Sainte-Félicité () is a municipality in

La Matanie Regional County Municipality La Matanie () is a regional county municipality, located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec, in Canada. From January 1, 1982, to March 9, 2013, it was known as Matane. The county seat is the city of Matane. Subdivisions There are 12 su ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada, located on the south shore of the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...

. It is named after saint

Felicitas of Rome Felicitas of Rome (c. 101 – 165), also anglicized as is a saint numbered among the Christian martyrs. Apart from her name, the only thing known for certain about this martyr is that she was buried in the Cemetery of Maximus, on the Via Sa ...

, a

Christian martyr In Christianity, a martyr is a person who was killed for their testimony for Jesus or faith in Jesus. In the years of the early church, stories depict this often occurring through death by sawing, stoning, crucifixion, burning at the stake, or ...

. Its economy is based on fishing and agriculture. Notable people who came from Sainte-Félicité include Québécois pop singer

Isabelle Boulay Isabelle Boulay, (; born 6 July 1972) is a Canadian singer. Biography Born in Sainte-Félicité, Quebec, where her parents owned a restaurant, Boulay moved to the nearby city of Matane at the start of her adolescence, and studied literature a ...

, who was born there in 1972. In addition to Sainte-Félicité itself, the municipality also includes the communities of Cap-à-la-Baleine, L'Anse-à-la-Croix, Le Grand-Deuxième, Le Petit-Deuxième, and Sainte-Félicité-Ouest.

History

According to recent studies, Cap à la Baleine (Cape Whale) was how far

Jacques Cartier Jacques Cartier (; 31 December 14911 September 1557) was a French maritime explorer from Brittany. Jacques Cartier was the first Europeans, European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, wh ...

sailed up the St. Lawrence in 1534. It was also an area with many shipwrecks, earning it the name Pointe-au-Massacre (Massacre Point), sometimes pluralized as Pointe-aux-Massacres. While Saint-Denis, the name of the geographic township, was used concurrently, the macabre name remained in use until the mid 19th century and was the inspiration for the current name, because Bishop Charles-François Baillargeon wrote "''je change le Massacre en Félicité''" ("I change the massacre to happiness") in 1860. In 1857, a mission was established. In 1864, the post office opened under the name Sainte-Félicité. In 1866, the place was incorporated as the Township Municipality of Saint-Denis, but two years later changed its name and status to Parish Municipality of Sainte-Félicité. In 1955, the main settlement separated from the parish municipality and was incorporated as the Village Municipality of Sainte-Félicité. On January 10, 1996, the current Municipality of Sainte-Félicité was formed when the Village Municipality and Parish Municipality were rejoined together again.

Demographics

Population

Language

References

External links