St. Michel de Sillery Church (french: église Saint-Michel de Sillery) is a Roman Catholic parish church in

Sillery, Quebec City ) , image_skyline = WPQc-170 Parc du Bois-de-Coulonge - Église St-Michel de Sillery.JPG , imagesize = 260px , image_alt = Saint Michel of Sillery Church and the Saint Lawrence River in the background , imag ...

. It is situated between Quebec Route 136 to the south and the College of Jesus and Mary of Sillery to the north, and is part of the

Sillery Heritage Site The Sillery Heritage Site (french: site patrimonial de Sillery) is an area containing historic residences and institutional properties located in the Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge borough of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It was the first of 13 de ...

in the borough of

Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge is a borough of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The borough was created on November 1, 2009,Irish Saint Columba, the parish was founded in 1644, with a chapel constructed on the same site by the Jesuits.

History

Foundation

In 1637, the Jesuits arrived in New France, and founded a mission in the area. They built the ''mission Saint-Joseph de Sillery'', to minister to the local First Nations population. They named their mission after

Saint Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...

. In 1644, they built a chapel, dedicated to Saint Michael, for the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and First Nations peoples on a

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the so ...

in Sillery known as ''pointe à Puiseaux''. The Jesuits left in the late 1600s."On the Promontory of Pointe à Puiseaux" from
Saint-Michel de Sillery Church: History and Works of Art
' Until 1847, the local Catholic population had to travel to Sainte-Foy or Quebec City to attend Mass. That year, a local timber merchant, Patrick McInenly, had his house converted into a place of worship, St. Richard's Chapel. Later, with the congregation increasing, it was decided to build a church on the site of the first chapel.

Construction

Construction on the church began in 1852, utilizing the plans of the Irish-born architect Goodlatte Richardson Browne. In 1853, Joseph-Ferdinand Peachy took over as architect. The church opened for worship in 1854. The

form of the name, ''Colomb'', was adopted by canonical decree in 1855. The following year, both the municipality and the parish took on the name St Columba of Sillery (''St Colomb de Sillery'', for the francophones). In 1880, the bell tower was completed and a spire was added according to Peachy's designs.St-Michel de Sillery Church
from Patrimoine-religieux.com, retrieved 31 May 2015

Developments

When the church was opened, most of the work on the interior had not started. This work began in October 1866 and was based on Browne's designs. Peachy supervised the work and Jean Vézina crafted the wooden decor and Maurice Larose did the masonry. In 1945, the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

interior was changed during a renovation. The gold and white wooden altar was moved to the sacristy and a brown granite one from Chicoutimi was installed in its place. The choir stalls were removed and a wooden

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

was replaced by a communion table made of iron. The pulpit was removed and new pews were installed. The stations of the cross were replaced with metal ones."Interior of the Church" from
Saint-Michel de Sillery Church: History and Works of Art
' In 1969, the church was renamed St. Michel de Sillery. It was done to honour Pierre de Puiseaux. He was a former owner of ''pointe à Puiseaux''.

Parish

Exterior St Charles Garnier Church, Quebec

The church is in the same parish as St. Charles Garnier Church (french: Église Saint-Charles-Garnier). It was founded on 7 August 1944 when Cardinal Villeneuve authorised the creation of a new parish, under the patronage of

Saint Charles Garnier Charles Garnier, S.J., (baptised at Paris, May 25, 1606 – December 7, 1649) was a Jesuit missionary working in New France. He was killed by Iroquois in a Petun (Tobacco Nation) village on December 7, 1649. Biography The son of a secretar ...

for the people in the northern part of the Sillery area. In the autumn of 1947, the church, designed by Charles A. Jean and built by François Jobin & Co., was opened. As the two churches are now in the same parish, their Mass times do not conflict. St. Michel de Sillery Church has a Sunday Mass at 11:00am. It also Masses at 4:30pm on Wednesday and Friday. St. Charles Garnier Church has Masses for Sunday at 4:30pm on Saturday and at 9:30am on Sunday morning. It also has Masses at 4:30pm on Monday, 5:30pm on Tuesday and 4:30pm on Thursday.Directory
from

Archdiocese of Québec The Archdiocese of Québec ( la, Archidiœcesis Quebecensis; french: Archidiocèse de Québec) is a Catholic archdiocese in Quebec, Canada. Being the first see in the New World north of Mexico, the Archdiocese of Québec is also the primatial see ...

, retrieved 31 May 2015

Exterior

File:Eglise Saint-Michel de Sillery 01.jpg, West side of the church File:Eglise Saint-Michel de Sillery sculpture and Statue of Mary, Quebec.JPG, Statue of Mary in the church grounds

References

External links

* (Parish Bienheureuse-Dina-Bélanger, created on January 1, 2019) * (parish replaced by Bienheureuse-Dina-Bélanger)
Église Saint-Michel
– City of Quebec point of interest in Sillery {{Authority control Roman Catholic churches in Quebec City Quebec city Quebec city 1637 establishments in the French colonial empire Sillery, Quebec City 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Canada