Saint Patrick's Basilica is a Roman Catholic minor basilica on René-Lévesque Boulevard in

Downtown Montreal Downtown Montreal ( French: ''Centre-Ville de Montréal'') is the central business district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The district is situated on the southernmost slope of Mount Royal, and occupies the western portion of the borough of Vil ...

, Quebec, Canada.

History

The church is known for its historic links to the Irish Canadian community. St. Patrick's celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1997. French-speaking Catholics first assembled in Montreal at the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours church in Old Montreal; however, their numbers were swelled by the massive arrival of Irish immigrants around 1817. Initially they were transferred to the Church of the Recollets (the French Franciscans) in 1825, but by 1841 they numbered 6,500, and could no longer be accommodated. St Patrick's Church, Montreal (HS85-10-22535)

St Patrick's Church, Montreal (HS85-10-22535)

The site of Saint Patrick's Church was purchased, and construction began in September 1843. What was then the outskirts of the town, on a sloped site overlooking parishioners' homes in Point St. Charles,

Goose Village Goose Village (French: "Village-aux-Oies") was a neighbourhood in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its official but less commonly used name was Victoriatown, after the adjacent Victoria Bridge. The neighbourhood was built on an area formerly known ...

and Griffintown, Saint Patrick's seven cornerstones were laid, making it the oldest English-speaking Roman Catholic Church in Montreal. The first mass was celebrated in the church on

St. Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick ( ga, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patr ...

, March 17, 1847, and in 1850

Samuel Russell Warren Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...

built the church's first organ. Adélard Joseph Boucher was the organist from 1853 to 1858,

Joseph-A. Fowler Joseph-A. Fowler (14 November 1845 – 4 January 1917) was a Canadian composer, organist, choirmaster, pianist, and music educator. His compositional output mainly consists of sacred music, although he did compose some secular songs for voice and ...

followed (1868–1908) and was briefly preceded by Benoît Poirier. The Quebec government designated the church a historic monument on December 10, 1985. It has also been designated a National Historic Site of Canada. April 4, 1985 the Quebec Government deemed the church as a Historical Monument and in 1996 was named a National Historic site of Canada. On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1989, the church was promoted to the title of minor basilica by Pope John Paul II, upon request by

Paul Grégoire Paul Grégoire, (October 24, 1911 – October 30, 1993) was a Canadians, Canadian Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Roman Catholic Bishop of Montreal, Archbishop of Montreal from 1968 to 1990, and was ...

, cardinal archbishop of Montreal.

Architecture

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 ...

building, designed by P. L. Morin and Father Felix Martin, is long and wide; the steeple reaches a height of . It is considered one of the most magnificent examples of its style in Canada.

Interior

The interior is heavily ornamented with motifs that combine a French fleur de lys and Irish

shamrocks Shamrocks is a solitaire game akin to La Belle Lucie. The object is the same as the latter: move the cards into the foundations. Rules The game is layout out as in La Belle Lucie: seventeen piles of three cards are placed on the table with one ca ...

; more striking are the columns, all carved from the same white oak and encased in marble. It features three altars, four rosette stained-glass windows (designed by New York artist Alex S. Locke) and features 150 oil paintings of saints. St. Patrick's Basilica has a Casavant Frères

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

(1895), which was completely electropneumatic. Two additions to the decorations have been made since St. Patrick's completion, first in 1922 by Guido Nincheri and again in 1931 by Victor Marion. The church is known for "St. Patrick's Chimes," its ten bells, of which the oldest, "Charlotte," was cast in 1774 and used in the previous church of Notre-Dame. The bell system was restored in 1989. The organ was installed in 1852 and has been successively rebuilt several times. In 1972, it was combined with the organ of St. Antony's Church, also of Montreal, which had been demolished. St. Patrick's has undergone four major restorations since its construction, the most recent of which cost $5 million through donations from citizens, corporations and the Quebec Government which contributed $1.4 million. Inside the church are memorials to two famous parishioners. Pew 240, used by

Thomas D'Arcy McGee Thomas D'Arcy McGee (13 April 18257 April 1868) was an Irish-Canadian politician, Catholic spokesman, journalist, poet, and a Father of Canadian Confederation. The young McGee was an Irish Catholic who opposed British rule in Ireland, and w ...

, a statesman and

Father of Confederation The Fathers of Confederation are the 36 people who attended at least one of the Charlottetown Conference of 1864 (23 attendees), the Quebec Conference of 1864 (33 attendees), and the London Conference of 1866 (16 attendees), preceding Canadian ...

who was assassinated in 1868 in Ottawa. In the rear of the church, a plaque commemorates poet Émile Nelligan's baptism in the church Christmas Day 1879. The church is located at 460 René Lévesque Boulevard West, in downtown Montreal, at the corner of Saint-Alexandre Street ( Square-Victoria-OACI or Place-des-Arts

metro stations A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in the ...

References

Bibliography

"Basilique St. Patrick's Basilica, Montreal, QC." Universite du Quebec (Quebec, Canada). Web. 15 Feb. 2011. . Hustak, Alan. "Saint Patrick's of Montreal: the biography of a basilica. Montréal": Véhicule Press, 1998. Print. Leitch, Gillian Irene. “Community and Identity in Nineteenth Century Montreal: The Founding of Saint Patrick’s Church.” University of Ottawa Canada, 2009.

External links