI SINCE THE UNION.

XXXVII BANKING AND INSURANCE.

XXXVIII SHIPPING: EARLY AND MODERN.

XXXIX THE PORT AND HARBOUR.

XL RAILROADS.

XLI POST ROADS AND STREET RAILWAY.

XLII FROM THE CESSION.

XLIII UNDER THE UNION.

XLIV SINCE CONFEDERATION.

CHAPTER XXIV

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS

I

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

EARLY CHAPELS AND CHURCHES--THE FIRST PARISH CHURCH--OTHER

CHURCHES STANDING AT THE FALL OF MONTREAL--NOTRE DAME DE

VICTOIRE--NOTRE DAME DE PITIE--THE “RECOLLET”--THE PRESENT

NOTRE DAME CHURCH--ERECTION AND OPENING--THE “OLD AND

NEW”--THE TOWERS AND BELLS--THE ECCLESIASTICAL DIOCESE OF

QUEBEC--THE BISHOPS OF MONTREAL--THE DIVISION OF THE CITY

INTO PARISHES--THE CHURCHES AND “RELIGIOUS”--ENGLISH-SPEAKING

CATHOLICS--ST. PATRICK’S, IRISH NATIONAL CHURCH, ETC. NOTE: THE

“RELIGIOUS” COMMUNITIES OF MEN AND WOMEN.

The history of the Catholic Church in Montreal is largely that of

its churches and its religious orders or congregations.

Its history commences with the date of the first mass on the

common on September 8, 1642, in the open air, the day of the

arrival of M. de Maisonneuve and the first colonists, though

mass had already been said on the island as far back as 1615 in

Champlain’s presence at the Rivière des Prairies, by the first

Recollect fathers, Joseph le Caron and Denis Jamay.

From 1642 to 1657 the Jesuit missionaries served the small group

of colonists, at which dates these were succeeded by the priests

of the congregation of St. Sulpice, founded in Paris by M. Jean

Jacques Olier, at Vaugirard in January, 1649, a main purpose of

which was to supply priests for the mission founded at Montreal

by the Compagnie de Notre Dame de Montréal.

The first chapel “of the fort” was one of bark, which was

succeeded shortly by a frame building which served adequately

till 1656. In this year a new chapel building in wood was

adjoined to the Hotel Dieu at the corner of St. Paul and St.

Joseph (St. Sulpice) and served as the church of St. Joseph for

the hospital and the citizens till 1678 on the completion of the

first parish church of Notre Dame, begun in 1672.

This church was regarded as a wondrous monument in its time, and

as it was standing at the time of the fall of Montreal, and was

not entirely demolished till 1843, its history forms part of

that of Montreal under British rule, serving to connect the two

regimes.

It stood on the top of St. Sulpice Street, then St. Joseph, and

its front was placed on the axis of Notre Dame Street and Place

d’Armes, in front of the site of the modern Notre Dame church.

It was raised by subscriptions assisted by the Gentlemen of the

Seminary.

The original church begun in 1672 was gradually enlarged. From

1720 to 1724 there were discussions among the _Marguilliers_

or church wardens on the building of an imposing bell tower

capable of holding four bells, as well as on the construction of

a portail as an imposing entrance facade to the church. In 1722

discussions arose as to whether it should be placed southeast or

northwest of the church. The new tower on the northwest was built

about 1725. This served as a belfry for various bells cast in

Montreal till that named Thomas Marguerite came from London in

1773, being one of the old ones recast, and was blessed on July

4th by M. Montgolfier, superior of the seminary. It received its

name after Thomas Dufy Desaulniers and Marguerite, probably the

name of Madame Le Moyne, the other godparent. The belfry proper

was erected in 1777, the iron cross surmounting it in 1778, the

copper gilt cock bought in London being placed in 1782.

Before relating the history of the Notre Dame church of today

it will be proper to account for the other churches of Montreal

erected before the capitulation in 1760, and bridging over the

two periods of rule.

The Church of Notre Dame de Bonsecours was not standing on the

arrival of the British. The first church of this name was built

in wood by Marguerite Bourgeoys, the first stone being laid

in 1657 by the famous Jesuit missionary among the Onondagas,

Father Simon Le Moyne, the building being finished in 1659. The

second building, also erected by Marguerite Bourgeoys, was the

first stone church in Montreal. It was given to the Fabrique in

1678. It was reduced to ashes in the fire of 1754 and the third

church was built between 1771 and 1773. In 1847-48 the church was

decorated and on October 6, 1840, there was held a procession of

the boats on the river and there took place, with Bishop Bourget

presiding, the solemn translation of the new statue of Our Lady

of Bonsecours specially destined for voyagers and sailors and

placed on the exterior to dominate the port. It had been known

as the Sailors’ Chapel, being on the quay. It was remodeled

in 1889, according to critics, at the expense of many of its

Breton-like attractive features. On the apse of the chapel is a

colossal statue of the Blessed Virgin with outstretched arms to

protect the sea-going vessels and sailors. On the roof is another

chapel, a facsimile of the Holy House of Loretto. The church

itself possesses a miraculous statue of Our Lady. The sanctuary

is all marble, there are handsome stained glass windows and many

historic pictures and votive offerings.

Until recently there stood off Notre Dame Street at the

northwest entrance to the garden of the “Congregation” the

quaint and picturesque church of Notre Dame de Pitié. Its

original predecessor was commenced in 1693 and finished in

1695, principally through the benefactions of the recluse,

Jeanne LeBer, daughter of the famous merchant, Jacques LeBer,

who dwelt for twenty years (from 1694 to her death in 1714) in

a little cell behind the altar. After the cession it was burnt

down on April 11, 1768, and was rebuilt many years afterwards,

the first mass being said in 1786. In 1856 this church of the

“Congregation” (60 feet ×30) was demolished to make room for the

Notre Dame de Pitié (108 feet ×46). This was built to receive

a wooden, miraculous statue of Notre Dame de Pitié, which

originally was placed in the Church of St. Didier in Avignon,

France, in the fourteenth century. In 1789 this church was

demolished during the French revolution and the statue came into

the possession of a Madame Paladére, who gave it to the clergy.

In 1852 it came into the hands of the Rev. M. Fabris, who, at

the request of the Abbé Faillon, the historian, gave it to the

Congregation at Montreal. It reached Montreal on July 1, 1855,

and, pending the completion of the Church of Notre Dame de Pitié,

was kept in the convent hard by, its solemn transference to the

church, by Bishop Bourget, taking place on August 15, 1860. In

1912 it was demolished to make room for the projected extension

of St. Lawrence Main Street to the wharves, at which time the

adjoining historic convent of the Congregation nuns also suffered

the same fate.

[Illustration: NOTRE DAME DE PITIE (REAR VIEW)]

[Illustration: NOTRE DAME DE PITIE CHURCH (Demolished)]

In 1718 there was built near the church of Notre Dame de Pitié,

and on the grounds of the Congregation, the chapel of Notre

Dame de la Victoire. This was erected by the ladies of a pious

sodality entitled Les Demoiselles de la Congregation Externe, in

accordance with a vow made by them in 1711 on the occasion of the

safety of Canada by the destruction of the fleet of Sir Hovenden

Walker. It was burnt down on April 11, 1768, at the same time

as the Mother House but rebuilt the same year. It was finally

demolished in 1900. Other chapels connecting the old with the new

Montreal were the Convent Chapel of the Charron Brothers, which

became that of the Grey Nuns Hospital, and the Convent Chapel of

the Hotel Dieu, on St. Paul Street. Their history is coincident

with that of the buildings described elsewhere.

Two other churches built in the French régime were still standing

at the capitulation during the early British period, the Jesuits’

church, which was commenced in 1692 and finished in 1694, being

rebuilt and enlarged in 1742. After the capitulation of Montreal

and the subsequent suppression of the Society of Jesuits, it

became through the favour of the government the church of the

Anglicans till 1803, when it was burnt down in the great fire of

that year. The other church bridging over the two periods was

that of the Recollects, which was built and finished between 1693

and 1700. There was also the Recollect Chapel, for towards 1709

there took place the blessing of M. de Belmont and the placing

of the first stone of the Recollect Chapel by M. le Baron de

Longueuil, major governor of Montreal. In the early days of the

British rule the Recollects lent their church or chapel to the

Anglicans and Presbyterians for service;

Their original grounds extended on the north from Notre Dame west

to Lemoine Street on the south, and from McGill Street on the

west to St. Peter Street on the east.

The “Récollet” began to fall on evil times, for before 1818 the

Recollect property had passed into the hands of the Hon. Charles

William Grant; the church, the house and part of the convent was

purchased by the Fabrique of Notre Dame on August 28, 1818, from

him. Collections were then taken up for its repairs, which were

undertaken next year, according to the plan of M. Delorme in

order to fit it for divine service. In 1822 the Rev. John Richard

(or Richards) Jackson was permitted to occupy the lower part of

the house by putting a schoolmaster there for the children of the

Irish immigrants then beginning to arrive. About 1830 it became

the recognized chapel for the Irish immigrants and at this time

it became considerably improved by the gift of the portail of

the old Notre Dame. On March 9, 1867, the church on the corner

of Récollet and Notre Dame streets with its land was sold to

Messrs. Lewis, Kay & Company for the sum of $85,000, or $4.00 a

foot, and was demolished. The successors of the Recollects, the

Franciscans, O.F.M. (Order of Friars Minor) returned to the city

and established themselves on Dorchester Street West about 1900.

NOTRE DAME PARISH CHURCH

We may now trace the history of the present Notre Dame parish

church. By 1757 the parish church begun in 1672 being already

too small, it was determined to buy land to build one 300 feet

in length, and by 1823 land was bought for this purpose and the

church commenced this year. This included the land on Place

d’Armes on which there was the public library in Montreal. This

eventually was not built on for the war ending in the cession

took place. The Place d’Armes property bought, according to the

description made in 1824 by Roy Portelance, Toussaint Peltier,

père, and Charles Coté, père, was “L’Emplacement, situé sur

la place d’armes contenait 180 pds de front sur 94 pds de

profondeur, tenant pardevant a la place d’armes derrière à la

ruelle des fortifications, d’un coté au Sieur Dillon et de

l’autre coté au Docteur Leodel; sur lequel etaint construits une

maison en pierre à deux etages converte en ferblanc de 60 pds de

front sur 62 pds de profondeur, et autres bâtiments en bois.”

The Place d’Armes commenced in the middle of Great St. James

Street and occupied the position now filled by the Bank of

Montreal and the Royal Trust Building. It was thought then--in

1757--proper to build here and to transfer the Place d’Armes to

some other position, the ground in front of the Jesuit residence

being thought suitable. Subscriptions began in 1823 for the

new church by a minute of the church warden on July 20th. The

building committee appointed was M. le Curé; Le Saulnier,

president; M.M. Louis Guy, J.P. Leprohon, F.A. Larocque, N.B.

Doucet, T. Bouthillier and A. Laframboise, to whom later were

added M. Olivier Berthelet in place of M. Doucet, and the

following new church wardens, viz., M.M.C.S. Delorme, Pierre

Pomminville, Pascal Comte, Jules Quesnel, Joseph Chevalier and

Pascal Persillier-LaChapelle. Messrs. Francis Desrivieres and P.

de Rocheblave (Marguilliers) were named treasurers in February,

1824.

The land bought for the new church included the houses and

grounds of Messrs. Gerrard, Starnes, the estate, Perrault and

Fisher, situated on St. Joseph Street (St. Sulpice), and also

that proposed to be ceded to the Fabrique by the Gentlemen of

the Seminary. The value of the land was estimated at £24,000.

On October 5th the blessing of the cross marking the site was

conducted by Mgr. B.C. Panet, coadjutor bishop of Quebec. In

September, 1824, the first stone was blessed by M. Roux, superior

of the seminary. The following minute tells of the blessing of

the new church. “1829, June 7. Pentecost Day, at seven o’clock in

the morning. The new parish church has been blessed according to

the usage and custom of Holy Church under the invocation of the

Holy Name of Mary by Messire Jean Henry Auguste Roux, superior

of the seminary, curé of the parish and vicar general of the

diocese, in presence of the undersigned priests and of several

church wardens and other parishioners:

“Roux, Vic. Gen., Malard, ptre., Sattin, ptre., Sauvage,

ptre., Richard, ptre., F. ant. LaRocque, T. Bouthillier, P. de

Rocheblave, P. Jos. Lacroix, Joseph Masson, O. Berthelet, Alexis

Laframboise, Jules Quesnel, F. Souligny, Pierre Baudry, N.B.

Doucet.”

[Illustration: BONSECOURS CHURCH]

[Illustration: BONSECOURS CHURCH AT AN EARLY PERIOD]

[Illustration: BONSECOURS CHURCH WITH ITS BARNACLES, SHORTLY

BEFORE ITS RECONSTRUCTION]

The first mass said in the new parish church was by the Rev. Mr.

Richards-Jackson, an English convert who died at Montreal of

typhus on July 21, 1849, beloved by the Irish population. The

celebration of the formal opening took place on July 15th when

High Mass was sung by Mgr. J.J. Lartigue, bishop of Telmesse, and

the first sermon delivered by M.J.V. Quiblier. A distinguished

congregation was present, including the administrator of the

province of Lower Canada, Sir James Kempt, his suite and the

representatives of the different corporations of the city.

Meanwhile the old church of 1672 stood in front of the new one

but not for long. The bodies of the dead were reverently removed

to the vaults under the new church. On June 6, 1830, it was

resolved by the Fabrique to give the Irish of the city, for the

enlargement of the Récollet Church in which they now worshiped,

the cut stone of the _portail_ in front of the old church,

together with other church objects from within. Then the church

was demolished in August, 1830, but the belfry tower stood till

1843, a curious old-time relic blocking the passage on Notre

Dame Street. The four bells were taken down on August 23d and

the old tower pulled down on August 24th, about 4:30 P.M. Two of

the bells, one of them the Charlotte, cast in Canada in 1774 and

weighing, without the hammer, 2,167 pounds, were given later to

St. Patrick’s Church. The architect of the new parish church died

on January 30th, of the same year. He was a Mr. James O’Donnell,

a native of Wexford, in Ireland. At his request his remains were

buried in the new church.

The towers of the new church were not constructed till later.

That on the Epistle side (west) called the Tower of Perseverence,

was constructed in 1841 and blessed by the Bishop of Nancy, in

November of the same year. That on the Gospel side (east), the

Tower of Temperance, was not finished till 1842. Each tower is

227 feet high. The ten bells in the Tower of Temperance arrived

at Montreal on May 24, 1843, and were blessed on June 29th by

Bishop Bourget. They were cast in London by Mears & Company and

were sounded for the first time on June 19th, at midday, from

their position in the eastern tower. The history of the bells is

as follows:

Name. Pounds. Donor.

1. Maria Victoria 6,041 The Seminary.

2. Edwardus-Albertus-Ludovicus 3,633 Albert Turniss and Edward

Dowling.

3. Joannes Genovefa 2,730 John Donegani and wife.

4. Olivarius-Amelia 2,114 O. Berthelet and wife.

5. Julius-Josepha 1,631 Hon. Jules Quesnel.

6. Hubertus Justinin 1,463 Hubert Paré and wife.

7. Ludovicus 1,290 Louis, Ant. Parent, priest.

8. Joannes-Maria 1,093 Jean Bruneau.

9. Tancredes Genovefa 924 T. Bouthillier and wife.

10. Augustinus 897 Auguste Perrault.

The first Gros Bourdon, cast in February, 1843, weighing 16,352

pounds and the largest bell on the continent, arrived from Mears

& Company, London, in October, 1843, the gift of merchants,

artisans and farmers. It was broken in the month of May, 1845,

and was sent to England to be recast. The second Gros Bourdon

weighed 24,780 pounds. It arrived in 1847 an was solemnly blessed

under the name of Jean Baptiste on June 18, 1848. The ascent

commenced at 3:30 P.M., June 21st, and about 7:30 P.M. it was

installed in its present position in the western tower.

The organ of the parish church, constructed in 1857 by Mr. S.

Warren, was inaugurated in its unfinished condition on June 24,

1858.

The church may be described as follows: “There are two immense

arcades (60 feet high) with three niches containing the statues

of the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph and St. John the Baptist,

patrons of the City and of the Lower Province. A flight of stairs

or an elevator leads to the summit whence a splendid view may

be obtained over the City and the St. Lawrence. The interior

(including the sanctuary) is 255 feet long by 134 feet wide and

80 feet high. Two galleries extend 25 feet over the lower side

aisles. The architect was instructed to plan a building with a

seating capacity of 10,000 persons. The idea was to enable the

congregation to follow the sacred functions and to hear the

preacher without too much of an exertion. Notre Dame complies

with this twofold condition. Beauty had to be sacrificed to

practical use, and still the wealth of materials, the profusion

of paintings and decorations throughout, the numerous statues and

especially its imposing and well proportioned dimensions leave

a deep and lasting impression on the visitor. There are nine

chapels and altars in the body of the church. At the right: The

chapels of the Holy Face; Our Lady of Perpetual Help with a copy

of the Byzantine Virgin which is venerated in Rome; Saint Amable,

St. Joseph’s, and, at the foot of the aisle, the Blessed Virgin’s

chapel, with a painting by Del Sarto. On the tabernacle door is

a fine painting of ‘The Virgin and Child’ by Fra Angelico. The

cross and candlesticks on this altar were manufactured at Paris

and are of most exquisite workmanship. On the outer wall of the

sanctuary is a good copy of Mignard’s: ‘Saint Ignatius writing

the constitutions of his Order.’ The altar of the Sacred Heart is

on the other side of the sanctuary. To the right of this altar,

which, by the way, is an artistic gem, may be seen a noteworthy

old painting: ‘The Presentation in the Temple.’ Down the aisle,

other altars may be seen; St. Ann’s (Painting by Carnevalli),

the Souls in Purgatory and St. Roch’s. The pulpit is almost on a

level with the gallery. On its sounding board are several fine

statues and below the statues of two of the Prophets, the work

of P. Herbert, one of America’s most renowned sculptors. The

sanctuary is raised five steps above the nave and separated by

the chancel-rail. The latter is of most precious wood and so

are the chancel-seats and the monumental reredos. On the first

pillar to the right just outside the chancel, under a gilt dome,

is a white marble statue of the Madonna. It is the work of a

Bavarian artist and displays remarkable skill. Pius IX, who

prized it highly, presented it to the Rector of Notre Dame, Abbe

Rousselot. At the other extremity of the railing is a second

dome surmounting a bronze facsimile of the statue of St. Peter,

in St. Peter’s, Rome. The high altar is ornamented with numerous

sculptures of rare design and workmanship. ‘The Last Supper,’ in

bas-relief, is most artistic, and so are the ‘Choirs of Angels’

at each side of the tabernacle. The sanctuary is illuminated on

festal days with myriads of electric lights which produce

a dazzling effect. The organ is one of the most powerful in

America. It was manufactured by Casavant Bros., St. Hyacinthe.

“Behind the sanctuary is a richly adorned chapel of Our Lady of

the Sacred Heart. Its paintings are inestimable in value and

the work of Canadian artists. Over the main door is a copy of

Raphael’s: ‘Discussion on the Blessed Eucharist,’ by Larose.

From left to right: ‘Paradise Lost,’ ‘The Sybil of Tibur,’

‘The Annunciation,’ by Larose; ‘The Visitation,’ by Gill; ‘The

Adoration of the Magi,’ by Saint Charles; ‘The Virgin of the

Apocalypse,’ ‘The Transfiguration’ (above the high altar),

‘Christ the Consoler,’ by Franchere; ‘Dollard and his Sixteen

Companions,’ ‘The First Mass in Montreal,’ by Saint Charles; ‘The

Rock of Horeb,’ by Franchère; ‘The Wedding of Cana,’ by Beau; and

‘The Multiplication of the Loaves,’ by Franchère. The parochial

sodalities meet in this chapel, but more especially so, the male

and female members of the Association of Perpetual Adoration. In

the treasury may be seen gorgeous costly church-ornaments and

vestments, precious reliquaries, chalices, ciboriums of gold and

silver, the embroidery work of Jeanne LeBer, a massive monstrance

and the artistically arranged hangings or draperies of the grand

dais which is used once a year for the solemn procession of the

Blessed Sacrament through the streets of the City.”

[Illustration: NOTRE DAME CHURCH]

[Illustration: SACRED HEART CHAPEL]

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF NOTRE DAME]

THE ECCLESIASTICAL DIOCESE

Montreal was ecclesiastically in the jurisdiction of the diocese

of Quebec till 1836. At the fall of Montreal there was no bishop,

the occupant of the see, Henri Marie Dubreuil de Pontbriand,

having died on June 1, 1760. His successors in the see of Quebec

were:

Jean Olivier Briand, named January 21, 1766, consecrated March

16, 1766, resigned June 29, 1784, died November 25, 1784;

Louis-Philippe Mariauchau d’Esglis, consecrated July 12, 1772,

bishop of Quebec November 29, 1774, died June 4, 1788; Jean

François Hubert, consecrated November 29, 1786, bishop of Quebec

June 12, 1788, resigned September 1, 1797, died October, 1797;

Pierre Denaut, born at Montreal July 20, 1743, consecrated June

29, 1789, bishop of Quebec, September 1, 1797, died January 17,

1806; Joseph Octave Plessis, born at Montreal, March 3, 1763,

consecrated January 25, 1801, bishop of Quebec, January 17, 1806,

archbishop in 1819, died December 4, 1825; Bernard Claude Panet,

bishop-archbishop of Quebec December 4, 1825, died February 14,

1833; Joseph Signay, consecrated May 20, 1827, bishop of Quebec

February 14, 1833, archbishop Metropolitan July 13, 1844, died

October 3, 1850.

The first bishop of Montreal was Mgr. Jean Jacques Lartigue, who

was born in Montreal on June 20, 1777, was elected titular bishop

of Telmesse on February 1, 1820, and consecrated on January 21,

1821. He was elected bishop of the new diocese of Montreal on

May 13, 1836, and enthroned on September 8th following. He died

in the Hotel Dieu on April 30, 1849, before, therefore, the

incorporation of the diocese on May 30, 1849. His successor to

the see was Mgr. Ignace Bourget, born at Pointe Lévis on October

30, 1799. He was elected titular of Telmesse and coadjutor of

Montreal “cum futura successione” on March 10, 1837, and was

consecrated on July 25th following. He became bishop of Montreal

on April 19, 1840, and resigned on May 11, 1876, but was named

titular archbishop of Marianopolis in the month of July. He

died at Sault au Récollet June 8, 1885. His coadjutor bishop had

been Mgr. J.C. Prince from 1845 and Mgr. Joseph Larocque from

1852. His Grace, Mgr. Edouard Charles Fabre, born at Montreal

on February 28, 1827, succeeded him as bishop of Montreal on

May 11, 1876, and took possession of the seat on September 19th

following. He had been previously elected titular bishop of

Gratianopolis and coadjutor “cum futura successione” of Montreal

on April 1, 1873, being consecrated in the Church of the Gésu

on May 1st following. In 1886, on June 8th, Mgr. Fabre became

elected the first archbishop of Montreal, receiving the pallium

on July 27th of the same year. His death occurred on December

30, 1896. The present occupant of the see is His Grace, Mgr.

Paul Bruchesi, who was born at Montreal on October 29, 1855,

was elected Archbishop on June 25, 1897, and consecrated in the

Cathedral church on August 8th of the same year. Two years later,

on August 8th, he received the pallium.

There are two auxiliary bishops: Mgr. Francois Theophile Zotique

Racicot, born at Sault au Récollet on October 13, 1845, and

elected bishop of Poglia and coadjutor of Montreal on January 14,

1905, and consecrated on the following May 3d; and Mgr. George

Gauthier, born at Montreal on October 9, 1871, named titular

bishop of Philippolis and auxiliary of Mgr. Bruchesi on June 28,

1912, being consecrated on August 24th of the same year.

Until 1866 Notre Dame was the only parish church. From that date

other parishes began to be canonically erected as such. The

parish churches of Montreal in the year 1913 were as follows,

with the dates of foundation, but not of canonical erection.

Those various and numerous semi-public chapels, oratories, or

churches, attached to the religious congregations not recognized

as parish churches, are not included:

Notre Dame (first church, begun 1672, canonically erected 1678),

second, formally opened, 1829; Saint Jacques (first church,

1822-1825), (second, 1857), (third, 1860), constituted the second

parish church in 1866; Saint Enfant Jesus, founded in 1849,

erected canonically in 1867; Sacré Coeur de Jesus, 1874, 835

Ontario Street, East: Très Saint Nom de Jésus de Maisonneuve,

1888; Très Saint Rédempteur, 1913, Hochelaga; Immaculée

Conception, 1884; Nativité de la B.V.M. d’Hochelaga, 1875; Notre

Dame de Carmel, 1905, Italian; Notre Dame du Bon Conseil, 1881,

724 Craig Street, East; Notre Dame Della Difesa, 1910, Italian;

Notre Dame de Grâce, 1867; Notre Dame des Neiges, 1901; Notre

Dame de Perpétuel Secours, 1906; Notre Dame de Saint Rosaire

de Villeray, 1898; Notre Dame de Sept. Douleurs de Verdun,

1899; Notre Dame de Victoire, 1907; Saint Agnes, 1903 (E.)[1];

Saint Alphonse d’Youville, 1910; Saint Ann, 1854 (E.); Saint

Anselme, 1909; Saint Anthony’s, 1884 (E.); Saint Arsène, April

11, 1908; Sainte Brigide, 1867; Sainte Catherine d’Alexandre,

1912; Sainte Cécile, 1911; Sainte Charles, 1883; Sainte Claire

de Tétreauville, 1906; Sainte Clément, 1898; Sainte Clotilde,

1909; Sainte Cunégonde, 1874; Saint Denis, 1899; Saint Dominic,

December 23, 1912; Saint Edouard, 1896; Sainte Elizabeth du

Portugal, 1894; Sainte Etienne, 1912; Sainte Eusèbe de Verceil,

1897; Saint François d’Assise, Longue Pointe, 1770: Saint

Francois du Pari Lasalle, 1912; Saint Gabriel’s, 1875 (E.); Saint

Georges, June 27, 1908; Saint Hélène, 1902; Saint Henri, 1868;

Saint Jacques, 1866; Saint Jean Baptiste, 1874; Saint Jean

Baptiste de la Salle, 1913; Saint Jean Berchmans, April 24, 1908;

Saint Jean de la Croix, 1900; Saint Joseph, 1862; Saint Joseph de

Bordeaux, 1895, erected canonically, 1912; Saint Léon, Westmount,

1901 (E. and F.); Saint Louis de France, 1888; Saint Aloysius,

March 24, 1908 (E.); Sainte Madeleine d’Outremont, July 22, 1908;

Saint Marc, April 19, 1903; Saint Michael, May, 1902 (E.); Saint

Nicholas d’Ahuntsic; Saint Pascal Baylon, Cote des Neiges, 1910;

Saint Patrick’s, 1847 (E.); Saint Paul, 1874; Sainte Philomene

de Rosemont, 1905; Saint Pierre Apôtre, 1900; Saint Pierre aux

Liens, 1897; Saint Stanislaus de Kostka; Saint Thomas Aquinas,

June 18, 1908 (E.); Saint Viateur d’Outremont, 1902; Saint Victor

de la Terrace Vinet, 1912; Saint Vincent de Paul, 1867; Saint

Willibrod, June 6, 1913 (E.); Saint Zotique, 1909.

[Illustration: MGR. PAUL BRUCHESI Fourth bishop, second

archbishop of Montreal]

[Illustration: MGR. EDOUARD-CHARLES FABRE Third bishop, first

archbishop of Montreal, 1827-1896]

[Illustration: MGR. IGNACE BOURGET Second bishop of Montreal,

1799-1885]

[Illustration: MGR. JEAN-JACQUES LARTIQUE First bishop of

Montreal, 1777-1840]

In addition there are missions to Chinese (numbering 200),

Lithuanians (1,000), Poles (1,500), Ruthenians (5,000), Syrians

(3 rites), Pure Syrians, Syro-Maronites and Syro-Melchites

(1,000).

It would require a volume to give the history of all these

parishes or of their many beautiful churches, but we may

choose the following for historical reasons, viz.: the present

Cathedral of St. James, the seat of the Archbishop of Montreal;

the Church of St. James, the second parish and the site of the

first Cathedral; the Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes, as a type of

several of the non-parish chapels in the city; the Gésu and St.

Peter’s, as an example of public churches conducted by religious

priests; and, as the English-speaking Catholic community is

an entity of its own, St. Patrick’s church and others will be

treated as affording an opportunity of reviewing the religious

history of the Irish in the city.

ST. JAMES CATHEDRAL

The Cathedral, one of the largest temples on the continent, is

admirably situated on Dominion Square, and its location adds to

the majestic loftiness of its monumental cupola. It is one third

the size and an adapted replica of St. Peter’s, Rome. When Mgr.

Lartigue became Bishop of Telmesse (1821) with jurisdiction over

the Church in Montreal, his residence was at the Seminary of

St. Sulpice, and Notre Dame was to all intents and purposes the

cathedral church of Montreal. He realized the disadvantages of

the situation and took up his quarters at the Hôtel Dieu. Its

modest chapel became the temporary Cathedral. In 1825, the people

petitioned the Bishop to sanction the erection of a Cathedral and

a residence in keeping with his exalted dignity. Their request

was granted and a site chosen at the corner of St. Catherine and

St. Denis streets, where St. James church stands today. The new

Cathedral was dedicated by Bishop Lartigue, in 1825. His house

was a very plain building. An episcopal residence soon replaced

it, and was considered one of the finest structures in Montreal.

Unfortunately, in 1852, the fire which consumed a great part

of the City reduced the Cathedral and the residence to ashes.

Mgr. Bourget, his successor, lived at St. Joseph’s Home, and

the humble chapel of the Providence Asylum became the fourth

Cathedral. The present site was then chosen. A modest brick

chapel was erected by the side of the episcopal residence which

for over forty years has been the home of the Bishops of Montreal

and of their assistants in the administration of diocesan

affairs.

July 25th, 1857, a cross was planted to mark the site of the

future Cathedral. Mgr. Bourget, conceived the bold idea of

erecting a duplicate of St. Peter’s Rome, to symbolize the

union of the Church in Canada with the See of Peter, and he

instructed Victor Bourgeault, the architect, to prepare his

plans accordingly. The cornerstone was solemnly laid August 28,

1870. In 1878, the walls were raised to the height of thirty

feet. The columns to support the dome were built as high as

forty feet, and the other columns of the nave were elevated to

the same height. The front of the portico was completed as far

as the spandrel of the first arch, but the outer dome was left

unfinished. In 1885, Archbishop Fabre, his successor, resumed

operations which had been suspended for seven years. In 1894, the

Cathedral was opened for worship. In 1886, the dome was finished,

a noble adornment and a salient feature in the architecture of

Montreal. The cross, of gilded iron, is eighteen feet in length,

weighing sixteen hundred pounds, and was placed in position

during August of the same year. Over the portico are thirteen

bronze statues, donations of various parishes of the Diocese.

They are the statues of St. James, St. Joseph, St. Anthony of

Padua, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Vincent of Paul, St. John, St.

Paul, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Patrick, St. Charles Borromeo, St.

John the Baptist, St. Hyacinth and St. Ignatius. The interior

is very imposing, with its rich white and gold decorations. The

graceful lines of its arches, the symmetry of its pillars and the

simplicity of its appointments inspire a sense of due reverence

and devotion. Under the dome there is a faithful reproduction

of Bernini’s baldachino. It was made at Rome by Victor Vincent

and donated to the Cathedral by the Seminary of St. Sulpice. It

cost about twelve thousand dollars. The main altar is under the

baldachino. Like the chancel-rail it is of marble and onyx. At

the Gospel side set against one of the pillars supporting the

dome is the archiepiscopal throne finely sculptured and inlaid

with ivory. Several interesting paintings recalling historical

facts and events connected with the foundation and establishment

of Montreal adorn the arcades of the transepts and the lower

walls. With one exception they are from the brush of G. Delfosse,

a gifted artist of Montreal, and under each is an inscription

explaining the different subjects. “The First Mass in Montreal”

was painted by Laurent, a French painter, and was presented to

Archbishop Bruchesi by the Government of the French Republic.

The most interesting chapel is the “Papal Zouaves.” There is an

exquisite painting over the altar of “Our Saviour revealing to

Blessed Margaret Mary the treasures of His Sacred Heart.” The

names of the 507 Knights, who took part in the nineteenth century

crusade, are inscribed in letters of gold on four large marble

tablets. In the chapel are the Regiment’s military colors; a

painting of St. Gregory the Great, a gift of Pope Pius IX, to

the Union Allet; a silver statuette, a gift of General Charette;

a copy of “St. John the Baptist,” the original of which hangs

in the Zouaves headquarters at Rome; a silver vessel used as a

sanctuary lamp, a facsimile of the votive offering which the

Zouaves made to the Shrine of Notre Dame de Bonsecours.

At the north entrance is a fine bronze statue to the memory of

Bishop Bourget. Adjoining the vestry and communicating with it is

“The Bishop’s Palace,” a palace in name only. In the near future

this huge brick building will be replaced by an edifice worthy

the Diocese.

[Illustration: PRESENTATION OF PLANS OF ST. JAMES CATHEDRAL]

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF ST. JAMES CATHEDRAL]

[Illustration: ST. JAMES CATHEDRAL]

ST. JAMES

(St. Catherine and St. Denis Streets.)

In 1822-25 the first church of St. James (St. Jacques le Majeur)

was built by Mgr. Lartigue, who became the first bishop of

Montreal on January 21, 1821. He was a sulpician and lived until

1849. This church served as the Cathedral until 1852 when it was

destroyed by the terrible fire which consumed a great portion

of the City. Bishop Bourget, his successor, definitely left the

neighbourhood of St. James and took up his quarters on Mount

St. Joseph. In 1855, the Priests of the Seminary were placed in

charge of the parish. The church was scarcely built in 1857 when

it was destroyed by another fire. As the walls were uninjured

the damage was easily repaired, and, in 1860, the new church was

opened to the public. It is Gothic in style and the interior

consists of three naves. It has the form of an irregular cross.

The pulpit is a handsome design with its statues and turrets. In

the transept are four paintings, the work of E. Cabane, a French

artist: “Our Lady of the Rosary,” “The Education of the Virgin,”

“The Death of St. Joseph,” and “The Holy Family.” The steeple is

the bequest of the city and contains a very fine chime of bells.

The entrance on St. Catherine Street is a splendid piece of

architectural work and looks spacious in its framework of trees

and terraces.

When the parishes were created in 1866 to supplement the Parish

of Notre Dame, mother to the sole parish church, St. James became

the second parish church.

OUR LADY OF LOURDES

(St. Catherine Street)

Close by the Church of St. James is the chapel of Our Lady of

Lourdes dedicated to the Immaculate Virgin of Massabielle. It is

a charming specimen of Canadian religious art. It was built under

the supervision of the late Father Lenoir, with the generous

cooperation of the Seminary of St. Sulpice and the Catholics

of the City. The style of architecture is Byzantine and in art

it is of the Renaissance order. The gallery is divided by an

exquisitely beautiful rose-window. A nicely gilt statue of the

Blessed Virgin has been placed on the dome and the crown of

stars on its head is brilliantly lighted up at night by means

of an ingenious electrical device. The alternate layers of

white marble and grey stone give the front an attractive look.

The central dome, thirty-five feet in diameter and 120 feet in

height, looks down upon the nave and transept. There are two

chapels in the church. One is in the basement and is a good

reproduction of the Grotto of Lourdes, with an altar where Mass

may be celebrated. The upper chapel is very richly decorated. Mr.

N. Bourassa, the artist, has embodied in a series of beautiful

tableaux the arguments of Catholic belief in the dogma of the

Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Among the subjects

treated, there is a fine scroll above the high altar, at the

first arch, representing “The Annunciation;” there are also two

tableaux in the arcades at each side of the altar: “The Crowning

of the Virgin,” and “The Assumption;” the large compositions of

the transept: “The Adoration of the Magi” and “The Visit of

St. Elizabeth;” finally, “The Proclamation of the Dogma of the

Immaculate Conception,” which takes up the whole interior of the

dome.

Mass is celebrated and a sermon preached in this chapel every

Sunday of the academic year for the benefit of the students of

Laval University.

This chapel is the meeting place of four sodalities of men,

women, and young men and young women.

RELIGIOUS CHURCHES

THE GESU

The Gésu is the successor in order of time of the church built

in 1692 on the site of the present courthouse and city hall.

This was burned in 1803. The Jesuits had left the colony after

the capitulation and their property was held by the government,

but in 1842 they were invited to return by Mgr. Bourget and in

consequence there arrived soon the Fathers Pierre Chazelle, Felix

Martin, Remi Tellier, Paul Luiset, Joseph Hanipaux and Dominique

Duranquet. Several undertook the charge of the curé of La Prairie

and others were employed at the bishop’s house. In 1843 a

novitiate for future members was opened on July 31st in a little

house adjoining the church at La Prairie and on September 9th it

was transferred for five years to a house loaned by Lieut.-Col.

C.S. Rodier, who became mayor in 1858.

In 1845 a public meeting invited the Jesuits to build a residence

and college in the city and in 1846 the present lands on Bleury

Street were sold at a very liberal price by Mr. John Donegani.

But owing to the typhus epidemic intervening in 1847-48 the

building was delayed. In the meantime the Fathers worked in

the fever sheds for the suffering Irish with six fathers who

came from New York and afterwards founded with the Seminary the

first residence of St. Patricks, then situated at Nos. 57-59 St.

Alexander Street. In 1850 the first stone of their college of

Ste. Marie was laid and on July 31, 1851, the college, with its

public chapel attached, was blessed. In 1851 their noviceship

was transferred hither and on August 5, 1853, it was again

transplanted to its present position at Sault au Recollet,

outside the city.

In 1863, on October 22, M. Olivier Berthelet made a gift of an

arpent and a half (for which he had paid $20,000) for a church

to be built after the model of the Gésu in Rome. The work was

commenced in the following year.

The Gésu, as it became to be called, is one of the finest

specimens of its kind. It is 194 feet long, 96 feet wide, the

transept 144 feet, and the nave 95 feet high. The style of

architecture, Renaissance and Florentine, is fascinating and

gives the church an aspect of elegance and comfort. It is not

unlike the Gesu at Rome in its appointments. Its collection of

fine paintings and tableaux deserves a special mention. They

imitate or complete the plastic work of the sacred edifice. They

are, for the most part, copies of masterpieces of the modern

German School and are the work of Mr. Miller. Among its many rich

chapels, one in particular attracts the attention of the visitor,

on account of an old statue it possesses. It is under the gallery

to the right of the main altar and is known as the Chapel of

Our Lady of Liesse. A reliquary over the tabernacle contains

the ashes of the statue of Our Lady of Liesse, which was burned

during the French Revolution. Two large tableaux which are on

either side of the sanctuary represent St. Aloysius and St.

Stanislaus Kostka in the attitude of receiving Holy Communion,

the former from the hands of St. Charles Borromeo and the latter

from an Angel. There are two smaller paintings over the altars

of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph: “The Holy Family” and “The

Flight into Egypt.” These remarkable paintings are from the

studio of Cagliardi Bros., Rome.

ST. PETER’S

Montreal is the headquarters of several religious orders of men.

Besides the Jesuits there are numerous others who are devoted

either to the ministry or education, or to both. One of the first

communities to be invited were the Oblates of Mary Immaculate,

an order founded at Aix in Provence on January 25, 1816, by Mgr.

de Mazenod, bishop of Marseilles. In 1841 four Oblates reached

Montreal, Fathers Honorat (Superior), Telmont, Baudrand and

Lagier. Their settlement was first at St. Hilaire de Rouville,

then at Longueuil. In 1848 a provisory chapel in wood was built

in the Faubourg de Quebec (Quebec Suburbs). In 1851 the first

stone of the new church of St. Peter, on the same spot, on

Visitation Street, was laid. From this first home there went

forth the first missionaries of the modern Canadian Northwest.

To this order the Rev. Albert Lacombe, the northwest missionary,

became early attached.

St. Peter’s has three naves of equal height. The sanctuary is

lighted by large arched, stained-glass windows, which produce a

magnificent effect. The white marble altar is surmounted by a

turreted reredos and is shown to advantage by numberless electric

bulbs most ingeniously adapted. St. Peter’s is one of the best

proportioned churches of the City. The stained-glass windows of

the sanctuary and side aisles are most attractive. They are from

the factory of Champigneulle of Bar-le-Duc, France. The Sacred

Heart altar is a rare work of art with its handsome candlesticks

and its tabernacle door of gilded bronze.

ENGLISH CATHOLIC CHURCHES

ST. PATRICK’S

Especial notice should be given to the origin of the

English-speaking Catholics of the city. Although before 1800

a few Irish immigrants sought a home in the city, the history

proper of the Irish population of Montreal starts in 1817, when

a Sulpician, the Rev. Father Richards-Jackson, commonly known

as Rev. M. Richards, discovered a little band of worshipers

from the Emerald Isle, driven thence by poverty and privation,

gathering at Bonsecours church. A directory of 1819 only reveals

about thirty presumably Irish names.[2] In 1820 the number was

still so small that a visitor to Bonsecours Church stated that

“he could have covered with a good-sized parlour carpet all the

Irish Catholics worshipping there on Sundays.” Yet the number of

Irish orphans were so great that by 1823 the “Salle des Petites

Irlandaises” was opened in the Grey Nuns’ hospital and supported

by the Gentlemen of the Seminary. Soon the complement of forty

was reached. But by 1831, with the increase of immigration, the

old “Récollet” church on Notre Dame Street, being considerably

enlarged, was reopened for the use of the Irish Catholics of the

center and western portions of the city, those of the eastern

section still remaining attached to Notre Dame de Bonsecours.

The Rev. Patrick Phelan, afterwards bishop, was the first Irish

pastor. The Irish soldiers of the garrison met principally at the

new Notre Dame church opened in 1829. Soon the “Récollet” became

inadequate. On Sundays it was so overcrowded with devout Irish

that the overflow knelt in the rain or the sunshine on Notre Dame

Street or Dollard Lane. This was to be remedied by the steps

taken on May 20, 1843, to purchase land for a church to be named

St. Patrick’s, the present area of St. Patrick’s Church and the

St. Bridget’s Home being secured by the Fabrique of Notre Dame

from the Rocheblave family for £5,000. On the 26th of September

the cornerstones were blessed by Bishop Bourget. They were seven

in number and were laid by the following: First, by Bishop

Bourget; second, by the mayor; third, by the speaker of the

assembly; fourth, by the chief justice; fifth, by the president

of the Irish Temperance Association; sixth, by the president of

St. Patrick’s Society; seventh, by the president of the Hibernian

Benevolent Society.

On the 17th of March, St. Patrick’s Day, 1847, the church of St.

Patrick’s was dedicated. The first patron of St. Patrick’s was

the Rev. J.J. Connolly, who had succeeded Father Phelan at the

“Recollet” when the latter had been consecrated coadjutor bishop

of Kingston in 1843.

Father Connolly nobly served the typhus-stricken emigrants in

1847 for a period of six weeks or more, consigning to the silent

grave more than fifty adult persons a day. At this time Father

Richards and Father Morgan died martyrs of charity. In this

ministration, therefore, the Seminary called in the services of

five Jesuit Fathers who laboured at St. Patricks for some years

till the Seminary was able to provide its own members. The Rev.

J.J. Connolly left St. Patricks in 1860 for Boston, where he died

three years later, on the 16th of September, 1863, at the age

of forty-seven years. He was succeeded by Father Dowd, who had

been transferred with Rev. Father O’Brien, McCullough and others

for service here from Ireland about 1848 at the request of M.

Quiblier, superior of the Seminary.

In 1887, on the occasion of Father Dowd’s celebration of his

fiftieth year of priesthood, the occasion was taken by every

section of the community to testify its appreciation of his work

as the pastor of St. Patrick’s and as a good citizen.

He commenced the St. Patrick’s Orphan Asylum, opened in November,

1851. In 1863 he established St. Bridget’s Home for the Old and

Infirm and the Night Refuge for the Destitute, and in 1866-7

erected the building on Lagauchetière Street for a home and

refuge. In 1872 he established the St. Patrick’s School for Girls

on St. Alexander Street. In 1877 he organized the great Irish

Canadian pilgrimage to Rome.

[Illustration: FRANCISCAN CHURCH]

[Illustration: NOTRE DAME DE LOURDES CHURCH]

[Illustration: THE JESUITS CHURCH AND ST. MARY’S COLLEGE]

[Illustration: ST. PATRICK’S CHURCH]

[Illustration: ST. JACQUES CHURCH]

The position of St. Patrick’s as a national church for the Irish

was jeopardized in 1866, when the dismemberment of the ancient

parish of Notre Dame was proclaimed. St. Patrick’s would have

become in the new division a general district, one for use by

French-Canadians, but on the representations of Father Dowd to

the Holy See, the national privileges were confirmed to the

church. Each succeeding pastor of St. Patrick’s has done much to

the beautifying of this church, one of the purest specimens of

the Gothic style in Canada. Its outside dimensions are: Length,

233 feet; width, 105 feet; inside height from floor to ceiling,

85 feet. The steeple is 228 feet high. The work of renovation

of the interior of St. Patrick’s was carried out in 1893 under

the late Father Quinlivan, S.S. pastor. Under the present

pastor, the Rev. Gerald McShane, S.S., the parish has seen great

improvements, notably those at the Eucharistic Congress of 1910

when the grounds adjoining the church and partially occupied

hitherto by St. Bridget’s Orphanage were tastefully laid out

as a semi-public garden. At this same time there took place

the development of the chimes of St. Patrick’s. The following

reproduction of the inscriptions on the memorial tables placed in

the church tells its story:

AS A PERPETUAL MEMORIAL OF THE

XXI INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS,

AT MONTREAL, SEPT 7-11, A.D. 1910,

AND IN LASTING REMEMBRANCE OF THE SOLEMN CONGRESS MASS

AND THE PRESENCE OF THE CARDINAL LEGATE IN

SAINT PATRICK’S CHURCH, SEPT. 10, WAS ERECTED

A CHIME OF BELLS,

BLESSED WITH IMPOSING LITURGICAL RITES, MAY 15, 1910, BY THE

MOST REVEREND PAUL BRUCHESI,

ARCHBISHOP OF MONTREAL.

“Ring out, sweet chime, from Gothic tower!

“A people’s faith thy belfry knells;

“At Matins, Lauds, and Vesper Hour,

“Peal forth our joy, sweet Congress Bells.”

TO COMMEMORATE THE RESTORATION AND SOLEMN

DEDICATION OF THE HISTORIC BELL,

CHARLOTTE,

CAST IN WHITECHAPEL FOUNDRY, LONDON, ENGLAND,

A.D. 1774;

FIRST PLACED IN NOTRE DAME, AND PRESENTED TO

ST. PATRICK’S, A.D. 1840.

CHARLOTTE INJURED, WAS RE-CAST AT WHITECHAPEL, BLESSED WITH

THE HOLY NAME BELL IN THIS CHURCH, DEC. 13, 1908,

AND RESTORED TO THE TOWER.

“VOX POPULI, VOX DEI.”

THE HISTORIC BELL

“Charlotte,” Restored by the Parishioners.

Note E. 2,250 lbs.

FATHER QUINLIVAN’S BELL

“John, Martin, Thomas.”

From Mr. Martin Egan, in memory of his beloved Wife.

C. sharp. 812 lbs.

THE POPE’S BELL

“Pius, Edward, Vincent.”

Mr. C.F. Smith, donor.

F. sharp. 1,615 lbs.

THE ARCHBISHOPS BELL

“Paul, Gerald, James.”

Gift of Mrs. M.A. McCrory, in memory of her Daughter, May.

G. sharp. 1244 lbs.

THE HOLY NAME BELL

Blessed be His Holy Name.

From “The Holy Name Society.”

Note A. 1100 lbs.

FATHER DOWD’S BELL

“Patrick, Andrew, Cornelius.”

Gift of Mrs. M.P. Ryan.

Note B. 951 lbs.

THE SEMINARY BELL

“Charles, George, Frederick.”

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Ryan.

D. sharp. 705 lbs.

THE CONGRESS BELL

“Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.”

Mr. J.T. Davis, donor.

Note E. 674 lbs.

THE CHOIR BELL

“Cecilia, Margaret, Mary.”

Presented by the Choir.

F. sharp. 582 lbs.

THE CHILDREN’S BELL

“Aloysius, Francis, De La Salle.”

Presented by the Children.

G. sharp. 516 lbs.

In further commemoration of the Eucharistic Congress the Congress

hall was added in 1914 and the blessing and laying of the

foundation stone took place on Sunday, October 18th, of this year.

The interior of the church is most imposing with its beautiful

Gothic arches and the wealth of its appointments and decorations.

The walls are finished in imitation Venetian mosaic, after

the style of St. Mary’s, Venice; the sanctuary pillars are

imitations of Numidian marble, while those of the nave are

delicately colored like Sienna marble; the coloring of the

high altar resembles the tints of old ivory. The Celtic Cross

predominates in the decorations of the arches and walls. There

are some fine paintings in the sanctuary and on the side walls.

“The Annunciation” and the “Death of St. Joseph” are very fine.

Under St. Joseph’s altar is a life-sized figure of the Apostle

of Ireland, attired in the pontifical vestments of the sixth

century. The paintings of the Way of the Cross are works of art.

The stained-glass windows are admirable. A series of painted

panels ornaments the upper part of the wainscoting. The oak

confessionals and pews are pretty in design. The harmonious

combination is pleasing to the eye and gives the interior a

picturesqueness of original conception.

ST. ANN’S

St. Ann’s Parish, the fifth in point of age and the second Irish

parish of Montreal, was founded by the Sulpician Fathers. In

early days, mass was celebrated in a brick house which is still

standing and used as a tenement on the corner of Ottawa and

Murray streets. The present church was commenced in 1851, the

blessing and laying of the foundation stone being on August 3d

and the opening on December 8, 1854. The Redemptorist Fathers

took charge in 1884. The church which was found too small for the

congregation was lengthened thirty-two feet and a tower added to

the extension. In the tower is a fine chime of bells. Besides

parochial work, the Fathers give missions throughout Canada and

the United States. The origin of the name of St. Ann’s dates back

to 1698, when Pierre Le Ber, brother of the recluse, built a

chapel at Point St. Charles to St. Anne. The first mass was said

on November 12, 1698.

The ruins of the chapel were still to be seen in 1823.

The subsequent English-speaking Catholic churches that followed

St. Patrick’s were founded in the following order:

1854, St. Ann’s, 32 Basin Street, served by the Redemptorist

Fathers since 1884; 1875, St. Gabriel’s; 1884, St. Anthony’s;

1889, St. Mary (Our Lady of Good Counsel); 1902, St. Michael’s;

1903, St. Agnes’; 1908, St. Aloysius’; 1908, St. Thomas Aquinas’;

1912, St. Dominic’s; 1913, St. Willibrod’s.

NOTE

RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES

Besides the Diocesan clergy composed of “Secular” priests, an

essential feature of Catholicism in Montreal is the number of

“Religious” orders or “Congregations” of men and women, Montreal

being in many cases, especially of women organizations, the

scene of the foundation and mother-house of numerous branch

establishments in various parts of the American continent.

The following lists will, therefore, be of value. The names are

those only of houses in Montreal or immediately close at hand:

COMMUNITIES OF MEN

Sulpician Fathers (1657): Notre Dame, St. James Church, Grand

Seminary, Seminary of Philosophy, Petit Séminaire, St. Jean

l’Evangeliste’s School (Montreal), Lac des Deux Montagnes.

Oblate Fathers: (1848) St. Peter’s Church (Novitiate at Lachine).

Jesuit Fathers (1642 and 1842): Immaculate Conception, N.D. du

Mont Carmel Church, Immaculate Conception, The Gésu, Ste. Mary

and Loyola College (Montreal, Caughnawaga, Sault-au-Recollet).

Redemptorist Fathers (Belgian Province), took charge of St. Ann’s

in 1884: House and Novitiate, St. Ann’s, St. Alphonse de Ligouri,

d’Youville, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Churches (Montreal).

Clerics of St. Viateur (Outremont, Montreal): Academy St. John

the Baptist, Scholasticate Sacristy of Church (Montreal), Chapel,

Parochial School (Bordeaux), Provincial House, Juvenate, Church,

Parochial School (Outremont), Catholic Institute for Deaf Mutes,

Parochial School, Patronage of St. Francis de Sales, Patronage

of St. George, St. Jean de la Croix (Montreal, Boucherville, St.

Eustache, St. Lambert’s, St. Remi, Sault-au-Recollet, Terrebonne).

Congregation of The Holy Cross, founded from Notre Dame, Indiana,

U.S. A., came to Montreal in 1897: Scholasticate and Notre Dame

des Neiges College, Hochelaga Parish, St. Joseph’s Commercial

College (Hochelaga, Pointe Claire, St. Genevieve, St. Laurent).

Company of Mary (Montreal).

Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, originally at Rome, called

to Montreal in 1890: (Montreal, Terrebonne.)

Franciscan Fathers (1692 and 1890): St. Joseph’s Convent, Parc

Lasalle residence, Church on Dorchester Street West.

Dominican Fathers (new quarters at St. Hyacinthe, P.Q.): Notre

Dame de Grace.

Fathers of St. Vincent de Paul (Tournai, Belgium): St. Georgés.

Brothers of the Christian Schools, came to Montreal in 1837:

Motherhouse and School, Maisonneuve, Pensionnat Mt. St. Louis,

Archbishop’s Academy, Ste. Ann’s School, St. Bridget’s School,

St. Gabriel’s School, St. James’ School, St. Joseph’s School, St.

Laurent’s School, St. Patrick’s School, St. Henri des Tanneries,

St. Leon (Westmount), Salaberry and Sacred Heart Schools

(Lachine, Longueuil, St. Cunégonde, St. Jerome), St. Paul’s

College (Varennes, Viauville, Oka).

Brothers of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, called to Montreal in

1865: (Montreal, Longue Pointe).

Brothers of the Sacred Heart: St. Eusèbe, Notre Dame de Grace

(Verdun, Pointe-aux-Trembles).

Marist Brothers, from Iberville, P.Q.: St. Peter’s School, St.

Michael’s School, St. Vincent de Paul.

Brothers of the Christian Instruction, La Prairie, P.Q.: St.

Edward’s College, St. Elizabeth du Portugal School, St. Mary’s,

St. Gregory’s, St. Stanislaus Schools (Chambly, La Trappe,

Napierville, St. Scholastique, St. Anne de Bellevue, Vercheres),

Coté St. Paul, St. John College.

Brothers of St. Gabriel: College and Patronage St. Vincent

de Paul and School, St. Hélène, St. Claire de Tetreaultville

Schools, St. Arsène’s School and Orphanage (La Assomption, St.

Martin, Ste. Rose, St. Therese).

Brothers of the Presentation: (1910) High School, Durocher

Street, for boys; St. Gabriel’s, school for boys.

COMMUNITIES OF WOMEN

Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame, founded by Marguerite

Bourgeoys: Mother House, School of Higher Education for women,

affiliated with Laval University, Villa-Maria, Pensionnats, Mt.

St. Mary and St. Catherine’s Pensionnats, Visitation School, Ste.

Ann’s School, St. Agnes’ School, St. Denis’ School, St. Anthony’s

School, St. Hélène’s School, St. Joseph’s School, St. Stanislaus

School, Notre Dame des Anges School, Notre Dame du Perpetuel

Secours School, Notre Dame de Bonsecours School, Bourgeoys’

School, St. Leo’s School, St. Urbain’s School, Notre Dame du Bon

Conseil School, St. Laurent’s School, St. Anthony’s School, St.

Eusèbe School, St. Patrick’s School, St. Louis’ School, Jeanne

Le Ber School, St. Alphonsus’ School, St. Claire de Tetreauville

School, St. Vincent de Paul’s School, Our Lady of the Seven

Dolors (Verdun), St. Ann’s Schools.

Hospital Nuns of St. Joseph, founded for Montreal by M. de la

Dauversière and erected as a community in 1659. Hôtel Dieu first

administrated by Jeanne Mance (1642).

Grey Nuns Hospital Général, founded in Montreal by Madame

d’Youville in 1747: St. Patrick’s Asylum, St. Joseph’s Hospice,

St. Bridget’s Home, Nazareth Asylum, Bethlehem Asylum, Notre

Dame Hospital, Patronage d’Youville, Catholic Orphanage, St.

Paul’s Hospital, St. Cunégonde Asylum, Hospice St. Antoine.

Religious of the Sacred Heart came to Montreal in 1842: St.

Alexandra Street 1860, Secondary Education (School).

Sisters of Charity of Providence, founded in Montreal by Madame

Gamelin: Mother House, Gamelin Asylum, Providence Asylum.

Institution for Deaf Mutes, St. Alexis Orphan Asylum, St.

Vincent de Paul Asylum, Hospital des Incurables, Providence Ste.

Geneviève, Hospice Auclair, Hospice Bourget, Holy Child Jesus.

Sisters of the Most Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, founded at

Longueuil in 1844 by Eulalie Durocher (Sister Marie Rose): Mother

House, Pensionnat, Academy Marie-Rose, Academy of the Most Holy

Names, Hochelaga Parish School, St. Clement School (Viauville).

Sisters of Notre Dame of Charity of the Good Shepherd, came to

Montreal in 1841: Provincial Monastery, Ste. Marie Asylum, St.

Louis de Gonzaga Academy.

Sisters of the Holy Cross and of the Seven Dolours, came in 1847:

Mother House, Novitiate, Academy and School, St. Laurent School,

St. Bridget’s School, St. Gabriel’s School, St. Denis’ School.

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary (Villeray): St. Edouard’s School, St.

Paschal’s School, St. Ignatius and St. Basil’s Academies.

Sisters of Miséricorde, founded in Montreal by Madame Jetté in

1845: Mother House, Hospital and Foundling Asylum, Maternity

Hospital.

Sisters of Ste. Anne, founded at Vaudreuil, 1850, by Esther

Sureau dit Blondin: St. Arsène School, Ste. Cunégonde School, St.

George School, St. Henry School, St. Jean de la Croix School, St.

Michael School, Ste. Elizabeth of Portugal School, Holy Child

Jesus School, St. Pierre aux Liens School, Three other Academies.

Sisters of the Precious Blood (Contemplative order), founded at

St. Hyacinthe in 1861, came to Montreal district in 1874: Notre

Dame de Grâce.

Carmelite Sisters: (Contemplative) established at Hochelaga in

1875.

Daughters of Wisdom: (Founded at La Vendèe), came to Montreal in

1910.

Little Sisters of the Poor (care of poor), came to Montreal in

1887.

Little Daughters of St. Joseph, founded in Montreal in 1857 by

the Rev. M. Antoine Mercier.

Little Sisters of the Holy Family, founded at Sherbrooke: Notre

Dame des Neiges (1877), Notre Dame College, St. Peter’s Church,

St. John the Evangelist School, Archevêché de Montréal.

Soeurs de L’Espérance (Nursery Sisters), came to Montreal in

1901: Rue Sherbrooke.

Sisters of Immaculate Conception, erected in 1904 as an order by

Mgr. Bruchesi: Montreal (Outremont).

Sociéte de Marie Réparatrue, came to Montreal in 1911.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] These marked E have English-speaking congregations. The rest

have French.

[2] The names, however, of the students at the College de

Montreal show many unmistakable Irish names. See the note in the

chapter dealing with the history of Laval University.

CHAPTER XXV

OTHER RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS

ANGLICANISM--EARLY BEGINNINGS--FIRST “CHRIST CHURCH”--THE BISHOPS

OF MONTREAL--HISTORY OF EARLY ANGLICAN CHURCHES.

PRESBYTERIANISM--ST. GABRIEL’S STREET CHURCH--ITS OFFSHOOTS--THE

FREE KIRK MOVEMENT--THE CHURCH OF TODAY.

METHODISM--FIRST CHAPEL ON ST. SULPICE, 1809--THE DEVELOPMENT OF

METHODIST CHURCHES.

THE BAPTISTS--FIRST CHAPEL OF ST. HELEN STREET--FURTHER GROWTH

AND DEVELOPMENT--PRESENT CHURCHES.

CONGREGATIONALISM--CANADA EDUCATION AND HOME MISSIONARY

SOCIETY--FIRST CHURCH ON ST. MAURICE STREET--CHURCHES OF TODAY.

UNITARIANISM--FIRST SERMON IN CANADA, 1832--ST. JOSEPH STREET

CHAPEL--THE CHURCHES OF THE MESSIAH.

HEBREWS--SHEARITH ISRAEL--SHAAC HASHOMOYIM AND OTHER

CONGREGATIONS.

SALVATION ARMY--ITS GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.

OTHER DENOMINATIONS.

A RELIGIOUS CENSUS OF MONTREAL FOR 1911.

ANGLICANISM

Some notes written about 1790 on the “state of religion”

(Canadian Archives, Series Q, Volume XLX, page 343) help us to

see the beginnings of the Anglican church in Montreal. This

document appears to be issued by the “Society for Propagating

the Gospel” on England. After the peace of 1762 it was thought

advisable by the English government to send some French

Protestant clergymen who could minister to French Protestants,

whose number were greatly exaggerated. Accordingly, while M. de

Montmolten was sent to Quebec and M. Veyssiere to Three Rivers,

M. De Lisle came to Montreal. There was, of course, no church as

the account proceeds to say:

“The minister at Montreal (who is also chaplain for the garrison)

when he does officiate it is in the chapel of the Recollects

Convent on Sunday mornings only and on Christmas day and Good

Friday.” Again, “there is not a single Protestant church in the

whole province. The greater part of the inhabitants of Montreal

are Presbyterians of the church of Scotland. These being weary of

attending a minister (M. de Lisle) whom they did not understand

and for other reasons, have established a Presbyterian minister

and subscribed liberally to his support. His name is Bethune and

he was late chaplain of the Eighty-fourth Regiment, and while Mr.

Stuart assisted Mr. de Lisle (which he did for a short time) he

used constantly to attend the service of our church.”

Even on the arrival of the first Protestant bishop for the

country, Doctor Mountain, who was made Bishop of Quebec about

1793, there were but nine Protestant clergymen in Canada. In the

first years the duty was performed by the military and naval

chaplains. In 1766 the Rev. D.C. De Lisle, a Swiss Protestant,

was appointed rector of Montreal; hitherto, as said, he had acted

as chaplain for the regiment. A minister was appointed for Three

Rivers in 1768 and one for Sorel in 1783. In 1784 the Loyalists,

establishing themselves in the north of the St. Lawrence and

founding the Modern Ontario, chaplains were appointed for New

Oswegatchie (Prescott), New Johnstone (Cornwall), and Kingston

(Cataraqui).

The first Episcopal visitation of an Anglican prelate took place

in Canada in 1787, Dr. Inglis, the first bishop of Nova Scotia,

and then the only bishop in Canada, being appointed on August

12, 1787. He arrived at Quebec on June 11th. After a fortnight’s

visitation he ascended the river, visiting Three Rivers, Sorel

and Montreal. At Montreal he found that a part of the Récollect

Church was kindly loaned at certain hours for the Protestant

services. The city Protestants urged the Bishop to obtain

permission from the government for the Jesuits church, now in its

hands, the order being suppressed and the church falling into

disrepair. The Governor, Lord Dorchester, agreed to place the

building in good repair, but the interior of the pews were to be

fitted up by the congregation. He proposed that the church be

called Christ Church. We may call this the establishment of the

Church of England in Montreal.

Christ Church was opened for service on December 20, 1789, when

the sermon was preached by Mr. De Lisle. Mr. De Lisle died

in 1794, being succeeded by the Rev. James Tunstall, who was

followed in 1801 by the Reverend Dr. Mountain, brother of the

Rev. Jacob Mountain, who had been appointed in 1793 to the new

Anglican see of Quebec. In June, 1803, the church was destroyed

by fire. A building committee was appointed, consisting of Doctor

Mountain, the Hon. James McGill, George Ogden and the Messrs.

Ross, Gray, Frobisher and Sewell. The site of the old French

prison (about where No. 23 Notre Dame Street, West, now stands)

was granted by the government. The cornerstone was laid in 1805.

Meanwhile the Scotch Presbyterian Church of St. Gabriel’s, which

had been erected since 1792, was loaned for services. On the 9th

of October, 1814, after much delay, the new Christ Church was

opened and dedicated. Doctor Mountain died in 1816 and the Rev.

John Leeds succeeded. On his resignation in 1818 the Rev. John

Bethune was presented by the king as rector under letters patent,

which created a rectory and defined the limits of the parish.

Thus Christ Church became the Anglican Mother Church of the city.

In 1850 Montreal was made a diocesan see and the Rev. Francis

Fulford was appointed by letters patent the first bishop, and

Christ Church was named his cathedral. These two seats of letters

patent were the beginning of a long dispute as to the limitations

of authority within the cathedral. Bishop Fulford was enthroned

in Christ Church on September 15th of that year. In 1853 Doctor

Bethune became the first dean of Montreal. In 1856, on the night

of December 10th, the first cathedral was totally destroyed by

fire; the tablets to the memory of the Hon. John Richardson,

now in the east transept of the present edifice, and the copy

of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, now hung on the south wall,

being among the few objects saved. A new building committee,

of which the Hon. George Moffatt and Chief Justice McCord were

leading members, then set to work. The present site of the

cathedral was chosen, in spite of those who thought it was too

far from the city, and in 1859, on November 27th, the beautiful

Gothic cathedral, one of the most handsome of its kind on the

continent, was opened for worship. In the interval, Gosford

Street church was appropriated for worship under the name of

St. John’s Chapel. In 1867 the Cathedral was consecrated by the

Metropolitan Bishop Fulford. The rectory house was completed in

1877. In 1901 the cathedral act was promoted defining the rights

of the rector, the bishop, the archbishop and the primate within

the cathedral, and the duties of the cathedral chapter. The

following is a list of the rectors of Christ Church and Christ

Church Cathedral: 1789, Rev. D.C. De Lisle; 1791, Rev. James

Tunstall; 1801, Rev. Dr. Mountain; 1815, Rev. John Leeds; 1818,

Rev. John Bethune, afterwards dean; 1872, Rev. Maurice Baldwin,

afterwards dean of Montreal and subsequently bishop of Huron;

1884, Rev. J.G. Norton, subsequently archdeacon of Montreal;

vicars in charge of the parish, 1902, Rev. F.J. Steen; 1903, Rev.

Herbert Symonds.

The Anglican Bishopric of Montreal has its origin as follows:

In 1787 His Majesty, George III, had created Nova Scotia into

an Episcopal see, the bishop of the diocese being also granted

jurisdiction, spiritual and ecclesiastical, over the province of

Quebec as it then existed. In 1793 the bishopric of Quebec was

created and curtailed the jurisdiction of Nova Scotia. The first

bishop was the Rev. Dr. Jacob Mountain who was succeeded on his

death, in 1826, by Bishop Stewart, a younger son of the Earl

of Galloway, and when he died, in 1837, Dr. George Jehoshaphat

Mountain took charge of the extensive diocese. Dr. G.J. Mountain

had been appointed to assist the bishop of Quebec under the title

of Bishop of Montreal, but he had no separate jurisdiction nor

was any see erected at Montreal. This was divided in 1839 by the

creation of a diocese of Toronto, in 1845 by that of Fredericton

and by that of Montreal in 1850. The bishops of the diocese of

Montreal from this date are: Francis Fulford, September 15, 1850,

to September 9, 1868; Ashton Oxenden, August 31, 1869, to May 7,

1878; William Bennett Bond, January 25, 1879, to October 9, 1906;

James Carmichael, November 4, 1906, to September 21, 1908; John

Farthing, consecrated January 6, 1909.

Of the earliest Anglican churches of the city, the Gosford

Street Church, now no longer existent, served as a temporary

place of worship for the Christ Church Cathedral congregation

between 1856 and 1859 after the fire on Notre Dame Street and

saw many vicissitudes. It was purchased by Trinity Church

Congregation in 1860 and used for worship till 1865. It then

afterwards became the Dominion Theatre. Here Miss Emma Lajeunes

of Chambly, afterwards famous as Madame Albani, made a debut

as a plain piano player, for as yet she had not discovered the

powers of her beautiful voice. In 1871 it was changed to “Debars

Opera.” The Cercle Jacques Cartier, a dramatic organization of

French-Canadian amateurs, who were the pioneers of the French

theatre in America, presented a number of plays there. In

1889, the building passed into the hands of Mgr. Bourget, who

placed the property at the disposition of the Union Allet, an

organization of Canadian Zouaves, who had fought for the temporal

power of Pius IX. It then became a vinegar factory, and when

demolished was a carriage depot, and the site has now become, in

1914, that of the City Hall Annex.

The original Trinity Church was built in 1840 on St. Paul Street,

immediately opposite the center of Bonsecours Market, at the

personal expense of Major William Plenderleath Christie, a son

of General Christie of the “Royal Americans,” subsequently

designated the Sixtieth Rifles. It was built on a lot 75 feet 6

inches, more or less, in front, by 174 feet, more or less, in

depth. This church and its successor are proud of the military

associations surrounding it. The edifice is described as an

elegant structure, built in the Gothic style, 75 feet long by

44 wide. The first incumbent of the church was the Rev. Mark

Willoughby. In 1860 the congregation of Trinity purchased the

Gosford Street Church, lately used by the Congregation of Christ

Church, under the title of St. John’s Chapel, and worshipped

there for five years. The old building on St. Paul Street

was torn down and the lot sold. In 1864 the Trinity Church

congregation secured the present site of the church at the

northwest corner of Viger Square and St. Denis Street. The corner

stone was laid on Thursday, June 23, 1864, by the Lord Bishop

Metropolitan, Bishop Fulford. It was opened for public worship

September 17, 1865. It was consecrated on January 13, 1908, by

Bishop Farthing, being his first official act.

The predecessor of St. George’s Church was opened as a

proprietary chapel on St. Joseph Street on June 30, 1843, with

St. George’s Society present in force. The present St. George’s

Church was built in 1870 at the corner of the streets then named

St. François de Sales and St. Janvier (now facing Dominion

Square). It was opened on October 9th of the same year.

St. Stephen’s Church on Dalhousie Street, Griffintown, was

consumed by the great fire of 1850. St. Luke’s Church, at the

corner of Champlain Street and Dorchester Street, East, was

opened in 1854 and enlarged in 1864. The church of St. James,

the Apostle, had its foundation stone laid on July 4, 1853. Its

congregation was formed partly of that originally belonging to

St. Stephen’s church. St. John, the Evangelist, on Ontario and

St. Urbain streets, was built in 1860 and opened in 1861. St.

Thomas Church, corner of Sherbrooke, East, and Delorme Avenue,

succeeded the former church of the same name on Notre Dame and

was conducted by a clergyman of the Countess of Huntingdon’s

Connexion, but opened for the regular Anglican clergy in 1866.

St. Mary’s Church (Hochelaga) dates from 1828, when a stone

church was erected on Marlborough Street on a lot presented by a

farmer to the Rev. John Bethune, then rector of Christ Church.

Shortly after 1851 the church was closed, but was reopened in

1861. In 1889 it was torn down and in 1891 the present church on

the corner of Préfontaine and Rouville streets was built. In the

meantime the congregation worshipped in a building at 321 Notre

Dame Street.

Other Anglican churches are: St. Stephen’s Church, Weredale

Park; St. Edward’s Church, corner of St. Paul and the Haymarket;

St. Martin’s Church, corner of St. Urbain and Prince Arthur

streets; St. Jude’s Church, corner of Coursol and Vinet streets;

All Saints Church, corner of St. Denis and Marie Anne streets,

East; St. Simon’s Church, corner of Courcelles Street and Notre

Dame Street. West: Eglise du Rédempteur, corner Sherbrooke and

Cartier streets; Grace Church, 715 Wellington Street; Church

of the Advent, corner of Wood Avenue and Western Avenue,

Westmount; Church of the Redeemer; St. Clement’s Belcher

Memorial Church, Gordon Avenue and Wellington Street, Verdun;

the Bishop Carmichael Memorial Church, corner of St. Zotique and

Chateaubriand streets; Church of the Good Shepherd, corner of

Claremont and Sherbrooke Street; St. Cyprian’s Church, corner Pie

IX Avenue and Adam Street, Maisonneauve; St. Augustine’s Church,

corner of Dandereau Street and Fourth Avenue, Westmount; St.

Margaret’s Church, Longue Pointe Ward.

[Illustration: CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL]

[Illustration: ST. ANDREWS CHURCH]

[Illustration: SPANISH AND PORTUGESE JEWISH SYNAGOGUE]

[Illustration: OLIVET BAPTIST CHURCH]

The Anglican Missions are as follows: St. Thomas Mission, held in

Delorme schoolroom; St. Cuthbert’s Mission, corner of Beaumont

and King Edward Boulevard; St. Hilda’s Mission, Marquette Street;

St. Aidan’s Mission, Hamilton Avenue.

PRESBYTERIANS

Presbyterianism, according to the Rev. Dr. Robert Campbell,

in his history of St. Gabriel’s Street Church, started in

Montreal in a room in St. Lawrence Suburbs on March 12, 1786,

when the meeting for the organization of the first Presbyterian

congregation took place. Most of those present were Scotch

soldiers of the old Seventy-Eighth, or Fraser Highlanders, who

had fought the campaign leading to the conquest of Canada at the

capitulation of Montreal in 1760. After the peace of 1763 a large

proportion of the Highlanders elected to stay in the country,

many settling round Montreal and its district. When the North

West Company was organized these men were of the same metal as

that adventurous Gaelic band, and of the men now gathered, some

“as youths had been actually engaged in the fight at Culloden

in 1745, while several were the children or the descendants of

those brave men who had stood on the side of ‘Prince Charlie’

on that fated field.” The organizer was the Rev. John Bethune,

an ex-chaplain of the Eighty-Fourth Regiment who, however, left

Montreal in 1787. His son, the Rev. John Bethune, an Anglican,

became afterwards famous as the first principal of McGill

University, from 1835 to 1852.

From May, 1787, till 1790 there exists no records of services

held according to Presbyterian forms. They seem as said to have

followed those of the “Rector of the Parish of Montreal and

Chaplain of the Garrison,” the Rev. David Chatbrand De Lisle,

a Swiss who spoke English indifferently. The first regular

Presbyterian minister was the Rev. John Young, from Schenectady,

who was a stormy petrel, but he did good work for eleven years at

Montreal. It was he who organized the erection of St. Gabriel’s

Street Church, the first regular Protestant Church in Old

Canada, prior to 1867, for that chapel erected at Berthier six

years earlier by James Cuthbert, seigneur of Berthier, a Scotch

Presbyterian, is claimed to have been only in the nature of a

private domestic chapel attached to his seigneurial manor. In the

interval between 1786 and 1792, occasional services were held in

the government property known as the old Jesuit Church, which was

also being shared by the Anglicans prior to the erection of the

first Christ Church.

The land was bought on St. Gabriel Street on April 2, 1792.

Until the church was built the Récollet Fathers allowed the

use of their church to the “Society of Presbyterians,” also

for occasional services. The fathers refused any remuneration,

but were induced to accept a present of two hogsheads of

Spanish wine, containing sixty-odd gallons, each, and a box of

candles, amounting in all to £14-2-4. The “Scotch Church,” “the

Protestant Presbyterian Church” or “the Presbyterian Church of

Montreal,” as it was variously called at the time, was built in

1792, Messrs. Telfer and McIntosh executing the mason work and

Mr. Joseph Perrault the carpentry work.

The Rev. Mr. Young’s committee were elected on May 8, 1791, to

arrange the “temporals” of the congregation, and were mostly good

Scotch traders, viz.: Messrs. Richard Dobie, Alex. Henry, Adam

Scott, William Stewart, Alex. Fisher, John Lilly, William Hunter,

Duncan Fisher, William England, Alex. Hannah, Peter McFarlane,

George Kay, John Robb, Thomas Baker, John Empey, John Russell. Of

these nine were to be sufficient to form a quorum.

The list of subscribers to the church building fund reveals the

names of most of the principal merchants at this time, as well as

those of the “Gentlemen of the North West,” so that St. Gabriel’s

was a weighty congregation. But although Protestants, the

worshippers were not all Scotch or Presbyterians. Doctor Campbell

points out John Gregory, Joseph Frobisher, Benaiah Gibb, Thomas

Baker, John Molson, James Woolrich, J.A. Gray, Thomas Busby, R.

Brooks and John Gray, as Englishmen; Sir John Johnson, Andrew

Todd, Thomas Sullivan, Isaac Todd and John Neagles, Irishmen;

John J. Deihl and Andrew Winclefoss, Germans; J.H. Germain and

François Deslard, Frenchmen; Hannah Empey and Peter Pangman, New

England Loyalists, the others being Scots either by birth or

descent, some Highlanders, others Lowlanders.

A portion separated from the Mother Church and formed a

congregation for themselves on St. Peter Street in 1804, building

a church in 1807 opposite to St. Sacrament Street. This was

continued by St. Andrew’s (Beaver Hall Hill) Church, opened in

1851. It was then thought to be a long way from the city. It was

burnt down in 1869, but was shortly afterwards restored to the

original plan.

The next off-shoot from St. Gabriel’s was the predecessor of the

present church of St. Paul, erected in 1834 in St. Helen Street,

at the corner of Récollet Street, which in 1867 was sold and

taken down, and a new church built on the corner of Dorchester

Street and St. Geneviève Street. During the interval the

congregation worshipped in the Belmont Street Normal School below.

The above scissions had been merely local and physical. But the

greatest crisis in the history of the old church of St. Gabriel

was caused by the great constitutional Free Church controversy,

being agitatedly carried on in the parent church of Scotland

and necessarily duplicated in the loyal colonial presbytery of

Montreal. So that from 1830 bitter and personal rancours cleft

the community.

The crisis was brought about by the Rev. Henry Esson, of St.

Gabriel’s Street Church, who seceded about 1844 from the Synod

of Canada in connection with the church of Scotland. The

members who desired to remain with St. Gabriel’s still clave

to the old ways and claimed the Church property, but did not

gain possession of it till 1864, but those who followed the

Rev. Henry Esson, being the majority--claimed and occupied the

temporals on the ground that St. Gabriel’s had never been held

in connection with the Established Church of Scotland. But this

contention finally failed, for in 1864 St. Gabriel’s reverted to

the Church of Scotland on the decision of Government. At this

time of the scission of 1843-4 the “Free Church Committee,”

which had been formed in the city from different Presbyterian

churches, consisted of John Redpath, chairman: James R. Orr,

David and Archibald Ferguson, A. McGown, James Morrison, William

Hutchison, Alexander Fraser, Donald Fraser, Evander McIvor,

William Bethune and William McIntosh. The object was to form a

church in connection with the Free Church of Scotland.

Writing in 1893, Mr. John Sterling, an adherent of the Free Kirk

movement, speaks of the memorable conflict in the Established

Church of Scotland, or the non-intrusion question and its

relation to the movement in Montreal which resulted in the Coté

Street Free Church.

This conflict lasted for about ten years, and culminated in the

disruption of the church, on the 18th day of May, 1843, when 474

of its ministers and missionaries, for conscience sake, severed

their connection with it, and constituted themselves into a body

called the “Free Church of Scotland,” giving up their churches,

their manses, their livings, and risking every worldly prospect,

going forth with their wives and families, not knowing what might

befall them, but with a clear conscience, trusting in God for the

future, whatever it might be--one of the noblest sacrifices for

principle that the world has ever seen.

During all the time of the conflict, many of the members of

the Presbyterian churches of this city, in connection with the

Established Church of Scotland, strongly sympathized with the

non-intrusion movement, and on the disruption taking place,

considered it their duty to manifest their sympathy with the

Free Church principles. At that time (1843-44) there were five

Presbyterian Churches in this city, viz.: St. Gabriel’s Street

Church, St. Andrew’s Church, St. Paul’s Church, Lagauchetiere

Street Church, and the American Presbyterian Church, the first

three of which were in connection with the Established Church of

Scotland. The first concerted movement in this direction took

place on the 10th day of January, 1844, when twelve ardent and

good men, who might well be called the twelve apostles of the

Free Church in Canada, met together and called themselves the

Free Church Committee, others joining them afterwards, their

object being to extend and propagate Free Church principles. The

ultimate result of the work of this committee was that in May,

1845, a new Presbyterian congregation was formed in Montreal,

which worshipped for a time in a wooden building on Lagauchetiere

Street, near the head of Cote Street, which had been hastily

and cheaply erected, being only intended to accommodate the

congregation temporarily, until the projected new church to be

built on Cote Street should be ready for occupation.

At this time (1845) this locality was most respectable and quite

uptown, and the new church which was proposed to be erected

there, turned out to be the largest and finest Presbyterian

church building of its day in the city. It was opened for public

worship on Sabbath, the 16th day of May, 1848, and the name

chosen for it was the “Free Church, Coté Street.”

The population of the city had increased threefold, and the

character of the locality by 1877 had entirely changed. The

Protestant part of the population had mostly removed westwards to

an inconvenient distance from the church, and the remnant were

gradually moving away in the same direction, and the consequent

dropping off of families and members, who were joining churches

much more convenient to their dwellings, made the absolute

necessity of the removing the church building westwards, quite

apparent.

Consequently it was then decided to build uptown and the Crescent

Street Presbyterian Church was commenced early in the fall of

1876, the corner-stone being laid on May 5, 1877, and the church

being opened for service on March 10, 1878.

Beside the Coté Street secession from St. Gabriel’s which is

now continued by the Crescent Street Church, the Knox Church

organization is now to be described: The free church movement in

Canada ended in a secession, not a disruption. Accordingly after

the dispute relating to the temporals of St. Gabriel’s Street

Church the seceding body in 1864 agreed to retire and formed

the session of Knox church. This held its last meeting in St.

Gabriel’s Street Church on July 31, 1865, and the last meeting of

the Knox congregation for worship there was on October 31, 1865.

The Knox Church at the corner of Mansfield and Dorchester Street

was opened for divine service December 3, 1865. According to the

Reverend Doctor Campbell this church represents _de facto_, but

not _de jure_, the original congregation established in 1786.

The St. Gabriel’s Street Church was sold to the Government in

1886 and the congregation migrated to the New St. Gabriel’s

Church on St. Catherine Street opposite the present St. James

Methodist Church. This was demolished in 1909. St. Gabriel’s

legitimate successor is the First Presbyterian Church at the

corner of Prince Arthur and Mance streets.

Intervening between the Presbyterian Church of Scotland and

the Free Kirk Secession, there remains to be chronicled the

settlement of the American Presbyterian church in Montreal which

arose originally through the secession from St. Gabriel’s Street

Church in 1803, and later through a succession from Mr. Easton’s

church on St. Peter Street which by a change of name in 1824

became the first St. Andrew’s Church.

The American Presbyterian Church was the result of the minority

of Mr. Easton’s church on St. Peter Street becoming offended

at the resolution of the majority to procure a minister of the

Established Church of Scotland, withdrawing from what henceforth

became St. Andrew’s Church, so that a new congregation was formed

on December 15, 1822. This organized the first church at the

corner of St. James Street and Victoria Square, which was opened

on December 1, 1826. It was called “American” because it was

recognized by the Presbytery of New York, as under its care on

March 23, 1823; otherwise it was Canadian in the composition of

its membership. The second church, that of today, on Dorchester

Street, was opened on June 24, 1866.

It is not necessary to pursue further the story of the various

off-shoots of the Presbyterian churches. Suffice it to say that

in June, 1875, in Montreal the Presbyterian church of Canada, in

connection with the Church of Scotland, the Canada Presbyterian

Church of the Lower provinces, the Presbyterian Church of the

Maritime provinces, in connection with the Church of Scotland,

united and became the General Assembly of the Presbyterian

Church in Canada. The St. Andrew’s Church remained, however, in

connection with the Church of Scotland.

The Presbyterian churches in the city today are: St. Andrew’s

Church (Church of Scotland), Beaver Hall Hill; St. Paul’s Church,

corner of Dorchester West and St. Monique Street; the American

Presbyterian Church, corner of Dorchester and Drummond streets;

Knox Church, Dorchester Street, West, corner of Mansfield

Street; St. John’s Church (French Presbyterian), St. Catherine

and Cadieux streets; St. Mathew’s Church, corner of Bourgeoys

and Wellington streets; Calvin Presbyterian Church, 946 Notre

Dame West; First Presbyterian Church, corner of Prince Arthur

and St. Lawrence Boulevard; Erskine Church, Sherbrooke Street,

West, corner of Ontario Avenue; Crescent Street Presbyterian

Church, corner of Dorchester Street, West and Crescent Street;

Stanley Street Church, 96 Stanley Street, near Windsor Hotel;

St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church, William and Dalhousie streets;

Taylor Church, Papineau Avenue and Logan Street; St. Giles

Presbyterian Church, St. Denis, corner of St. Joseph Boulevard;

Victoria Church, corner of Conway and Menai streets; Westminster

Presbyterian Church, Atwater Avenue, Westmount; Montreal West

Presbyterian Church; Melville Presbyterian Church, Elgin Avenue,

Westmount Park; St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Stanton Street

and Coté St. Antoine Road; Maisonneuve Presbyterian Church,

corner of Letourneux Avenue and Adam Street, Maisonneuve; Salem

Welsh Presbyterian Church, Alexandra Rooms, 314 St. Catherine,

West; Fairmount Presbyterian Church, corner of Masson and

Papineau streets; McVicar Memorial Church, St. Viateur Avenue,

West, corner of Hutchinson Street; Verdun Presbyterian Church, 47

Ross Street, Verdun.

[Illustration: AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH]

[Illustration: EMANUEL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH]

[Illustration: ST. JAMES METHODIST CHURCH]

[Illustration: ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH (EPISCOPAL)]

Presbyterian missions are: Nazareth Street Mission, corner of

Wellington and Nazareth streets; St. Paul’s Mission, 184 St.

Charles Street.

THE METHODISTS

The first chapel of the Wesleyan Methodists, opened in 1809, was

situated on St. Joseph Street, afterwards called St. Sulpice. In

1821 the Congregation moved to the corner of St. François Xavier

and St. James streets, when the old chapel became the first

public newsroom of Montreal. In 1845 the Great St. James Street

Methodist Church was erected with an entrance on St. James Street

and two on Fortification Lane. This church was burnt down. In

the meantime a Methodist church had been erected in Griffintown,

called the Ottawa Street Church, on Wellington Street, close

to where Duke Street now stands. This was also burnt down and

it was replaced in 1846 by the church on the corner of St.

Ann and Ottawa streets. In 1845 another church was opened on

Lagauchetière Street, at the corner of Durham Street. In 1857, in

August, the new Connexion Methodist Salem Chapel on Panet Street

was opened, followed on September 26, 1858, by Ebenezer Chapel,

on Dupré Street. In 1864, there was a movement, for expansion

among the Wesleyan Methodist body, which had for its result the

Sherbrooke Street Church, corner of St. Charles Borromee and

Sherbrooke Street, West, of which the foundation stone was laid

on July 5, 1864, and the opening occurred on May 21, 1865. The

foundation stone of the Dorchester Street Church, corner of

Windsor Street and the Point St. Charles Church on Wellington

Street, were laid on Saturday, October 1, 1864. The Centenary

Methodist Church was built in 1865 at the corner of Wellington

Street and was rebuilt in 1891 at the corner of Charron and

Wellington streets.

The other Methodist churches in the city are, St. James Methodist

Church (St. Catherine Street, corner of St. Alexander Street);

Mountain Street Methodist Church (corner of Mountain and Torrance

Street); Douglas Methodist Church (corner of Chomedy and St.

Catherine Street, West); Dominion Square Methodist Church

(Dorchester Street, corner of Windsor); West End Methodist Church

(corner of Canning and Coursel Street); East End Methodist

Church (corner Cartier and DeMartigny streets); Fairmount Avenue

Methodist Church (corner of Hutchison Street and Fairmount

Avenue, West); Marlborough Street Methodist Church; Mount Royal

Avenue Methodist Church; Ebenezer Methodist Church (corner of St.

Antoine and Convent streets); Westmount Methodist Church (corner

of Lansdowne Avenue and Western Avenue); Verdun Methodist Church

(86 Gordon Avenue, Verdun); Huntley Street Methodist Church

(Huntley Street near St. Zotique Street); First French Methodist

Church (services held in the lecture room of St. James Methodist

Church); and Eglise Méthodiste Française (De Lisle Street).

In giving the above list of churches it has not been thought

necessary to pursue the later history of their separate cessions,

or off-shoots from the parent churches. It is sufficient to note

that on August 29, 1883, at Belleville, Ontario, the Methodist

Church of Canada, the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada, the

Protestant Methodist Church in Canada and the Bible Christian

church of Canada, united and became the Methodist Church of

Canada.

BAPTIST CHURCHES

As early as 1820,[1] a number of Baptists in the city met in the

parlour of the residence of Mr. Ebenezer Muir “for the worship of

God and mutual edification” each Lord’s day for ten consecutive

years. In 1830, they invited the Rev. John Gilmour of Aberdeen,

Scotland, to come to Canada and lead the little flock into larger

fields.

On the 12th day of September of the same year, two days after

landing, Mr. Gilmour, missionary of God, preached his first

sermon to his new charge in this new land in what was then known

as the Bruce Schoolroom on McGill Street.

This little band opened their new chapel, situated on St. Helen

Street and completed at the cost of £935-0-1 of which £572-10-9

were paid before its opening, leaving a debt of £362-9-4 due to

two of their own members, John Fry and Ebenezer Muir, in equal

parts of £181-4-8 each. On the 13th day of November, 1831, the

First Baptist Church was regularly organized in this building

with twenty-five constituent members. A marble tablet placed on

the wall of Gault Bros’ wholesale establishment on St. Helen

Street bears the following inscription:--

Here Stood

The First Baptist Chapel of Montreal,

1831.

The Rev. John Gilmour, Pastor.

Abandoned, 1860.

Immediately underneath this tablet there is another which

illustrates the spirit of Christian enterprise and helpfulness

that characterized this mother church in her early days, as

follows:

This Tablet

Commemorates the Organization on this Site of the

First Young Men’s Christian Association

on the American Continent.

November, 1851,

Erected on the Occasion of the Jubilee Celebration,

June 8, 1901.