St. Patrick's built for Quebec's English speaking Catholics

Patron saint of the Irish, St. Patrick converted the Irish to the true Church

St. Patrick – March 17

- WCR photo by Ted Fitzgerald The preserved ancient stone façade of St. Patrick's Church built in 1833 immortalizes the faith of the original Irish English-speaking Catholics.

By TED FITZGERALD
Special to the WCR
Quebec

Visitors to old Quebec will find that the Irish and their patron St. Patrick have a long and intimate relationship with this 400 year-old New World jewel. They may be dismayed, however, to see all that's left of the historic immigrant church that bears the holy man's name.

Near the walled city's Saint-Jean gate, a stranger asked for directions to old St. Patrick's Church. Less than enthusiastically, a resident indicated that it can't be missed, "Just look for the big pipes!" Despite this puzzling answer, sure enough, not far away was a group of towering metallic pipes.

A few short blocks up rue D'Auteuil and a right on rue McMahon and there they were, gleaming in the sun above the time-worn rooftops of the old upper town and forming a modern backdrop for the ancient stone fa‡ade of the historic Irish Church.

Research centre now

The pipes however, have a distinctly positive side and are indirectly, a reminder of the saint. They belong to a modern Cancer Research Centre affiliated with the Hotel-Dieu-du-Quebec Hospital which now occupies the historic site.

When people from Ireland came to Quebec, they naturally brought their saint (in spirit at least) with them and when they were able to build their own church there was no question as to who the parish patron would be.

Saint of the Irish

Patrick of course was the British-born theological student in France who returned to the land of his early enslavement to embark on converting the Irish to the true faith. His feast day has for centuries been celebrated as a gala event on March 17 for the world's Irish for a day and almost every sizeable Catholic centre includes a church dedicated to him.

Noted area author and historian Marianna O'Gallagher explains that a popular misconception exists that holds that the first immigrants from Ireland arrived en masse in 1847 as a result of the potato famine.

They did, but 30 years earlier there were enough English-speaking Catholic newcomers in the city to petition Bishop Joseph-Octave Plessis for their own church.

As early as 1819, the city's Irish residents were celebrating St. Patrick's Day with a special Mass and in 1822 were blessed with the appearance of an aggressive advocate for establishing their own church.

Newly ordained, 24-year-old Father Patrick McMahon was assigned to Notre-Dame-de-Quebec Cathedral, parish church of most immigrants. Under his leadership, construction of a church for English-speaking Catholics was begun on rue Sainte-Helene in 1831.

St. Patrick's was dedicated two years later, one of the first ethnic parishes in Canada. Of stone construction with a single bell tower, it was the first Quebec church to be designed by noted architect Thomas Baillairge.

By 1915, the congregation had outgrown the building and a new church was begun on Grande Allee outside the city walls. When it was completed in 1958, the last Mass was celebrated at old St. Patrick's on March 17.

The remains of McMahon who had died in 1851 was removed from their place beneath the church floor and re-interred in St. Patrick's Cemetery.

Little evidence of the old Irish area is obvious today in the walled city. On rue McMahon, renamed for the first pastor, in addition to the old fa‡ade, an impressive stone Celtic cross stands, a gift in 1997 from an Irish resident to the people of Quebec after he had read of the extreme charity offered to the hundreds of famine orphans that were taken in by Quebecers.

And just off central Place D'Armes, the porch of the old stone city courthouse features a bas-relief stone plaque that prominently displays, beneath the fabled harp of Ireland, the timeless "Erin Go Bragh."

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