The Irish Catholic Churches of Montreal from 1815
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The Irish Catholic Churches of Montreal from 1815 The parishes Old Montreal - Vieux Montréal - Notre Dame Basilica (1815) – First erected in 1642. From about 1815, the Irish joined the congregation, and for a 25-year period prior to the opening of Saint Patrick in 1846 and Saint Ann’s in 1848, the Irish parishioners at Notre Dame outnumbered the French at this house of worship. From about 1825 and through the next 27 years, Father Patrick Phelan ministered to the Irish community http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/VIEW-1190 http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/M970.67.22 http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/M385 http://www.leseglisesdemonquartier.com/504.html Old Montreal - Vieux Montréal - Notre Dame de Bon Secours - Bonsecours Church – Father Richard Jackson, an Irish priest, presiding in 1817. Church services were held in this ancient church, also referred to as Bonsecours Church, for about 100 Irish families as early as 1817. Rev. P. O’Connell, presiding in 1846. First erected in 1658, and located to this day on St. Paul Street, opposite Bonsecours Street in Old Montreal. http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/M986.58.1.1-3 https://margueritebourgeoys.org/en/history/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours_Chapel https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapelle_Notre-Dame-de-Bon- Secours_de_Montr%C3%A9al http://www.vieux.montreal.qc.ca/tour/etape4/eng/4text2a.htm http://www.vieuxmontreal.ca/fr/commerces/chapelle-notre-dame-de-bon-secours/ http://www.leseglisesdemonquartier.com/505a.html Old Montreal - Vieux Montréal - Church of the Récollets (1824) – First erected in 1692, this church welcomed the first Irish emigrants in 1824. From 1830 to 1847, the church was predominantly the Church of the Irish. In 1846, Saint Patrick opened its doors. In 1854, the Récollets Church lost other parishioners when Saint Ann was established in Griffintown. The church was located at the corner of St. Helen (Ste- Hélène) street near Notre Dame in Old Montréal. It was demolished in 1867, although the interior décor including the church altar was preserved and moved to the church of Notre-Dame des Anges on Lagauchetière Street. The latter building later became the church of the Chinese community; it still exists to this day. http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/M3316 http://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/1955094 https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89glise_des_R%C3%A9collets_de_Montr%C3% A9al https://www.flickr.com/photos/urbexplo/4946693283 https://www.imtl.org/edifices/Eglise_recolet.php St. Antoine’s Ward - Saint Patrick Basilica – Church was opened in 1847 to serve the Irish immigrants who had come to Montreal in great numbers due to the famine and other troubles in Ireland http://stpatricksmtl.ca/ http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/VIEW-2963 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Patrick%27s_Basilica,_Montreal https://www.mtl.org/en/what-to-do/heritage-and-architecture/st-patrick-s-basilica https://www.tourbytransit.com/montreal/things-to-do/St-Patricks-Basilica https://www.catholicregister.org/item/23430-montreal-basilica-s-green-space-sold- to-business-school https://news.shupilov.com/section/lifestyle/new-development/hec-montreal- receives-approval-for-183-complex-near-st-patricks-basilica/ https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape17/PQDD_0004/MQ37240 .pdf Point St. Charles - Point St. Charles Fever Sheds (1847) - In 1847, the emigrant fever among the Irish immigrants spread to Quebec City and Montreal. In Montreal alone, thousands of immigrants, mostly Irish, were affected by the dreaded typhus fever, thus affecting the general population. Up to 22 Fever Sheds were established in the Point St. Charles district in order to segregate the Irish immigrants from the rest of the citizens. One source place the deaths at 6000. See also 1859 under Victoria Bridge. BAnQ under Église Notre-Dame is most likely the best source in order to identify some of the individuals who perished during this appalling period of Montreal's history. A book by Sharon Doyle Driedger entitled “An Irish Heart” describes "The District of Death" as many people called it. Another book by Herbert Brown Ames, published in 1897, described the poverty and overcrowding of Griffintown. https://montrealgazette.com/feature/montreal-refugees-and-the-irish-famine-of- 1847 https://irishcanadianfamineresearcher.wordpress.com/category/montreal-fever- sheds/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goose_Village https://www.pressreader.com/canada/montreal- gazette/20090530/281569466692969 Griffintown – St. Ann’s Ward - Saint Ann’s (1848) – Rev. J. O’Farrell, Rev. M. O’Brien, Rev. James Hogan, presiding. Established about 1848 as a mission. The church opened in 1854. This church was the soul and inspiration of the Irish community. Although, it has been closed and demolished for years, Saint Ann is still referred to in numerous writings about the Irish of South Central Montreal. In 1884, a portion of the church members of the congregation of the Parish of Saint Ann were asked to join the ranks of Saint Gabriel. A fair number of Irish families agreed to the move. In 1982, the parish of St Ann closed its doors. https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/uhr/1991-v19-n3-uhr0757/1017591ar https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/griffintown-remembered https://ville.montreal.qc.ca/memoiresdesmontrealais/leglise-sainte-anne-et-les- irlandais-catholiques-de-griffintown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffintown https://imtl.org/montreal/image.php?id=4936 http://collections.musee- mccord.qc.ca/scripts/explore.php?Lang=1&tableid=11&tablename=theme&elemen tid=113__true&contentlong https://montrealgazette.com/life/a-haunted-tour-of-one-of-montreals-hottest- neighbourhoods https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape17/PQDD_0004/MQ37240 .pdf St. Antoine’s Ward – Sisters of Mercy Chapel (1848) - Dorchester Street West. Church related documents dealing with baptisms or adoption papers are unknown to this writer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregation_of_the_Sisters_of_Misericorde http://www.centrerosaliecadronjette.org/wp/?page_id=2275&lang=en http://www.chac.ca/about/history/books/sisters/Misericordia Sisters_Historical Data 1921.PDF https://www.covenanthealth.net/about-us/history St. Lawrence’s Ward – Church of the Gesu - Saint Mary (1852) – Located at 144 Bleury Street at Dorchester, the elaborate church was part of Collège Sainte-Marie (St. Mary’s College), and for many years the college would welcome members of the Irish community who resided uptown. Up to five daily masses were conducted in English at the church. Baptisms, marriages, burials were not conducted at this prestigious church. These church functions were held at Notre Dame Church. http://montrealrampage.com/celebrating-150-years-of-church-of-the-gesu-other- quebec-curios/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Ges%C3%B9_(Montreal) https://www.quebecoriginal.com/en-ca/listing/things-to-do/heritage-sites-and- attractions/religious-buildings-and-sites/eglise-du-gesu-15580204 https://imtl.org/montreal/building/eglise-du-Gesu.php Quebec Suburb - St. James’s Ward – Saint Peter’s Church (1854) – Rev. C. Leonard, Rev. T. Fitzhenry, presiding in 1854 - Located at the corner of Visitation and Dorchester streets in a district known then as the Quebec Suburb, a region near today’s Jacques Cartier Bridge. The church was originally established about 1826 by the Oblate Fathers as the Parish of Saint-Pierre. The first parishioners were mostly French, but from about the 1850’s, the Irish out-numbered the original parishioners. Visitation Street was located from St. Mary Street northward to the then city boundary - Church registers under Notre-Dame. McCord-Museum under access number MP-0000.851.3 http://collections.musee- mccord.qc.ca/scripts/search_results.php?Lang=1&keywords=MP-0000.851.3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Saint-Pierre-Ap%C3%B4tre,_Montreal http://ca.urlm.com/www.ilot-saint-pierre-apotre.ca http://patrimoine.ville.montreal.qc.ca/inventaire/fiche_bat.php?&id_bat=0041-68- 0866-01 https://www.mtl.org/en/what-to-do/heritage-and-architecture/eglise-saint-pierre- apotre https://archivesdemontreal.ica-atom.org/eglise-saint-pierre-rue-visitation-1er-avril- 1936 http://www.originis.ca/paroisse_montreal_saint_pierre_apotre.html N.D.G. - Notre Dame de Grâce (1856) – The region of N.D.G or Notre-Dame de Grâce became in the late 1850’s a primary destination of citizens, among them a large number of Irish, Scottish, British Catholic families https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre-Dame-de-Gr%C3%A2ce http://www.leseglisesdemonquartier.com/508.html http://www.originis.ca/paroisse_montreal_notre_dame_de_grace.html https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/thesescanada/vol1/QMM/TC-QMM- 43553.pdf Victoria Bridge – The Irish Burying Ground - In 1859, when the approaches to the newly erected Victoria Bridge were being dug, hundreds of skeletons were turned- up by workers, most of whom were Irish. Upon learning that they originated from the fever sheds in Point St. Charles and were actually the bones of their countrymen, the Irish workers assembled the remains in one location and placed a large round boulder as a monument. A plaque riveted to the boulder says in part: “To preserve from desecration the remains of 6000 immigrants who died of ship fever, A.D. 1847, this stone is erected by the workers employed in the construction of the Victoria Bridge, A.D. 1859” - see also 1847 under Point St. Charles Fever Sheds http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/sijpkes/1900-Wellington/Montreal's ship fever monument.pdf https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/plan-for-memorial-park-at-montreal-s- black-rock-in-jeopardy-1.4133229 http://www.montrealirishmonument.com/ http://www.montrealirishmonument.com/sites/default/files/MontrealsIrishFamineCe metery.pdf http://mtltimes.ca/Montreal/social-life/irish-memorial-doubtful/ St. Antoine’s Ward - Mary Queen of the World Cathedral (1862) – Prior to 1956, known as Saint Jacques Cathedral.